Resurrection Church…off to a fast start…eyes future

Pat and Barbara Webb are greeted by Pastor Wayne Viereck and his wife Pat as they leave a Sunday service.

Pat and Barbara Webb are greeted by Pastor Wayne Viereck and his wife Pat as they leave a Sunday service.

David Stanard

SaddleBrooke’s new church, Resurrection Church at SaddleBrooke, is thriving. Around sixty were expected for the first worship service in mid-September. Instead, close to 150 attended and participation was in that range or a little higher through October. Then, November 2 the count jumped to 175 and has hovered in the 150 to 175 vicinity ever since. Such an all-embracing reception by the SaddleBrooke Community is confirmation that Resurrection Church is an idea whose time has come.

At Resurrection Church, five pastors occupy the pulpit on a rotational basis. Wayne Viereck, Palmer Ruschke and Roy Guinn are themselves SaddleBrooke residents and are well known for their prior spiritual engagement within our community. Jim Vadis and Al Jensen are better known in the Oro Valley area but are rapidly becoming acquainted in SaddleBrooke.

Being young, Resurrection Church is a work in progress. Recruitment efforts are ongoing for ushers, lectors/readers, greeters and communion servers. The now small choir, the Resurrection Singers, which is led by familiar face Charles Riddell, is also actively recruiting and expects to be full grown by the first of the year. Two Bible studies are planned with more on the drawing board for down the road. In addition, the trajectory of growth for the church is expected to continue as more people in SaddleBrooke learn of its presence, and plans to accommodate that growth are already under way.

Resurrection Church at SaddleBrooke holds its all-denominational Sunday worship service at 10:00 a.m. in the Vermilion Room of the HOA 1 Clubhouse. All are welcome.