Bonney Lake Seventh-Day Adventist Church

History:

Representatives of the small group of people led by Wayne Kooser , Jim Stevens, Dave Davis and Roger Cox met in the spring of 1979 wanting to start a church in the Bonney Lake area.

There was an announcement placed in the Orting, Auburn, Enumclaw & Puyallup SDA church bulletins stating that there would be a meeting at Nelson Crane School for those living in the Bonney Lake area interested in starting a church. There was a very good turnout of people from all of the above churches listed. There were some with concerns that this may be an off shoot group as there was the Ford Movement going on at this time. After all of the fears were overcome, there was a very good meeting that took place and it was decided to talk to the conference and start looking for a church where they could meet if everything was approved.

Conference leaders President Elder Glenn Aufderhar, Lenard Jaecks(Executive Sec.), Puyallup church pastor Charles Lickey and all others interested met in the fellowship room of the Puyallup church. A prospective Pastor was discussed and steps were laid out with which to begin. The Bonney lake group were given a lot of encouragement by the leaders who were present that evening and plans were made. However, at first, Pastor Lickey had the misunderstanding that this would take away members from the Puyallup church. The problem was alleviated when it became known that most of the members would come from people already living in the Bonney Lake area, and from the Orting church whose members were anxious to build a new church. They selected the name "Bonney Lake SDA Church" as the official name that very evening. They immediately decided to look for an appropriate piece of land near the city limits of Bonney Lake.

The first task was to create a building fund and get it growing to meet the first goal of purchasing land. Car washes were held, bake sales at the local shopping center, and garage sales at various places. Soon the money started to pour in and hopes were realized as they prepared for starting a brand new church from the ground up.

Arrangements were made to rent the Ehli Hill Baptist Church during the interim to raise the funds necessary to build. Renting a new church was interesting. Some churches were fearful of losing members who might leave them and join our church. Others were not interested in helping us in any way because our message differed so much from their traditions. This was very puzzling behavior for fellow Christians with a common belief in Jesus.