Sequim newlife church

Grand opening at 10:30 a.m. Sunday, Sept. 17

Sequim Middle School cafeteria, 301 W. Hendrickson Road

More information, visit newlife.tv/Sequim

Small group Bible studies starting this fall.

Going into his church’s grand opening this weekend, David Lyke, campus lead for Sequim’s newlife church branch, wants the community to know he and the congregation are in Sequim to serve.

“We’re here to love this community,” Lyke said.

“Our heart and passion is to engage people in healthy conversations about who God is and how he can change and transform your life and share that there’s hope in Jesus. That’s really the heartbeat of what we’re all about.”

The new church hosts a grand opening at 10:30 a.m. Sunday, Sept. 17, in Sequim Middle School, 301 W. Hendrickson Road.

Lyke, 38, said the church is one of eight campuses with its headquarters in Silverdale. Sequim’s branch held its first gathering last Easter for 85 people. Gatherings continue each Sunday morning at the school but coming to Sequim wasn’t a decision that came lightly, he said.

“The truth is, there are a lot of great churches in this community,” Lyke said.

He compares the situation to a new restaurant coming to town.

“People might try it, but say, ‘I like what I like. This is what I’m comfortable with,’ but some people might go to the new restaurant and feel at home there,” he said.

One of the first questions Lyke said he asked is how the church can help Sequim.

“It’s not about us doing events for the community,” he said. “It’s about us being in the community.”

Whether that’s volunteering in Sequim schools or for My Choices, Lyke said they want to work with community members who have already identified where the needs are in Sequim.

“Being a mobile church forces you to be out in the community more,” he said. “The heart we have is we want to inundate the community with the love of Jesus.”

Despite several Christian churches in the area, Lyke and others feel there’s a lot of opportunity to reach people who don’t have a church home yet.

New start

Sequim’s newlife branch became a reality after current attendees lobbied to have a branch come to Sequim, Lyke said, because they either moved to the area from an existing branch or commuted to another branch from Sequim.

“We had a lot of one-on-one conversations and three different vision nights (before Easter),” Lyke said about setting up the church. “We invited people to come and began casting the vision of what we felt we needed to do in Sequim.”

Before starting Sequim newlife, Lyke and his wife Megan were pastors at First Assembly of God in Walla Walla for four years.

While there, Wes Davis, lead pastor for newlife, whom Lyke interned under in Poulsbo years ago, called him about the Sequim church becoming a possibility.

“If he had said anywhere else we might have said no,” Lyke said.

Eight years ago, the Lykes were living in Port Angeles serving as youth pastors.

“When we were there, we always felt a calling to Sequim to maybe start something there,” Lyke said.

“We thought about doing it through the church we were at while doing our regular duties but shortly thereafter we took a step in a different direction which led us to Walla Walla.”

Now the Lykes have two boys, Elisha, a third grader, and Judah, a first grader, at Helen Haller Elementary.

“We’re excited to be here,” Lyke said. “Our family has an overwhelming sense to be here and we’re being connected with people we never thought we’d be connected with.”

More about newlife

All of newlife’s campuses began in school buildings, like Sequim Middle School, Lyke said, and the church’s main campus recently moved into its own building in Silverdale.

Sunday gatherings are standard to many contemporary Christian services, he said, opening with greetings, children’s church for newborns-fifth grade, 15-20 minutes of modern worship music with occasional hymn or classic chorus, and followed by a 30-minute message.

Organizers are currently working towards forming a full worship band too, he said. “We have a wide-variety of people from young professionals to empty nesters,” Lyke said. “Our hope is to have a multi-generational church that is able to speak to any generation.”

For more information on newlife Sequim, visit newlife.tv/Sequim.

Lyke notes that the church’s name is all lower case and its web address ends in TV to set it apart from the many other New Life churches in the world.