Serving Christ Together: Palmer’s United Protestant Presbyterian Church

When I stopped in to visit with Pastor Leisa Carrick in the familiarly-known “log church” in downtown Palmer, she greeted me warmly with her characteristic smile.

Right away, she began to relate a story that illustrated her character as a leader in Palmer’s faith community. As a part of an effort to provide chaplain services to the hospital, Pastor Lesia recently responded to a request from a family with a comatose loved one in the ICU.

The family asked Pastor Leisa to lead them in a prayer of healing, which she did, taking the unconscious woman by the hand, and inviting the rest of the family to join hands with them.

“We try to provide whatever help we can,” she noted. “Sometimes I feel out of my comfort zone. I wonder, ‘Oh, my, what shall I do?’ I want God to use us to bless the people of our community.”

As a leader of the United Protestant Church (Presbyterian), Leisa Carrick, along with her husband Tim, have certainly blessed the Palmer community for over 31 years: providing Sunday services, sponsoring groups for men, women and youth, and reaching out to prison ministries. When they first arrived on the scene, they were raising a young family, and Tim filled the pastor role. Leisa, though an ordained minister, chose at that time to be a stay-at-home mom. In 1999, they became co-pastors over the congregation, and today the church serves more than 100 local families.

“As a downtown church, we keep our doors open every day, all day long. Our church wants to be a refuge in the community,” Pastor Leisa said.

Combining with other local churches, United Protestant (Presbyterian) provides limited housing for homeless families through the Family Promise program. The church is also involved with another new organization: The Navigation Center (on Evergreen Street, across from the Chevron gas station in Palmer). Pastor Leisa noted that this center offers resource connections, laundry and shower vouchers, education and employment links, and more, and is sponsored by Daybreak, Inc. and the Palmer Chamber of Commerce. Pastor Leisa emphasized the necessity for this response to many needs in our little town.

I asked about the history of this beautiful “church of the thousand trees,” and she told me that its origin dates back to the mid-1930’s, when a New Deal Colony was established in the Mat-Su Valley. When the community was organized, a ‘Church Block’ was planned. Catholics requested a chapel of their own, so the block was divided in half. Then there was a desire for a Lutheran Church, and the block was divided into thirds. Thirteen other churches in the community combined to become the “United Protestant Church”, (which happens to be Presbyterian), and Pastor Bingle was called from Cordova to preside in 1935, before the settlers arrived. The building was built by colonists and dedicated in 1937.

All the churches on the church block were built of logs—the original Lutheran church building was long ago outgrown and carefully moved to the fairgrounds. The Catholic congregation expanded into the property across the street, which allowed United Protestant (Presbyterian) to grow as well.

Over the next 60 years, the congregation continued to grow, until in 1997 the Church had to consider how to expand their building. They were quickly overwhelmed by the cost of more logs. Then, a blessing: a sawmill offered a stash of beetle-killed logs for free if the Church would simply haul them away. Just what they needed, just in time, at just the right price.

Because of their close proximity to each other, and the needs of their parishioners, the three churches of the Colony “Church Block” have remained close through the decades, working together on a variety of projects and serving the community as a united group. Over the years these churches have even collaborated on their Vacation Bible School, a level of cooperation rarely seen anywhere else.

A stone marker on the property memorializes their unique relationship. “Celebrating our friendship and common faith in God in years past and for years to come: St. John Lutheran Church, St. Michael’s Catholic Church, United Protestant Church.”

Serving together is what brought Pastor Leisa to the hospital that summer day. As she joined hands for the family prayer, abruptly, buzzers began to sound. The woman opened her eyes and raised her hand. Astonished, Pastor Leisa gave the ill woman’s hand to her daughter. “If you can hear my voice, squeeze your daughter’s hand,” requested a surprised nurse. The hand was squeezed. More requests and more responses. The sick woman was on her way to healing. Pastor Leisa left the hospital that day grateful for a loving God, and her opportunity to help.

On the palmerlogchurch.org webpage, the church extends an invitation to the community they love to join them as they “figure out what it means to be disciples of Jesus Christ.” Palmer’s United Protestant Church sounds like a great place to do just that.

United Protestant Church (Presbyterian) is located at 713 S Denali Street in Palmer. Sunday services are at 11 am, with a livestream option on Facebook Live.

Kristin Fry is a retired music teacher enjoying grandchildren, gardening and the great summertime Palmer. She is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.