Friendship Center, an inter-denominational church, started on January 6, 2019, under the spiritual leadership of Pastor Ron Hunt. It has been a very busy three months with the leadership team of Randy Petersen, Loretta Sutton, Bob Bennett and Mary LaPaglia, among others.
Each Sunday, Musical Director Lisa Hunt shares her keyboard and vocal talents with Ken Muhlbeier regularly sharing his gifts on guitar. Other musicians have stepped in and make the services wonderful each Sunday.
The first Sunday’s worship focused on Jesus calling his disciples “friends,” the passage that is the inspiration for the name of the Church. It is a summation of how we believe Jesus lived and how he taught his followers to live throughout his lifetime. It is “Loving God, Loving Everyone, Everywhere.”
Each service we delve into Jesus’ greatest teachings in the Gospels and hold a Bible study by that name every Tuesday at 4:00 p.m. in the Laredo Room. We also formed an inter-faith Spiritual Friendship Group for 12 weeks which was loved by all who attended.
For one of our most memorable services, we headed outdoors. On March 11, we held our inaugural “Bless the Pets” Service attended by 25 canines, one cat and 45 of their best two-legged friends. We’re happy to say the sun was shining and there was no fur flying!
On March 31, we celebrated our first 90 days. We were blessed to have 22 members of the RR Singers perform Oh Love at both services, accompanied by Amy Petersen. It was an inspiring song that deeply moved us all.
Later that same day we continued to celebrate our first 90 days, holding our first “Happier Hour” at the home of Ken and Kathy Muhlbeier. This was a great opportunity to get to know each other better. We told stories about “something no one knows about me.” Laughter abounded and good fellowship was had by all.
On Palm Sunday, we held a unique service incorporating Pastor Bob Kleinke’s one act play Why Did Jesus Die? A Grand Jury Investigation into the Trial and Execution of Jesus. Bob is also a Robson resident. Cast: Peter, Tom Albrecht; Mary Magdalene, Teresa Jo Fletcher; Judas, Bob Bennett; Caiaphas, Ken Muhlbeier; Herod, Randy Petersen; Pontius Pilot, Ron Carpenter; Attorney for the State, Bob Kleinke.
We concluded our Holy Week with a beautiful celebration of our first Easter Worship Services.
Members of our church were also instrumental in starting a local chapter of “100+ People Who Care.” Each quarter, “The Power of 100 Desert Dreamers” will raise $100 from each participant, or a team of people, and donate all of the proceeds to a non-profit doing great work among us for those most in need. Friendship Center will give 10% of all the offerings we receive to the non-profits selected for the 100+ local chapter.
The first recipient on April 8 was Seeds of Hope, a non-profit that serves the wider Casa Grande area homeless and other people living on the margin. Each quarter the Desert Dreamers plan to raise at least $10,000 per quarter for the good work being done beyond Robson’s borders.
On May 5, we start our summer worship schedule and have a single service in the Laredo Room at 8:30 a.m. During the first four months we worshiped at 8:00 a.m. and 9:30 a.m. with the snowbirds growing our numbers for worship.
We continue with our mission of Loving God, and Loving Everyone, Everywhere. We want you and everyone to know that you are always welcome here! God bless.