...Our History

 

First Building

Plain Community Church was founded on December 7, 1941.  The Sunday morning services were followed with a potluck dinner and a meeting at the residence of Joe Squier, where the initiators discussed PCC's purpose, organization and articles of faith.  As the conversation proceeded, the afternoon was suddenly interrupted by a radio bulletin declaring the startling news that Pearl Harbor had been attacked. The evening turned into a somber and prayerful one.

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.

The old church building was relocated on church property and is now used for Sunday school, youth activities and other events.  It was renamed Burgess Hall in honor W.W. Burgess who had given land to the church many years ago.  The new church building was designed as a country church, complete with massive timber that supports the roof, stained glass windows, a weather vane and a bell tower.

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.