Wasilla Assembly of God
Encyclopedia
The Wasilla Assembly of God is a church
Church Body
A local church is a Christian religious organization that meets in a particular location. Many are formally organized, with constitutions and by-laws, maintain offices, are served by pastors or lay leaders, and, in nations where this is permissible, often seek seek non-profit corporate status...
in the town of Wasilla, Alaska
Wasilla, Alaska
Wasilla is a city in Matanuska-Susitna Borough, United States and the sixth-largest city in Alaska. It is located on the northern point of Cook Inlet in the Matanuska-Susitna Valley of the southcentral part of the state. The city's population was 7,831 at the 2010 census...
. Founded in 1951, it is a member of the Assemblies of God, a Pentecostal Christian denomination
Christian denomination
A Christian denomination is an identifiable religious body under a common name, structure, and doctrine within Christianity. In the Orthodox tradition, Churches are divided often along ethnic and linguistic lines, into separate churches and traditions. Technically, divisions between one group and...
.
The church gained national attention in 2008 when United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
presidential candidate Senator John McCain
John McCain
John Sidney McCain III is the senior United States Senator from Arizona. He was the Republican nominee for president in the 2008 United States election....
chose Alaska Governor Sarah Palin
Sarah Palin
Sarah Louise Palin is an American politician, commentator and author. As the Republican Party nominee for Vice President in the 2008 presidential election, she was the first Alaskan on the national ticket of a major party and first Republican woman nominated for the vice-presidency.She was...
, an attendee of the church until 2002, as his running mate in the 2008 election
United States presidential election, 2008
The United States presidential election of 2008 was the 56th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on November 4, 2008. Democrat Barack Obama, then the junior United States Senator from Illinois, defeated Republican John McCain, the senior U.S. Senator from Arizona. Obama received 365...
.
History
The church's founding pastor was Paul Riley. Originally meeting in the Wasilla Community Hall in 1951, the church purchased property and constructed a building that would be expanded and eventually house the church until the early 1980s when new land further down Knik-Goosebay Road was purchased and a new church built to accommodate growth. Around this time Tim McGraw succeeded Riley as pastor. McGraw served as pastor for 12 years before being succeeded by Ed Kalnins in 1999.Ed Kalnins
After the 2008 nomination of Sarah Palin for Vice President of the United StatesVice President of the United States
The Vice President of the United States is the holder of a public office created by the United States Constitution. The Vice President, together with the President of the United States, is indirectly elected by the people, through the Electoral College, to a four-year term...
, senior pastor Ed Kalnins' preaching was scrutinized by the media. His sermons were available on the church website. USA Today
USA Today
USA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...
reported the Huffington Post assertion that "Kalnins has preached that critics of President Bush will be banished to hell; questioned whether people who voted for Sen. John Kerry
John Kerry
John Forbes Kerry is the senior United States Senator from Massachusetts, the 10th most senior U.S. Senator and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He was the presidential nominee of the Democratic Party in the 2004 presidential election, but lost to former President George W...
in 2004 would be accepted into heaven; and preached that the Sept. 11 attacks and the war in Iraq were part of a world war over Christianity". Kalnins preached "I believe that Alaska is one of the refuge states... in the Last Days, and hundreds of thousands of people are going to come to this state to seek refuge. And the church has to ready to minister to them".
In an interview cited by the Wall Street Journal, Kalnins clarified his remarks on the Iraq war, saying "I don't think it's God's will to have a war. But in Iraq, America is fighting an enemy that has made it a war over beliefs". The church also issued a statement clarifying the Kerry assertions, "Those who know our church and Pastor Ed know that we often say things in a humorous, tongue in cheek manner. We do realize the danger in that. This is the way in which Pastor Ed made the controversial remark. We do acknowledge in hindsight that it was careless, and we do apologize for that".
Thomas Muthee
Guest speaker Thomas MutheeThomas Muthee
Thomas Muthee is a Kenyan preacher and bishop. During the 2008 United States Presidential campaign, his visit to the Wasilla, Alaska Assembly of God in 2005, including a blessing that he gave Sarah Palin, was widely discussed. His prior claims of successful spiritual warfare in Kiambu, Kenya...
's background, especially his accusations of witchcraft
Witchcraft
Witchcraft, in historical, anthropological, religious, and mythological contexts, is the alleged use of supernatural or magical powers. A witch is a practitioner of witchcraft...
against a woman known as "Mama Jane", received a great deal of media attention. Muthee's sermons have also been scrutinized, especially during a 2005 appearance at the Wasilla Assembly of God during which he prayed for Sarah Palin, asking God to protect her from witchcraft and for God to supply people and financial resources for her then-campaign for Alaska governor. The Boston Herald
Boston Herald
The Boston Herald is a daily newspaper that serves Boston, Massachusetts, United States, and its surrounding area. It was started in 1846 and is one of the oldest daily newspapers in the United States...
described it as "all smoke and no fire", pointing out that some religious experts believed that, in light of Muthee's cultural background, there was nothing strange about the prayer.
Sarah Palin
BaptizedBeliever's baptism
Believer's baptism is the Christian practice of baptism as this is understood by many Protestant churches, particularly those that descend from the Anabaptist tradition...
in the church at the age of 12, Sarah Palin
Sarah Palin
Sarah Louise Palin is an American politician, commentator and author. As the Republican Party nominee for Vice President in the 2008 presidential election, she was the first Alaskan on the national ticket of a major party and first Republican woman nominated for the vice-presidency.She was...
was an attendee until 2002. Speaking at the church in 2008, Palin asked congregants to "Pray for our military men and women who are striving to do what is right also for this country" and pray "that our national leaders are sending them out on a task that is from God. That's what we have to make sure we're praying for: that there is a plan and that plan is God's plan".
Ministries
Wasilla Assembly of God sponsors a youth group for girls in KindergartenKindergarten
A kindergarten is a preschool educational institution for children. The term was created by Friedrich Fröbel for the play and activity institute that he created in 1837 in Bad Blankenburg as a social experience for children for their transition from home to school...
to 8th grade called the Missionettes
Missionettes
Missionettes Girls Clubs, now known as Mpact Girls Clubs, are part of a world wide program directed by National Girls Ministries within the Assemblies of God. The program is the counterpart ministry to Royal Rangers but was started earlier in 1955...
. The youth group conducts several community service projects each year. The church hosts an annual Christian music concert called "Winter Rock Fest", which began in 2005, and now attracts over 1,000 youth each year.
The church runs ministries providing help to poor neighborhoods, care for children in need, and general community services. In cooperation with Alaska Family Services, the Salvation Army
Salvation Army
The Salvation Army is a Protestant Christian church known for its thrift stores and charity work. It is an international movement that currently works in over a hundred countries....
, and other area churches, the Wasilla Assembly of God distributed baskets to 39 families in Wasilla during Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving (United States)
Thanksgiving, or Thanksgiving Day, is a holiday celebrated in the United States on the fourth Thursday in November. It has officially been an annual tradition since 1863, when, during the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a national day of thanksgiving to be celebrated on Thursday,...
of 2005. The church also supplies food to the annual free Thanksgiving meal hosted by Shema Christian Ministries. The church established a teen youth learning center called Rally Point in 2006. Rally Point is located in the church's original building at Knik-Goose Bay Road.
The Master's Commission program is a live-in religious educational program for young adults. "To Know God and To Make Him Known" is the twofold purpose of Master's Commission discipleship ministry. The program is similar to other such programs at Assemblies of God congregations throughout the United States.