Wallowa County Chieftain
Community
wallowa.com
May 3, 2017
A7
Oldest church building in Enterprise keeps the faith
and praying, I had the distinct
impression that God was tell-
ing me to ask for the Christian
Church building.”
Agnew was mystifi ed by
this impression.
“My question was, ‘why
would I do that?’ We were fi t-
ting in our old church, it was
about half capacity, we had
about 30 folks attending reg-
ularly. The Christian Church
building is a huge place for 30
people.”
The 10,000 square-foot fa-
cility was more than twice the
size, and it wasn’t even for sale
at the time.
But Agnew said he couldn’t
shake the sense that God was
prompting him to ask for the
building.
Agnew answered what he
felt was God’s command and
“out of obedience” prayed for
the building that summer day
in 2015. But he didn’t tell any-
one, not even his wife.
Three months later he still
couldn’t shake the idea and he
shared his experience with his
wife.
In January 2016, he took
his church board to a confer-
ence. On the way home, he
asked them what they thought
was the biggest challenge
they would face in the coming
year. They quickly responded
“room for growth” because
attendance had swelled to 50.
As they considered space,
one of the board members
asked, “What’s the Christian
Church going to do with their
old building?”
Agnew laughs. “I said,
‘Funny you should ask. Let’s
all pray about it and see what
By Kathleen Ellyn
Wallowa County Chieftain
Maybe it’s a modern-day
miracle.
Pastor Micah Agnew of
Abundant Life Assembly of
God Church in Enterprise
thinks it is.
Agnew arrived in Wallowa
County in 2015, having re-
placed Eli Smith as pastor at
Abundant Life. It’s his fi rst
post as a lead pastor, though
he’s spent eight years as a
youth pastor. He has the sup-
port of another former pastor
of the church, John Walther,
who teaches Sunday School.
On the trip out to Wallowa
County, Agnew and his wife,
Michelle, had prayed to get a
sense of what God wanted him
to focus on in Enterprise. The
answer? Reclaiming the lost
sheep who had stopped attend-
ing and engendering a spirit of
inclusion.
Agnew was pleased when
he arrived in Enterprise to fi nd
out there was a thriving Min-
isterial Association, represent-
ing about 10 denominations,
which met monthly at the
historic Enterprise Christian
Church at 207 Main. Members
of the group talked about what
was going on in individual
churches and prayed for one
another. They also arranged
sharing community celebra-
tions of the religious holidays.
Agnew’s church hosted Good
Friday this year.
The miracle began to tran-
spire, Agnew said, in the sum-
mer of 2015.
“I like to walk and pray,”
Agnew said. “While walking
Courtesy photo
Abundant Life Church is now located at 207 E. Main in the old
Enterprise Christian Church.
happens.’”
Enterprise Christian Church
was building its new digs on a
hill off Joseph Highway just
outside Enterprise. The 1898
church on Main Street, the
oldest wooden structure in En-
terprise, was up for sale.
A month later the minis-
ter of Enterprise Christian
Church, David Bruce, offered
Agnew and Abundant Life As-
semblies of God the building.
The board of Abundant Life
didn’t want to be in a situation
where the mortgage was a
strain for the congregation, so
they prayed for a couple more
months before presenting the
idea to the congregation and
asked them to pray. Gathered
at a membership meeting, the
congregation voted unani-
mously to make an offer.
“We made an offer and they
accepted it,” Agnew said.
Long-time member An-
nette Lathrop called the move
“God’s perfect timing.”
“I think it’s important to put
into context that the church is
not a building but a body of
Christ’s followers,” Lathrop
said. “We weren’t changing
churches, we were changing
buildings like a crab outgrow-
ing it’s shell. God’s perfect
timing provided a building
right when we were outgrow-
ing our shell.”
Enterprise Christian fur-
ther sweetened the deal for the
Abundant Life congregation,
throwing in a projector and
screen, the sound system and
other items.
“It was our hope that the
building would remain a
church,” said Bruce. “Every-
one for a century put their in-
vestment in that building for
it to remain a church. Those
things (sound and video sys-
tem) were going to be good for
their ministry, so we just de-
cided that should be a part of
(the deal).”
Abundant Life fi nished
most of the remodeling and
held the fi rst Sunday service in
the building the fi rst Sunday in
February 2017.
“We now have 73 to 76 reg-
ular attendance and had 92 for
Easter,” Agnew said.
The growth is from both
reactivated members and new
members who are responding
to the community feel of the
church.
“Changes come, and
they’re good changes,” said
Lathrup. “After services, we
just pour into each other’s life.
It’s just wonderful to have
enough room for people to vis-
it and for kids to be kids. We’re
more visible and we’re seeing
a lot of new faces and that’s
fun, too.”
Agnew says he had very
little to do with what had hap-
pened.
“I want to make sure God
gets all the credit,” Agnew
said. “Because I couldn’t even
see it happening when He pre-
sented it to me.”
And God’s hand is still vis-
ible, Agnew said with a laugh.
“When you have four wom-
en unanimously agree on color
scheme –– God is involved,”
he joked.
Services begin with Com-
munity Prayer at 9 a.m. Sun-
days, followed by worship
service at 10 a.m. May’s
monthly Men’s Breakfast is 8
a.m. May 6.
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