PAGE A4, KEIZERTIMES, SEPTEMBER 15, 2017
KeizerCommunity
Pastor at home at Clear Lake UMC
KEIZERTIMES.COM
By DEREK WILEY
Of the Keizertimes
When Alyssa Baker was
asked to give her fi rst sermon,
she laughed.
Baker, the new lead pastor
of Keizer Clear Lake United
Methodist Church, was a se-
nior in high school and had
only attended church regu-
larly for a couple of years.
“I was a behind the scenes
type of person, really intro-
verted,” Baker said.
But as she preached from
Psalm 139 and spoke of how
she was formed and loved by
God, in that moment, some-
thing felt right.
However, Baker had no
plans to become a pastor
and went to Western Oregon
University to begin working
towards a business degree.
“I pushed it away for a
while, thinking that’s not re-
ally what I’m supposed to be
doing,” Baker said.
Baker remained involved
in the church, leading wor-
ship during a Thursday night
community meal service at
Dallas United Methodist
Church.
About a year into leading
worship, Baker went to the
pastor to tell him, “I think I’m
supposed to be doing what
you’re doing.”
“He just laughed and said,
‘Yep, I was waiting for you to
tell me,” Baker recalled. “He
already knew but wanted me
to fi nd that.”
After fi nishing her business
degree, Baker began looking
at graduate school.
With only 13 accredited
United Methodist seminar-
ies in the United States and
none in Oregon and Wash-
ington, she decided to attend
the Boston University School
of Theology, located just three
blocks from Fenway Park.
“I knew I would have to
take a leap so why not leap
across the country,” Baker
said.
Getting her master’s of di-
vinity, Baker spent three years
in Boston, which included a
two-year internship at Wilm-
ington United Methodist
Church.
Along with being on the
other side of the country
more than 3,000 miles from
home, Baker got a different
church experience as well.
Instead of maybe 100 peo-
ple at Sunday morning wor-
ship, line in Albany, Wilming-
ton had over 300 and three
different services.
“It was something com-
pletely different than I had
ever experienced,” Baker said.
“To be able to offer the dif-
ferent worship experiences
and to recognize that people
connect differently spiritually,
that opened up my eyes.”
Baker returned to Oregon
after seminary and spent a
year as the pastoral intern at
The Dalles United Method-
ist Church, planning worship,
conducting funerals, starting
Sunday School programs and
helping create a Columbia
Gorge-wide youth group.
Baker said her favorite
parts of ministry are “con-
necting with people on their
spiritual journeys and build-
ing new relationships.”
“I like connecting people
KEIZERTIMES/Derek Wiley
Alyssa Baker, the new lead pastor at Keizer Clear Lake United Methodist Church, is heading up the young adult ministry for the
six Open Door Churches in Keizer and Salem.
together as they share their
stories and fi nd similar inter-
ests,” she added.
In Keizer, Baker is focus-
ing on the young adult pro-
gram for all six Open Door
Spirit Chorus
Churches in the area as well
as taking care of the day-to-
day tasks at Clear Lake.
Baker felt welcomed right
away and then on a recent
Sunday morning found out
how giving the congregation
is.
“With Hurricane Harvey
going on, I just announced
we’re helping with this and
we had jars and passed them
around and kids and parents
and grandparents, everyone
just put in whatever they had
to help for that,” Baker said.
“It’s nice. It’s what church
should be, I think. The peo-
ple here have such big hearts
and so welcoming and open-
ing, People turn away from
church for so many differ-
ent reasons. We’re not a scary
place. We’re just people.”
Submitted
Oregon Spirit Chorus will perform with Oregon SenateAires, GQ and Flipside in A Cappella Spirit
at Willamette University’s Smith Auditorium on Saturday, Sept. 23 at 7 p.m. Purchase tickets at
oregonspirit.org.
Feel Our Warmth
COME IN AND TALK WITH US
THE SPRINGS at SUNNYVIEW
INDEPENDENT LIVING
1950 45th Ave NE , Salem • 503- 589 -1200
THE WOODS at WILLOWCREEK
ASSISTED LIVING & MEMORY CARE
4398 Glencoe St NE , Salem • 503-581- 4239
TheSpringsLiving.com