Lana Gardner will retire on May 24, 2024 after 12 years of faithful service in our front office. Lana has been an active and supportive member at Easthaven for almost 40 years. She is a confident, capable, and consistent follower of Christ and so many have been impacted by her years of volunteering and serving at Easthaven before she became a part of the church staff. She has been part of the church choir, a mission trip participant to Thailand, and has been enthusiastically teaching children every week. She has been a faithful, humble, and conscientious servant. Lana has always been willing to arrive early and stay late to serve and bless others. She has been respected for her wisdom, experience, and insight as a dedicated disciple of Jesus. She has demonstrated the biblical qualities of a woman of God and leads by example in loving her husband, her children, and her grandchildren. We are so grateful that as she retires she will continue to be that faithful, humble, and valued servant as a member of Easthaven.

If you would like to write a card of appreciation or gratitude as Lana retires, cards are available in The Hub or the front office and can also be dropped off there. We will have a retirement celebration with treats in the gym after each service on the weekend of May 18-19.

Pastor Matt Fitzwater has accepted the call to pastor with Howard Mee at Glacier Church in Kalispell. As many of you know, both Pastor Matt and Pastor Howard have been providing pulpit supply at Glacier Church for the last few months. During those months, Glacier Church entered into a process of searching for a new pastor. Howard and Matt applied, and Glacier Church extended a call for both Howard and Matt to be co-pastors, and they accepted.

We’ve been looking forward to sharing this news once it became official, and now we get to celebrate with them! We get to launch them into a new ministry, but at the same time we are sad because we are going to miss seeing them as much. We know you may have questions, and we’re finalizing details now about Matt’s counseling ministry to continue at Easthaven.

Debbie Catlett who served as our Weekend Preschool Ministry Leader is also leaving our staff. Both Lee and Debbie Catlett felt that God was opening a new door for their Mark4 ministry, and they look forward to serving in ministry together again. Debbie’s last day at Easthaven was Friday, April 26.

Heidi Freeman accepted the part-time admin position and will start in our front office on Wednesday, May 8. We are excited to have her join our staff!