A Note From Pastor Alvin:  Angela and I both received the Lord as children. I was ten years old and Angela was much younger than that. Although we were children, we realized, without a shadow of a doubt, that we both had a true encounter with Jesus. We recognized that God loved us so much, that we needed our sins to be forgiven and that it was only His sacrifice on the cross that could save us.  
 
Growing up in the church, we began to be very active in ministry and very committed to walking with Christ. We both served in several areas of ministry for many decades; namely, Sunday school, children's church, youth ministries, worship and choir leaders of the Albina Ministers of Music, fundraising, boys and girls clubs through our church, and men and women adult ministries. I served as an elder and my wife, as a missionary/teacher. Years later, I became the Evangelism and Christian Education Director.
 
I had the privilege of serving as an elder for over a decade, before leaving the church where I served for over forty years, and where Angela served more than thirty years. 

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I then joined Emmaus Church, where I served for years as part of a close knit pastoral team. Then to a few other PNW ministries, where we both continued to serve and worship jubilantly, but my wife’s worship experience was always limited by the extremely fragrant environments of church sanctuaries and communities. However, she served in Refuge for years, via Imago Dei Eastside, and that was a fragrance-free healing community.
 
I only mentioned the areas of service above because I know that all of our experiences were God’s way of preparing both of us for pastoral leadership today.