The History of Christ’s Church
May 1972 - Established
On Sunday, May 21, 1972, twenty-five people gathered to form a new church called Federal Way Christian Church in Federal Way. They began meeting at Mirror Lake Elementary School with Clair Dammarell as their minister. Elders Vincent Smith, Jesse Morris, Bob Wilson, and Joyce Barclift were the founding leadership team, and the church was started under the direction of The Christian Evangelistic Association. The church was founded in response to numerous requests for a New Testament Christian church in the Federal Way area for those traveling to Tacoma or Normandy Park for services.
September 1972 - Construction
The church moved to its present four-acre location at 941 South Dash Point Road on Sunday, September 3, 1972, where it rented an existing facility from the United Methodist Church for approximately two years. During this time, two stories of classroom space were added to the building under the direction of members Art Sundstrom (retired carpenter), Bob Wilson (roofing work), Elmer Lipp (excavated the church property to create the upper and lower parking areas), and a group of other volunteers. The property was purchased by the church in 1974 for $72,500.
In 1979, construction began on a new sanctuary (the current Ministry Center), and the church moved into this new building on Sunday, May 18, 1980. Bonds worth $365,000 were sold to build the facility, and Bristol Church Builders of Portland, Oregon, was contracted to construct the building.
1982 - A New Name, A New Start
In 1982, the founding pastor, Clair Dammarell, resigned and Associate Pastor Jim Williams took the lead. Unfortunately, the church began to decline and in late 1983, the church voted to close their doors. The remaining leadership team met with Overlake Christian Church and under their direction, the church was reconstituted as Christ’s Church with 30 people on January 1, 1984.
Bud Diener (Youth Pastor of Overlake Christian Church) was chosen to be the interim pastor and help relaunch the church. In April of 1984, the church hired Rusty Westerfield from Wichita, Kansas, to lead the church. In 1987, Rusty resigned to take another church, and Associate Pastor Don Turner was called to lead the church. In May of 1991, Don Turner stepped down and Jerry Pryor (Associate Pastor) became the interim pastor for the next 16 months while the church looked for a new lead pastor.
In November of 1992, Rusty Westerfield returned as pastor of Christ's Church and led the church until June of 1996 when he departed to lead another church. In September of 1996, Jeff Moorehead was called as the new lead pastor and has led the church until the present time.
September 1998 - Services at Sacajawea Middle School
In September of 1998, the church moved their services next door to Sacajawea Middle School while investigating various options to expand their capacity for ministry. Under the leadership of our Building Task Force (Dave Torseth, Orville Fredrickson, Greg Campfield, Bill Scharer, Mick Kirk, Lance Bilyeu, Al Kilcup), the church broke ground in June of 2003 to construct a new Worship Center and additional parking lot. Absher Construction was contracted to construct this new facility.
Through the years of growth and leadership changes, Christ’s Church has been blessed to see God’s faithfulness in proclaiming the gospel and serving our community to make more and better disciples of Jesus Christ.
