The People of the Park…

Sunday Morning Worship Services

At The Resort

By Dale Dauten

“We are all just walking each other home.”

Robert Fulghum

“We’re not a church – we’re a worship service.” That’s one of the first things we heard when we sat down to talk about the group that gathers in the Ballroom on Sunday mornings. As for the volunteer group that puts on the Worship Services, they may be the oldest organization in the park. It turns out they even have a written history, thanks to Matt Vetter, who took the time to share with us some of what he learned putting together his account.

Having written about many dozens of Resort organizations, this was the first time we’ve encountered a written history. When we expressed our pleasure and surprise to Matt, he just shrugged and said, “I was a History major.” Here’s how the history that Matt chronicles begins…

When The Resort first opened in 1983, a small group of residents including Harry and Orpha Hilde, Jackie and Brink Nelson, and Stub and Lorraine Lehmeier, among others, approached the Resort Manager at the time to ask for permission to use a room for worship services. Permission was granted, and for a number of seasons the group met in the Solarium, or in individual homes. The small group purchased about 20 hymnals and proceeded rather informally. When Lauren and Nikki Harris were residents of the park, Len, a lay preacher, wanted to start a more formal, non-denominational Sunday morning worship service. He approached Glenn and Ruth Hopkins, who were from Illinois, to help him formalize a Worship Service in The Resort. They met in the party room for a few Sundays. About January 1986, they approached Lew (Llewellyn) and Gwen Hodgson to help them continue and expand the Sunday morning Worship Services. The Worship Services were moved to the ballroom because there was a piano. There were about 20 people present. The choir consisted of five members. These founders started the format that is still in use today.

Before we move on, let’s stop and appreciate some of those names: you don’t often run into a Stub, a Brink, or an Orpha.  More importantly, we can appreciate how the seeds planted by those founders have flourished: the day we met with Matt, there were nearly a hundred in attendance (and this was early in the season, long before residency peaks) and he told us that while the first recorded attendance was 20, with 5 in the choir, the current record is 420, with 50 in the choir.

As for funding, The Resort provides the space while the work is from volunteers. Bob Gilmore, who heads the Worship Services Committee, described what that means:

“It takes 20-24 folks to accomplish a Sunday morning. The nice thing about the congregation is that almost all have long-term experience at their churches back home, so someone knows what needs to be done: how to greet people, how to put together worship bulletins, how to be a soloist, how to lead the choir, lead the music, or be the music. They know how to run the sound system, and they know how to make the coffee. We do very little recruiting — people just get busy and get things done.”

One of the people who gets things done is Bob’s wife, Gayle, who is the regular pianist for the services. We’ve also heard that she plays music while the volunteers are doing setup, and Bob explained: “She’s kind and thoughtful. When we set up the chairs on Saturday, it takes about half an hour — it’s not heroic work, but it’s hard work. Gayle comes and plays for us, and that adds energy. She plays the old tunes and people are humming along, and that makes the work lighter.”

And while volunteers do most of the work, the services do require funding, and that comes from attendees’ donations. As Matt wrote for the church history, “Early on, the worship committee determined that the services would be self- supporting. After expenses, all donations would be given to local Christian ministries. Church costs typically included the speaker’s honorarium, printing expenses, and refreshments.” However, the generosity of the congregation means that the group has been able to make donations, and, over time, the worship team has made Sunshine Acres the beneficiary of the donations beyond expenses. As Matt told us, “Every penny is donated to Sunshine Acres. Last year, that was $6000.”

If you’re not familiar with Sunshine Acres, it refers to itself as “a miracle in the desert,” saying, “Sunshine Acres provides a loving, wholesome, Christian home for children who are separated from their parents.” Over 2000 kids have called home to the Higley campus with its 100+ acres, including horses.

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