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Sunday school and worship services were held in the Plain Schoolhouse not far from the first church building that would be built over a decade later. Ralph and Edna Kellogg (she from the Burgess family who helped settle Beaver Valley) along with their three children, drove the forty miles from Wenatchee every Sunday to conduct services. In its infancy, there were 33 believers enrolled as members of Plain Community Church, many of them the young people of the community. Soon after the church was organized, three acres of land and a small house along the river were purchased for the amount of four-hundred and seventy-five dollars. The little house became the home for our first official pastor, Willis Barney. Pastor Barney’s initial salary was $6 per week with the promise of vegetables from the gardens of church members. In 1947, Elvett Brown, who married Pastor Barney's sister Marguerite, became our pastor. At this time, church families were being blessed with lots of children. The schoolhouse continued as our meeting place, but in 1950, the foundation for the first church building was set. Many volunteers worked countless hours toward the completion of the building, and, as a result, the church was debt free at completion. Pastor Claude Barrett came to Plain several months earlier, and he had the honor of conducting the first service a few days before Christmas of 1952 with over 100 people in attendance. A year later, Pastor Otto Sather arrived. Pastor Sather eventually spent 26 years at PCC, until he briefly preached in the newly constructed larger building that we presently use. Pastor and his wife Betty had a real heart for youth, and they organized new youth activities and camps. Pastor Sather also started the tradition of holding the baptismal service down at the Big Rock on the Wenatchee River during the last week of August when the waters warmed.
Warren and Cheryl Erickson arrived in 1980
to take part in the formal dedication of the new church building and to assume the
pastorate. In 1986,
Pastor Gary and Margy Hess moved to Plain to build upon the foundation of church
programs started before them. Twelve years later, Pastor Ed and Delores
Anderson arrived, becoming very active in nurturing believers and
tending to the sick and needy. The Andersons
eventually retired to the southwest, creating the opportunity for
Pastor Phil and Lynette Strong (Anderson's daughter) to
provide leadership henceforth from November 2005. |