Worship, Community, Service in Christ
Loving God, Loving Others, Living like Jesus
Living as Disciples of Jesus - “In, Out and Up” our values as a faith community
“Up” Value - Worship and Loving God
"UP" represents those things that help us connect with God – we would normally define those activities and practices that deepen devotional living, love of God, and “fuel” (that being, that which feeds the heart and spirit of those who follow Jesus to live with and for Him on a day to day basis) discipleship…for example, prayer, worship, the sacraments, scripture reading, biblical teaching and encouragement, all in a miraculous, Holy Spirit enabled environment.
“Out” Value - Blessing, Being Sent, Making Disciples
The "OUT" realm is the realm of blessing others in the name and love of Jesus. It is the “pure religion” that is defined in the words of James (James 1:27). We attempt to love others and serve others (and watching people’s lives transform), blessing people (the tangible touch of God – peace of God – the "shalom" of God on every part of our lives).
“In Value” - Inclusive Community, Relationships, Growing Disciples
The "IN" value is patterned after our Lord Jesus who was radically INCLUSIVE and it was Jesus who empowered a movement that was known for its love and the power of community. In fact, the words, “see how they love each other” was uttered by outsiders (the New Testament says that in Antioch people saw a community that really acted like a real community, in loving, transformed relationships).
Growing as a Disciple of Jesus - “Up, Out and In”
This simple diagram is a representation of how Our Savior’s envisions a growing disciple of Jesus. We live “balanced” lives of loving God, loving other and blessing our world. Our Identity as Jesus followers and our behavior/action is “found” in the “sweet spot” as we live our lives in worship, community and service to Jesus. Discover more by clicking the “Learn More” button above. All our Discipleship strategy statements and studies are found on that page!
The NEW Pastoral Leader of Our Savior’s
+ The Rev. Dr. Kirk Hille +
The third of four children born to Pastor Will and Sue Hille, Kirk vowed that he would never become a pastor—and God laughed! After graduating from high school in Spokane, Kirk studied architecture in the honors program at Washington State University, only to find himself volunteering at a local church and challenged by the hostility toward Christianity of some fellow students and professors. So, for his junior year, Kirk transferred to Concordia University in Nebraska, where he was encouraged to struggle with the difficult questions of theology, majored in speech and drama, and eventually graduated with a secondary education degree and Director of Christian Education certification. Kirk was married to a fellow DCE student and served churches in the Houston and Seattle areas as a youth minister before he felt God compelling him to enter the seminary in St. Louis and become the 5th generation of Lutheran pastors in his family.
After graduation and ordination, Kirk was privileged to serve a small, rural congregation while starting a new mission plant, both outside Portland, Oregon. After seven years he moved with his family to Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, where he served as senior pastor. In 2011 he was called to serve a church in Spokane, Washington, to which he could commute while continuing to parent his two children in Coeur d’Alene. A year later Kirk met René, an administrator trained in social services, who had four young-adult children of her own. They soon married, and together started a divorce recovery ministry which was the focus of the major applied project for Kirk’s doctorate in ministry, completed in 2017. Kirk is a curriculum author who has written three books published by Concordia Publishing House, and he has served as a university theology and education instructor. He has also been privileged to teach and encourage fellow Christians in Chihuahua, Mexico, Yancheng, China, and bush villages surrounding Jinja, Uganda.
Kirk and René love living in the mountains of the Northwest, where they particularly enjoy outdoor recreation, the arts, and raising their two German Shepherds. They adore their three grandchildren and are immensely proud of their children: Faith, a psychologist, wife, and mother in Deer Park, WA; Mariah, a professor of physics and astronomy at the College of New Jersey; Emily, a particle physicist working for CERN from the University of Colorado, Boulder; Daniel, a stay-at-home dad in Spokane; Anika, completing her Bachelor of Music Education with an emphasis on choral conducting at PLU in Tacoma; and Aidan, also working on a BME at Pacific Lutheran University, with an emphasis on saxophone performance and instrumental composition.