Irondale Church News
Irondale Church is a place of promise to grow and belong
The Long and Winding Road, part 1
I grew up attending a
church that was 10 miles
from our home. 10 miles
is nothing today but back
then it seemed like a big
journey. Our family didnt
make it every week, but
we did make it often
enough for me to become
an altar boy and to memo-
rize The Lords Prayer, the
Doxology and the Gloria
Patri. I wasnt much of a
student in Sunday school
or church, but I certainly
must have learned a thing
or two along the way.
Home for me was a
small farm in the town of
Hamilton in eastern Skagit
County. Through the
years we commercially
raised or trucked-farmed:
strawberries, raspberries,
corn, potatoes, beans,
horses and cattle. Sum-
mer was loaded with
planting,
watering,
harvesting
and haying.
Winter was
loaded with
feeding
stock, clean-
ing barns
and dealing
with mud, rain and winter
conditions. All in all it was
a good childhood and I felt
loved by my parents.
Colleen and I met in
high school and started
dating in our junior year.
We married on September
15, 1974. The years to
come brought us two
daughters, 6 grandchil-
dren and to date 3 great-
grandchil-
dren.
I joined
the Army,
enlisting in
the Infantry
in May 1975.
During those
years I served God, Coun-
try and my family in Loui-
siana, West Germany and
Colorado. I gave my heart
to Christ while I was in the
Army. But discipleship
was difficult and sanctifi-
cation is even worse. I
was disappointed by many
of my Christian friends
and church leaders. It be-
came increas-
ingly difficult to
see the good-
ness of God
while being sur-
rounded by His
dysfunctional
children. Be-
cause of this I
became disillu-
sioned with the church
and in 1976 I stopped
attending any church.
Upon discharge I did
September 2017
some serious soul search-
ing trying to find my call-
ing. After ending my time
in service, we moved back
to Washington, then to
Montana, where we
suffered one of the cold-
Pray Always:
est winters on record. We
moved
back to Pastor David and
Washing- Colleen
ton with
Community Soup
the prom-
ise of a job
Our outreach and
and witness to our
walked community
right into one of the worst
recessions the country Busy Hands
had seen. Along the way I
worked cutting cedar People struggling
blocks and flying them off with illness
the mountain with a heli-
copter. I worked at a dairy Young families and
farm, a beef farm, I built single parent fami-
fire trail, pitted behind a lies
cat, worked on a rock drill-
Those struggling
ing crew, fought forest
with addiction
fires, spent a summer tree
felling and worked on and Schools: students,
off at a local saw mill. It staff, administra-
all sounds so simple when tors
its written down, but the
nature of the work, all Missionaries
that work, is so varied it
makes my head swim at Homeless, helpless,
everything that was done. hopeless, hungry
For example, cutting
cedar blocks sounds easy Local, state, nation-
enough, of course after al and world lead-
ers
you drive 20 or 30 miles in
the morning to get on the
Continued on page 2

The Long and Winding Road, continued
mountain by daybreak.
Then walk up or down the
mountain side, up to a
mile in all weather condi-
tions before you can even
begin to work. Then every
block has to be cut exactly
24 and then spilt with a
splitting maul into an easily
manageable size. It then
has to be stacked in a
cord sized bundle with a
nylon rope wrapped
around it so that on flying
day a helicopter can hook
onto and fly it down to the
road where it can be load-
ed onto a truck and hauled
to the mill. We were paid
piece work which means
we were paid for what
made it to the mill and
what could be used. So if
the sling rope was put on a
bundle incorrectly, when
the helicopter lifted it, it
would fall out and no mon-
ey, if a sling rope broke
no money or if the cedar
was too rotten or cut to
shortno money.
Working on a farm
sounds easy enough.
Throw the cattle some hay
and they eat, then get paid
for the milk or the meat.
Until one considers that
every bite they eat comes
out the other end and
what comes out has to be
relocated 3 or 4 times.
First it is pushed into the
manure lagoon or piled in
the manure pile. Then it
must be loaded into the
manure spreader hauled
Irondale Church News
out and spread on the
field. Then after it dries it
needs to be harrowed into
the grass to spread the
clumps. And dont forget
you have to work with ma-
nure removal at least once
a week from the day you
start feeding hay in the fall
until the cows go out on
grass in the spring.
Then there are other
things to keep you busy.
Did you know that cows
feet have to be trimmed?
Did you know that some-
times they need help deliv-
ering their babies? Even if
its the middle of the night,
pouring rain, in the center
of a 20 acre pasture. Cows
can also get pinkeye just
like people and it is conta-
gious just like in people.
So if one cow gets pinkeye
there is a good chance that
the entire herd will get it.
So to treat it all you have
to do is give them a shot
on the underside of their
eye lid (I swear I am not
making this up). Thats
right just catch the cow,
hold it so still that you can
grab its eyelashes between
your finger and your
thumb roll it over and in-
sert a hypodermic needle
into the inside of the eye-
lid and apply the medicine
needed for healing. In
case that doesnt sound
challenging enough, we did
it without the benefits of a
holding pen or squeeze-
chute. We simply roped
Page 2
the beast, wrapped the
rope around a post, pulling
the rope shorter and short-
er until their head was se-
cured against the post.
Then two of us would try
to hold it still while the
third would give the injec-
tion. Then we would re-
peat the process for every
animal with the infection
and do it every day until
the infection was cured. It
was rough enough on the
250 lbs. calves, but the
1000 lbs. springer heifers it
could be downright diffi-
cult. A rancher also has to
deal with dehorning,
branding, castration, tag-
ging and vaccinating. Then
there is mastitis, wire/
metal consumption, worm-
ing, bloating, cancer and
on and on. Yes it sounds
easy when you say I
worked on a farm, but it is
never that easy.
Colleen worked too.
Through the years she ba-
by sat a lot. She planted
trees, worked as the Coun-
ty Humane Officer, con-
tracted to teach in home
dental education, she was
a tobacco prevention
awareness officer. Re-
member that announce-
ment you used to hear on
the Washington State Fer-
ry that said, Smoking is
only allowed in the aft end
of the vessel, that was
Colleens idea and she
pushed it through. So as I
write this dont think I am
Continued Page 3

The Long and Winding Road, continued
leaving her out, she is boards. I was promoted to tanks. All the materials
amazing! forklift operator, and then were left in piles at the
When I say I worked at the lumber carrier (aka various camp sites around
a saw mill, I think most straddle buggy). Then I Ross Lake in the North Cas-
people envision stacking moved to the log yard cades National Park. Only
lumber. Well I did plenty where I operated all the one site was accessible by
of that. I worked on the various machines including vehicle, the rest were ac-
green- a Cat cessed by boat. We stayed
chain a fair 988B in tents and worked with
bit. I once and a picks, bars, sledgeham-
stacked an Ken- mers and shovels to loosen
entire load worth and remove the rocks. We
of 16 Dart log manhandled rocks up to
4x4s, stacker. 200lbs, after that we
thats 121 The would use a gas powered
pieces in summer Cobra Rock Drill to bore a
just under 2 minutes, yes it of 1983 I bid a job with the hole in the rock and a
was a busy night. I worked National Parks Dept. small explosive charge to
for a year on the Timber putting in outhouse holes. crack the rock to pieces.
Deck where I stacked 4x8 We dug a total of 16 holes, During that time we
through 4x12 of all lengths 5 deep and 6 round, bed- met a couple that invited
as well as 6x6 and 6x8 of ded the bottom with sand, us to their church. We
various lengths. That sum- placed a fiberglass tank in attended a couple times
mer I lost 25lbs. the and after several months
and got as low hole began attending regularly.
as 130lbs. I was and We became very involved
transferred in- poured in the activities there. As
side the mill sand the year ended the Pastor
where I worked around asked everyone to pray
as a bullcook, a the and ask God if He wanted
spotter for the tank, them to serve on one of
trim saws and a lumber completing it with 6x8x4 the several elected posi-
separator. All those jobs concrete slab were some- tions in the church. Later
are hands on the lumber one else built a building that week I went into our
keeping it straight and over it. In 6 weeks we bedroom knelt down next
moving forward through mixed 9 yards of con- to the bed and prayed ask-
the mill. The crete in ing God if He wanted me
spotter a wheel to serve I would be willing.
touches every barrow At that moment I heard a
single board for the voice that was so impactful
that comes slabs. it still rings in my ears. The
out of the mill, We also voice matter-of-factly said,
in the course used 2.5 Fulltime. I was shocked,
of an 8 hour tons of I snapped my head up to
shift that is sand in see if someone had walked
tens of thousands of 80lbs bags to bed the into the room. No one was
Continued on page 4
Page 3
The norm is low budget
and do your best with
what you have for a Chris-
tian movie. I must say the
producer(s) did a marvel-
ous job of squeezing every
cent of the budget. What
an experience!
The movie is based on
the true story of All Saints
Episcopal Church in Smyr-
na, Tennessee. The church
had lost all but twelve peo-
ple to the megachurch up
the road. This was seen as
a load on the Diocese and
the church was scheduled
to be closed and sold. A
just ordained, with a previ-
ous business background is
sent to close and sell the
church property which also
had 30 acres of rich
bottomland.
The new pastor was not
well received because the
members knew what he
was there for. All went as
planned until 30 Karen
(Burmese) arrived in town
desperately needing help.
They were Christians and
Episcopalian so they
turned to All Saints. The
new pastor is in a quanda-
ry until he gets a visitation
from God. I GAVE YOU 30
ACRES OF RICH LAND AND
30 FARMERS TO SAVE THIS
CHURCH. GET BUSY. That's
when the movie gets inter-
esting. I highly recommend
it for viewing. As always
Gods goals are almost nev-
er ours. There is an ending
twist that will gladden you
and build your faith.
-Leo Boyd
Irondale Church News
The Long and Winding Road, part 1, continued
there. I was so shaken, I
stuttered, What? Then
the voice softly swept
across my hearing again,
Fulltime. And that was
it. I was now sitting on the
bedroom floor completely
stunned. I was a father, a
husband, I had responsibil-
ities galore and what did
this mean. After a few mo-
ments of reflection, I de-
cided I must have made it
all up. God didnt need
me, I was hearing things. I
put it out of my mind and
went on about my busi-
ness.
Over the next several
weeks, I heard testimonies
from people about how
God had spoken to them. I
heard messages about
what a calling is and it
seemed every time I
turned
around
there was
something
reminding
me of
those
words I raise
heard in prayer. I did not
seem to be able to shake
it. I didnt want it. I didnt
even like the idea of it.
But It seemed to be
growing within me. I was
conflicted, irritable angry
and quite uncertain about
this unexpected event. As
time passed Gods leading
was at work and on March
17, 1984 Colleen and I
jointly submitted to the
unknown call that was on
our life.
We began by moving
to Colorado to attend a
YWAM discipleship train-
ing school. We were
schooled alright, but not
how we had planned.
Seems the universal
church in America still had
the same problems it had
had in 1976. The school
was for me to figure out
how to manage Gods bro-
ken children. Something I
have since learned is not a
goal, but a lifestyle. To
that God also gave me a
life verse for my ministry,
Matthew 10:5-8, Go
nowhere among the Gen-
tiles and enter no town of
the Samaritans, but go ra-
ther to the lost sheep of
the house of Israel. And
proclaim as
you go, say-
ing, The
kingdom of
heaven is at
hand. Heal
the sick,
the
dead, cleanse lepers, cast
out demons. You received
without paying; give with-
out pay.
Now 33 years later, I
continue to work on it.
Failing some days, excel-
ling on others. Just trying
to leave the world a little
better than I found it.
There are no guarantees
that that will happen, but
win or lose I have given it a
Page 4
pretty good shot.
How about you? Are
you living your call? It may
not have come through a
word in your prayers, but it
has come to you, some-
how, some way; a beckon-
ing from God to you to
move from death to life.
Its never an event, its al-
ways a life change.
Love you all, welcome
to fall,
-Pastor David
So Precious are
the Prayers of
Gods Warriors
God is so faithful; He gives
strength to the weary,
hope to the helpless and
courage to those who He
allows to go through deep
waters.
Nothing stops Him from
doing ultimate good in our
lives. Nothing! Not our fi-
nite way of thinking, our
fearful ways or our misun-
derstanding hearts.
When our vision is so
short sighted that we only
focus on the here and
now, He sees the plans He
has for us for all eternity
and gently wipes away our
fears if we will let Him.
Its so hard to let go
and let HIM have His way
in our lives. When ones
we care about are ill and
there is no cure and the
prognosis is for their immi-
nent decline and even
Continued on Page 5
Irondale Church News
So Precious are the Prayers of Gods Warriors, continued
death, we want to clutch
them with all we have ei-
ther literally or prayerfully.
Not always but often easy
to forget we are all just
passing through here.
This was never meant to
be our permanent home.
Not for any of us.
Years ago when the di-
agnosis of cancer came to
me and the other diagno-
ses came along as well, in
less than three weeks
there were five of them I
was too blown away to
really think or feel clearly.
There were simply too
many of them at once and
I knew my only source of
hope was the Lord.
Pastor David was there
for me as much as he
could be and was wonder-
ful, but when night came
and I woke up from a
sound sleep to find those
dreams were true and not
just a nightmare, it was
God I clung to and learned
to have strength in a way
deeper way than ever be-
fore. It was really wonder-
ful to have a husband to go
through them with but
amazing to know God nev-
er slept never kept a count
of how many times I came
to Him in my weakness
then or now, He simply
planned to be there way
before I knew I would ever
have a need and His com-
mitment to me as His child
is endless.
It must have hurt Gods
heart to watch as I wres-
tled through things He al-
lowed, me but He didnt
stretch forth His hand and
take them away. He had a
plan for all of them. He is
about shaping and carving
us into His image every-
day. He teaches us so
much more when His
strength is made perfect in
our weakness.
When a calf is born it is
amazing to watch as its
mother who just gave birth
begins to lick it clean and
pokes it with her nose
(none to gently at times)
and moos to it. Finally it
wobbles and falls enough
times to get to its feet,
most often it succeeds on
its shaky little curved legs
to stand and in a matter of
minutes to hours, its ready
to romp around the field
or stall. The calf although
encouraged by its mother
has to learn on its own.
She cant lift them up alt-
hough I have seen a few
who appear to try and help
the new born, it never
works.
The same principle ap-
plies to us we have to
learn to take responsibility
for our own lives and our
own words and actions.
We cant keep blaming
others for our poor con-
duct or lack of practical
learning of life giving skills.
Our outcome in life wheth-
er every day or spiritual
Page 5
extends from the depths of
our hearts. Is our word our
bond? Do we appear ma-
ture in Christ but our
hearts wrestle with our
insecurities? Do our words
and behaviors show we
are seeking to live Godly
lives submitted to Him that
He is able to shape and
mold us to His use?
I hope you are stronger
than me, at times its all I
can do or sometimes I
dont submit to Him. You
see I am selfish I truly want
life on my terms.
A practical example is of
all things a cake pan. I
have had that pan almost
from the time I married
almost 43 years ago. I am
not sure how many cakes
or dishes I have made in it
but it is special to me. I
have worn a hole through
the side of it. It went miss-
ing, I struggled for days
trying to find it, deciding
this about it or that about
it or I must have left it
somewhere or. Heaven
forbid someone thought I
should throw it out. Alt-
hough it is a 9x13 inch pan
its of the old standard that
is slightly larger than the
ones of today.
Weeks of searching
and praying, my heart got
more bitter each day. I
went to the basement
opened the chest freezer;
there it was, full of bags of
spot shrimp, so they would
freeze flat, in my special
Continued on page 6

So Precious are the Prayers, of Gods Warriors, contd
pan.
I had caused my own
anguish and trouble, egg
now firmly on my face.
God didnt show me right
away, not before I went
out purchased one of the
new dreaded ones. I wish I
hadnt been so soon to
blame others and more
quickly realized my sin. I
had thought poorly of oth-
ers, my thoughts were not
kind.
It was just a pan; the fault
was in my heart, for you
see I get some of my pride-
ful identity from being
thrifty and careful with my
special tools. Trying to knowledge of God, and
be careful with our financ-
es in my cooking and kitch-
en has been part of my
goals all 43 years of my
married life. What a fool-
ish thing to look back on
and realize yet again I had
missed the mark. My iden-
tity should always rest in
the Lord especially in the
recesses of my heart and
mind as I should have taken
every thought captive. Being
tired is no excuse, being
stressed is no excuse.
What I needed was a
careful inventory of my
thought life to see if my
thoughts were kind towards
others and did my thoughts
represent God well in my
inner life. It saddens me that
I thought poorly first of oth-
ers instead of taking respon-
sibility.
2 Corinthians 10:5 KJV
Casting down imaginations
and every high thing that
exalts itself against the
bringing into captivity every
thought to the obedience of
Christ;
I am thankful there are
prayer warriors praying for
me every day, my biggest
battle is with myself, and I
am a tough opponent.
When I travel through deep
waters I need to remember
Page 6
He, God, gives me wings to
mount up on.
Isaiah 40:31 NLT But those
who trust in the Lord will
find new strength. They will
soar high on wings like ea-
gles. They will run and not
grow weary. They will walk
and not faint.
God is filled with pa-
tience and mercy. It is the
resource of His goals I
should be striving towards
each day. Mine lead me to
grow weary. His mercy to-
wards me never fails myself
and I should not fail others
in demonstrating mercy to
them.
Lamentations 3:22-23 ESV
the steadfast love of the
lord never ceases; his mer-
cies never come to an end;
they are new every morn-
ing, great is your faithful-
ness.
-Colleen
Womens Bible
Study Fellowship
There is a new Womens
Bible Study Fellowship group
that is starting on Friday, Sep-
tember 15 at 9:20 am. The
study is on Romans this year,
and it meets from 9:20 to
11:20 at Calvary Community
Church. It is non-
denominational, and if you
have any questions, please
call Becki Foreman at 360-531
-1227.

Why Our Church Doesnt Take Credit Cards
Recently I was asked
why the church isnt set up
to accept credit cards, and
I was prompted to do a
little research on what it
takes, and costs to do so.
In order to accept
credit cards, we would first
be required to set up a
Merchant Account with a
bank or independent pay-
ment processor. This
would allow us to accept
and process credit card
payments and possibly a
per transaction fee as well.
We would need to ac-
quire a POS (Point of Sale)
system that includes a pay-
ment screen, credit card
reader, receipt printer and
cash drawer; or an all-in-
one processor like the
Square.
There are various ways
to accept credit card pay-
ments: by phone, online,
in person, etc. These are
subject also to various
transaction fees. Current
transaction fees are hover-
ing around 3 percent. This
means that for every dollar
donated by credit card, 3
cents is taken off the top
by the processing compa-
ny, and the remaining 97
cents comes to us. Most
processors offer rapid ap-
proval or denial of the
card, the funds would take
a few days to be put into
our bank account.
How would this work in
our case? Right now,
every penny that comes into
our church is used by the
church for ministry. Ac-
cepting credit cards would
give us another bill to pay,
and we would have to wait to
access the funds. It would be
time consuming to take the
offering, and for the volun-
teers to process the offering,
adding another step to the
way things currently work. It
would add more steps and
time to our general
bookkeeping as well. There
are additional concerns, like
fraud and keeping the neces-
sary equipment updated.
Another issue is the
question of debt. It is so easy
to acquire credit card debt in
these ties. Say we had a
presentation, speaker or love
offering taken, and the sub-
ject really spoke to a persons
heart. Filled with inspiration,
that person ships out their
credit card to make a sub-
stantial donation, not having
the funds to back the transac-
tion up. Are we encouraging
debt?
We are a church family.
We should be looking out for
each others best interests
and the interests of Irondale
Church. Is it in our best inter-
est to pay a fee for every do-
nation by credit card? We
are a community doing our
best to love our neighbors in
the service of the Lord Jesus,
and He blesses us with the
abilities and finances to do
so.
Page 7
B u s i n e s s N a m e
So for now, we will not be
receiving credit cards, but
who knows what the future
holds?
May we honor Him with
all of our gifts,
-Kim Wilcox
All Saints Review
The norm is low budget and do your
best with what you have for a Chris-
tian movie. I must say the producer(s)
did a marvelous job of squeezing eve-
ry cent of the budget. What an expe-
rience!
The movie is based on the true sto-
ry of All Saints Episcopal Church in
Smyrna, Tennessee. The church had
lost all but twelve people to the meg-
achurch up the road. This was seen as
a load on the Diocese and the church
was scheduled to be closed and sold.
A just ordained, with a previous busi-
ness background is sent to close and
sell the church property which also
had 30 acres of rich bottomland.
The new pastor was not well re-
ceived because the members knew
what he was there for. All went as
planned until 30 Karen (Burmese) ar-
rived in town desperately needing
help. They were Christians and Epis-
copalian so they turned to All Saints.
The new pastor is in a quandary until
he gets a visitation from God. I GAVE
YOU 30 ACRES OF RICH LAND AND 30
FARMERS TO SAVE THIS CHURCH. GET
BUSY. That's when the movie gets
interesting. I highly recommend it for
viewing. As always Gods goals are
almost never ours. There is an ending
twist that will gladden you and build
your faith.
-Leo Boyd