904 Washington St SE, Olympia, WA 98501
Table Conversations • January 31st
Join Pastor Mark at 10am in the Fireside Room for the first session of Table Conversations. This is meant to be a place for you to come and ask questions about the Bible and/or other topics, issues, of faith, that you might have. We don’t guarantee your questions will be answered completely, but we do want to create a safe space to ask and talk about the things around faith that might raise questions for us and/or that we might struggle with.
The Thin Place: Where the Sacred and the Ordinary Collide
January 2026
It was suggested to me from members of our Executive Leadership Team that I might consider resharing my Annual Report article for 2025 in this first newsletter for 2026 - and that was good suggestion! After all, I would imagine that not everyone was able to pick up a copy of the Annual Report, plus our newsletter, The Windows, has a pretty extensive mailing list. What you will read in the column to the right, is my attempt at giving you a “state of Oly First” over-view of where we have been, where we are currently, and what might be in our future.
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This past year of 2025 seems to have come onto us like a whirlwind, and now it is almost gone. It has been another year of transition, of saying goodbye to love ones, to adapting and pivoting in different directions because, well, because life is never predictable or static. We are, after all, participants with-in God’s ongoing and continuous story, and there are plenty of twists, turns, and surprises that we encounter. Life in God’s community we call Oly First, is no different.
We began our year with a new governance model, a scaled down version of our older model, but hoping for more flexibility and adaptability as well as increased communication between leadership team leaders/members and the congregation. Also adopting a consensus centered decision-making process has made this new governance style a bit clunky, sort of like learning a new language. The good news is that our church is still standing, still involved in the mission and ministry that God has laid before us. Newer ministries like OPOP (One Parish-One Prisoner), World Relief move forward as we continue serving God and loving people alongside established ministries such as Table Grace, American Baptist Women’s Ministries, Widows group, Men’s Ministries, etc.
For me, from my perspective, I continue to be amazed by you all. Your faithfulness, your servant hearts; your ability to roll with the unexpected hiccups we encounter. One of our major accomplishments this year was hosting the 2025 Annual Gathering of the Evergreen Association of American Baptist Churches, in October. This was a year-long commitment of preparation, cleaning, sprucing up, providing accessible spaces, forming teams of hospitality. From January until that weekend in October, there was some kind of planning, preparing, hands-on work being done, to get us ready to host.
Big shout out to the primary Leadership Team of: Rev. Joan Friesen, Jan Downen, and Meggin Turk!
I also think we rediscovered our ability to pull together and work as a team. The end of April began my journey with Cornelius, that annoying, little nodule in my left lung that turned out to be lung cancer. Thank goodness, and Praise God, that it was Stage 1, and even though a rare form of cancer, it was not aggressive and fast growing. That meant, there were a lot more trips to various doctors for me, and then more tests, a failed biopsy, and then, finally, surgery in August, followed by 6 weeks of at home medical leave. Through all of that you all, the Executive Leader-ship Team led by Sandi Swarthout, and Rev. Joan Friesen as Acting Pastor, continued to be the church on the corner of 9th and Washington. You continued to live out our values of hospitality, relational connection, and spiritual nurture. You continued being the hands, feet, and heart of Christ to others. So much uncertainty; so much worry with a bit of anxiety thrown into the mix, but you all worked together, stood-in-the-gap, for me and with me. Through it all, God was served, relied upon, and honored. You should feel good about it!
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2026 is now on our horizon. If you stand on your tiptoes, you can see it. What now?
After much prayer, soul-searching, conversation with others, etc. this coming year we will focus on spiritual renewal and formation. Our values of relational connection and spiritual nurture are important, and at times, also awkward. The gospel is about relationships. Our relationship with God, in and through Christ. Whether strengthening established relationships within the church and/or building relationships with newer members and/or the people we are ministering with and too, we will look for opportunities to reinforce those relational connections.
Likewise, spiritual nurturing is intertwined with those relationships. Everything we do as a congregation, from worship, to the various ministries and ministry groups, to the teaching that takes place, have a spiritual formation component to it. Everything we do is to be Christ-centered, and then you add the unexpected and surprising addition of God’s Holy Spirit and one can’t help being spiritually formed and shaped. We want this coming year to be one of intention and discovery on how to open ourselves to being spiritually nurtured as well as finding ways to be a spiritual nurturer to others.
As always, the road ahead of us as we build upon our legacy/history, will be filled with smooth days as well as bumpy and unexpected ones. But, we move forward, together as we:
Walk Humbly, Love Completely, Live Differently!
Blessings and Joy!
Humble over Hype!
Pastor Mark (Rev)
Annual Report ’25
Senior Pastor – Rev. Mark Rambo
Made in God’s Image
Enough in God’s eyes
Deeply, Deeply, Loved!
Each and every day, I try to remind myself of this little mantra that we have attempted to incorporate into our consciousness, as we go about God’s ministry of good news, here on the corner of 9th and Washington. This good news can be a reminder and an encouragement for any of us when we are engaged in our community values of: Hospitality, Relational Connection and Spiritual Nurturing.
Wherever we may find ourselves, the person across from us, in front of us, and/or even behind us, bears the image of God, is enough in God’s eyes and is deeply loved. That includes the person staring back at you in the mirror. After all, we all have those days, and even weeks when we don’t think we are enough, loved, and/or have anything resembling God, within us.
So, whether as a reminder, an encouragement, and/or a prayer as you start your day, KNOW, that you are wrapped in this good news message and that you are SEEN and LOVED, by God, and others!
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