Weekly Letter from Pastor Dan - October 8

Dan Arnold • Lead Pastor
October 8, 2026

2 Minute Read

“Together we pursue Jesus, love our community, and live out His mission to reach the world.”

Dear Mercer Creek Family,

This weekend I’m excited for you to get to know Peter Bower a little better. Peter has been a fantastic addition to our staff team as he leads both our high school ministry and our community outreach efforts. Peter has a long ministry background, including serving with YWAM, as a youth pastor and associate pastor, and as a church planter. This weekend, he’ll be continuing our series, “The Real Thing,” from 1 John 2:18–29.

On Sunday after the 11:30 service, at 12:30pm, we’ll host our annual Celebration of Ministry in the Commons. Paul is making some delicious soup, and we’ll hear stories from the past year and celebrate all that God has been doing through Mercer Creek. We’re aiming to keep the event to about an hour. If you don’t normally attend the 11:30 service, I’d encourage you to try it out this Sunday and stay for lunch!

As we’ve now turned the corner into October, we’re all starting to settle into our fall routines. Ministries have launched, and some really cool things are happening. I wanted to take a quick moment to simply say thank you!

I know so many of you have been praying, many have been volunteering, and so many of you have been giving generously. Because of your support, prayers, and engagement, we have some fantastic ministry happening at Mercer Creek. Thank you for being such a faithful and generous church!

See you Sunday!

Dan Arnold

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October 15, 2026 • 2 Minute Read

Weekly Letter from Pastor Dan - October 15

“Together we pursue Jesus, love our community, and live out His mission to reach the world.” Dear Mercer Creek Family, In September, we wrapped up a four-week series on managing money God’s way. I was honestly pretty nervous about preaching through this topic, but I’ve been so thankful for the feedback so many of you have shared with me. I’ve especially loved hearing stories from those of you taking the 90-Day Tithe Challenge and learning about the unique ways God is working in your lives as you step out in both obedience and faith. I always love hearing your stories, so please keep them coming! It also seems appropriate to simply say thank you. As I’ve watched the generosity of this church over the last few months, I continue to be amazed. As more of us step forward to give generously, we’re seeing more opportunities for ministry. Thank you for helping make ministry happen every day at Mercer Creek! Commons Update: Our volunteers have been working hard this week on a small remodeling project in the commons, removing the old roll-down door from the kitchen. It will take a few weeks to finalize everything, but this is just one part of a light refresh we’re preparing for that space. Over the next few months, we hope to update some of the furnishings and make the commons a more inviting place to sit down, connect, and have conversations with others. We also plan to move the espresso stand into that space. Stay tuned for more fun updates in the months ahead! Membership Ballots: If you’re a formal member and received a ballot last week, please remember to return it to the church office or a Connections Table by Sunday, October 25. This Sunday, I’ll continue our The Real Thing series with a message from 1 John 3:1–10. I hope you’ll join us! See you Sunday! Dan Arnold

Dan Arnold

Lead Pastor

Currently Reading

October 8, 2026 • 2 Minute Read

Weekly Letter from Pastor Dan - October 8

“Together we pursue Jesus, love our community, and live out His mission to reach the world.” Dear Mercer Creek Family, This weekend I’m excited for you to get to know Peter Bower a little better. Peter has been a fantastic addition to our staff team as he leads both our high school ministry and our community outreach efforts. Peter has a long ministry background, including serving with YWAM, as a youth pastor and associate pastor, and as a church planter. This weekend, he’ll be continuing our series, “The Real Thing,” from 1 John 2:18–29. On Sunday after the 11:30 service, at 12:30pm, we’ll host our annual Celebration of Ministry in the Commons. Paul is making some delicious soup, and we’ll hear stories from the past year and celebrate all that God has been doing through Mercer Creek. We’re aiming to keep the event to about an hour. If you don’t normally attend the 11:30 service, I’d encourage you to try it out this Sunday and stay for lunch! As we’ve now turned the corner into October, we’re all starting to settle into our fall routines. Ministries have launched, and some really cool things are happening. I wanted to take a quick moment to simply say thank you! I know so many of you have been praying, many have been volunteering, and so many of you have been giving generously. Because of your support, prayers, and engagement, we have some fantastic ministry happening at Mercer Creek. Thank you for being such a faithful and generous church! See you Sunday! Dan Arnold

Dan Arnold

Lead Pastor

September 24, 2026 • 3 Minute Read

Weekly Letter from Pastor Dan - September 24

“Together we pursue Jesus, love our community, and live out His mission to reach the world.” Dear Mercer Creek Family, This weekend we’ll celebrate one of our favorite traditions—Wildcat Welcome Weekend! Hundreds of college students will join us across our three services, and I encourage you to invite any students you meet throughout the week to come with you. After each service, we’ll have free hot dogs and a CWU-themed photo booth in the Commons. But as fun as all of that will be, the most important thing we can do is make every student who walks through our doors feel like they belong here. So let’s roll out the red carpet! Wear your CWU apparel, introduce yourself to a student you don’t know, help someone find their way around, invite them to grab a hot dog with you, and look for opportunities to start a conversation. Be the kind of church family that makes a college student think, “I’m really glad I came here.” For many of these students, this weekend may be their very first time walking through our doors—and for some, it could be the beginning of something much bigger. We’re not just welcoming students to a church; we have the opportunity to welcome them into a community where they can encounter Jesus, find authentic relationships, and discover what it means to follow Him. Let’s make this weekend about more than a great event. Let’s pray that God uses our hospitality, our conversations, and our invitations to help students take a step toward Jesus. Also launching this weekend is our new series, The Real Thing: Finding Authentic Faith in an Artificial World. I’ll be preaching from 1 John 1–2:2, and over the coming weeks we’ll walk through the letters of John together through the end of November. We’re still a few weeks away, but I also want to invite you to our Annual Celebration of Ministry on Sunday, October 11, at 12:30 p.m., immediately following the 11:30 service. We’ll share a delicious meal together and celebrate stories of what God has done through Mercer Creek over the past year. While this gathering serves as our annual meeting, all of our elections happen by mail, so this will be a time focused entirely on celebration. Then, in November, we’ll host our Financial Forum, where we’ll answer your questions and share more about Mercer Creek’s finances. I can’t wait to see you this weekend for our special CWU edition of Sunday services! Dan Arrnold

Dan Arnold

Lead Pastor

September 17, 2026 • 2 Minute Read

Weekly Letter from Pastor Dan - September 17

“Together we pursue Jesus, love our community, and live out His mission to reach the world.” Dear Mercer Creek Family, As I write to you at the end of this week, my heart is filled with all kinds of emotion. It has been a full week! We kicked off our 11:30 service, launched our women’s ministry, restarted middle school and high school ministries, and helped college students move in this morning. Next week, we launch Salt and MomCo. On a personal note, I’m chasing kids around each night to different activities while cheering on other kids in our community from whatever sideline I find myself on. These are fun, wild, and crazy days! But in the middle of it all, I am keenly aware that while we are going strong, we also must heed our Savior’s invitation to withdraw, be quiet, and get alone with Him. We are going to have some exciting days of ministry and outreach this fall, but we must never forget that you are deeply loved by the Father, and He longs for slow, unhurried time with His beloved. I pray that this Sunday will be a time for you to slow down, reflect, and reconnect with Jesus. I’ll be completing our Faithful series, continuing where we left off last week as we explore 1 Timothy 6:17–19 in a message I’m calling “Live Rich.” Then, on Wildcat Welcome Weekend, I’ll kick off our next series through 1, 2, and 3 John, which we’re calling The Real Thing: Finding Authentic Faith in an Artificial World. I’m looking forward to being together Sunday! Dan Arnold

Dan Arnold

Lead Pastor

September 10, 2026 • 3 Minute Read

Weekly Letter from Pastor Dan - September 10

“Together we pursue Jesus, love our community, and live out His mission to reach the world.” Dear Mercer Creek Family, It’s hard to believe we’re already here, but this weekend we are relaunching our 11:30am service! After a long summer, it’s exciting to see all three of our Sunday services back up and running. Over the past year, we’ve continued to see God grow Mercer Creek, and our heart remains the same: to pursue Jesus, love our community, and live out His mission to reach the world. Adding the 11:30 service gives us more room to make room for more people—and we’re excited about what God is going to do this fall. You’ve heard me say this for a while now, but I want to encourage you to consider making 11:30 your regular service this season and, even better, invite someone to come with you! We also have some great opportunities to serve during this service. If you’ve been looking for a place to jump in, you can find those opportunities at mercercreek.org/serve. This Sunday I’ll also be continuing our Faithful series as we talk about a subject that touches every one of us: contentment. I’ll be preaching primarily from Philippians 4:10–13, 1 Timothy 6:6–10, and Hebrews 13:5. I’m looking forward to what God has for us as we consider what it means to trust Him and find contentment in Him, regardless of our circumstances. And as we head into fall, so many great things are getting started! Our women’s ministry is launching weekly small-group Bible studies and MomCo, and middle and high school students begin gathering again this Wednesday from 6:30–8:00pm. If you have students in your life, this is a great time to help them get connected and plugged in for the year ahead. Our prayer ministry is also launching an exciting new five-week seminar called Listening and Healing Prayer, beginning Monday, September 21, from 6:00–7:30pm. The seminar will be taught by trusted local professional Jackie Moore. This course introduces Listening Prayer as a discipline for cultivating spiritual attentiveness and discerning God’s guidance through intentional reflection and quiet contemplation. Building on that foundation, Healing Prayer provides a structured framework of reflective questions to help participants seek God’s restoration and freedom. The course addresses areas such as unhealthy behavioral patterns, dependencies, anxiety, fear, guilt, grief, anger, shame, and depression. You’re encouraged to go through it with a partner, but that is not required. I really cannot recommend this seminar enough. There is a lot happening, and I’m genuinely excited about this next season at Mercer Creek. God has been so faithful, and I believe He has more for us as we continue to pursue Jesus, love our community, and live out His mission together. It’s going to be a great Sunday. I hope to see you here! Dan Arnold

Dan Arnold

Lead Pastor

September 17, 2026 • 2 Minute Read

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September 3, 2026 • 1 Minute Read

Weekly Letter from Pastor Dan - September 3

“Together we pursue Jesus, love our community, and live out His mission to reach the world.” Dear Mercer Creek Family, Today we are celebrating some great progress in Nicole’s healing! This afternoon (Thursday), we received word that they are starting the discharge process today! Thank you for your prayers, and please continue to pray for Nicole’s full and complete healing. As we head into this weekend, I’m reminded that, in so many ways, Labor Day weekend represents the pinnacle of community life here in Ellensburg. Throughout the weekend, Mercer Creekers will be serving and participating in activities across the spectrum of our community. We are praying for you as you do! You are called to be the light of Jesus in every one of those “arenas” where you engage. May you represent Jesus well as you function as His hands and feet wherever you go. Well, we only have one more week with just two services! Join us this Sunday as Paul continues our Faithful series with the message, “Money Reveals the Heart,” from Matthew 6:19–24. We will also celebrate communion together. See you Sunday (and probably throughout the weekend)! Dan Arnold

Dan Arnold

Lead Pastor

July 30, 2026 • 3 Minute Read

Weekly Letter from Pastor Dan - July 30

“Together we pursue Jesus, love our community, and live out His mission to reach the world.” Dear Mercer Creek Family, It was so much fun having Scott Sinner back with us this past weekend! Whenever Scott is here, we're reminded of an important part of our identity as a church: we are committed to loving our community. Last year, we made a strategic staffing investment to redevelop and revitalize two important ministries in our church: our high school ministry and community outreach. By hiring Peter Bower, we made the intentional decision that we weren't going to coast—we wanted to take seriously our calling to love our community well. Over the past year, Peter has worked hard alongside his team to strengthen our high school ministry, and he's excited about what God has in store for the year ahead. At the same time, we're preparing to lean even more intentionally into community outreach this fall. Peter was sharing several new outreach initiatives with me just the other week, and I couldn't be more excited about what's coming. While the details are still coming together, I'd encourage you to reach out to Peter now if you're interested in helping launch new outreach efforts designed to love our community in practical ways. He's on vacation this week, so let's fill his inbox with people who are ready to serve! You can reach him at peter.bower@mercercreek.org. It may still be July, but believe it or not, summer will be over before you know it. Our staff and ministry leaders are already preparing for what I believe will be a powerful season of ministry this fall. Beginning August 19, we'll launch our 40 Days of Prayer guide to help us seek the Lord together as we prepare for this new ministry season. The guide will conclude on Wildcat Welcome Weekend as we welcome students back to Central and look for opportunities to share the love of Christ with them. I'd also ask you to begin praying about the relaunch of our third service on September 13. During the school year, we need three services to make room for everyone—and, Lord willing, for many more people who will encounter Jesus. Every seat we create is another opportunity for someone to hear the gospel, experience Christian community, and begin following Christ. To make that possible, we'll need many people to step into serving roles across every ministry, especially in Kids Ministry. We also need many of our regular attenders to make the 11:30am service their primary service. If you're able to serve or make the 11:30am service your regular service this fall, you'll be helping create space for new people and new families to experience what God is doing at Mercer Creek. Would you begin praying now about whether God is calling you to be part of that mission? This weekend, Pastor Jon Riley will lead us back into our Journey Upward series as we study Psalm 128. He'll also guide us in celebrating communion in a format that's more similar to how Salt regularly observes the Lord's Supper. If you've attended our Good Friday services, you'll have a good idea of what to expect. I will be out on vacation this weekend with my family, but I hope you’ll still join us this Sunday! Dan Arnold

Dan Arnold

Lead Pastor

July 23, 2026 • 2 Minute Read

Weekly Letter from Pastor Dan - July 23

“Together we pursue Jesus, love our community, and live out His mission to reach the world.” Dear Mercer Creek Family, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but summer is more than halfway over! Don't panic—consider this your wake-up call to be purposeful with the weeks ahead. Our family still has one more vacation planned, but much of our attention is already beginning to turn toward the fall. I hope you are able to enjoy meaningful times of rest, celebration, and connection with family and friends in the weeks ahead. I also want to encourage you to spend some intentional time praying and considering what it might look like for you to become more engaged at Mercer Creek this next year. This is such an exciting season in the life of our church. Everywhere you turn, there are opportunities to serve, connect, and grow. As you step in, you will help prepare the way for the work God wants to do in and through our church in the coming year. If you're wondering where you might fit, I encourage you to visit mercercreek.org/serveand explore opportunities to get more plugged in. Please also be praying for the 30 middle school students heading to camp this weekend. This is an exciting milestone for our youth ministry, and God is doing some wonderful things among the teenagers in our church. Let's faithfully lift up these students, leaders, and the camp experience in prayer this weekend. This Sunday is one of my favorite weekends of the summer as our friend and former Mercer Creek lead pastor, Scott Sinner, joins us as our guest speaker. Scott will take a brief break from our Journey Upward series to share a message that is especially close to his heart right now. We will also take time to commission our Dominican Republic team as they prepare for their trip in August. It is going to be a wonderful weekend together, and I hope you'll make plans to join us. See you Sunday! Dan Arnold

Dan Arnold

Lead Pastor

July 16, 2026 • 2 Minute Read

Weekly Letter from Pastor Dan - July 16th

“Together we pursue Jesus, love our community, and live out His mission to reach the world.” Dear Mercer Creek Family, Our Mexico team had a few hiccups getting started, but from all we are hearing, they are having a wonderful week. Please continue to pray for them as they still have several days of ministry ahead before returning home. Over the last few months, I have sensed that this has been a season of preparation for Mercer Creek. I don't know how long this season will last, but I do know that our team continues to feel there is much to prepare for. I genuinely believe that God is getting ready to do an important work in and through our church, and the calling of this season is simple: get ready. In the coming months, I will invite our church into prayer in several different ways. One of those initiatives, which I briefly introduced on Sunday, is called PIC 3. I mentioned it because it fit naturally with where our sermon led, but I will share much more about it next month. Now that the cat is out of the bag, I would encourage you to begin praying today about who your three might be. Ask God to place three people on your heart who do not yet know Jesus. Then, when we officially launch next month, we will encourage everyone to: Pray regularly for these three people. Invite them when the opportunity is right—to a worship service, event, small group, or ministry gathering. Connect intentionally by investing in relationships through meals, coffee, conversations, and shared experiences. For now, simply begin by asking the Lord: Who are my three? Perhaps one of the ways God is preparing our church is by preparing our hearts for the people He wants to reach through us. This weekend we will continue our Journey Upward series as we look together at Psalm 127. The following week, Pastor Scott Sinner will be our guest speaker. "Sinner Sunday" is often one of the highlights of our summer, so I hope you'll prioritize being with us over these next few weeks. See you Sunday! Dan Arnold

Dan Arnold

Lead Pastor

July 9, 2026 • 2 Minute Read

Weekly Letter from Pastor Dan - July 9th

“Together we pursue Jesus, love our community, and live out His mission to reach the world.” Dear Mercer Creek Family, I'm looking forward to this weekend! We have baptisms in both services, and I'll be preaching from Psalm 126—a psalm that has become especially meaningful to me. Please also be praying for our Mexico team as they depart this weekend. Pray for safe travels, meaningful ministry, and that God would work powerfully both in and through our team. I'd also encourage you to mark your calendar for Sunday, July 26. Every summer we welcome back one of my predecessors, and what I affectionately call "Sinner Sunday" has become a fun Mercer Creek tradition. Scott Sinner, now the lead pastor at Green Valley Community Church, will be our guest preacher. Scott made a tremendous impact on Mercer Creek during his time here, and I always enjoy the opportunity to honor him and continue the strong relationship between our churches. I hope you'll plan to join us that weekend. As I've been preparing for Sunday's message, I've also been preparing for a funeral this Saturday. Moments like these remind me how grateful I am for our all-volunteer funeral ministry. This team faithfully serves families during some of life's most difficult moments, offering compassion, care, and the hope of Christ. Thank you to every member of our funeral ministry for serving so faithfully! See you Sunday! Dan Arnold

Dan Arnold

Lead Pastor

July 2, 2026 • 2 Minute Read

Weekly Letter from Pastor Dan - July 2nd

“Together we pursue Jesus, love our community, and live out His mission to reach the world.” Dear Mercer Creek Family, Happy 250th Birthday to our country! I hope you, your family, and your friends have a fun and safe weekend celebrating our nation's birthday. Don't forget that we have two special services planned for this Sunday. We'll celebrate communion, commission our Mexico team as they prepare to serve, and welcome special guest speaker Alex Worthington, who will be preaching from Psalm 125. Together we pursue Jesus, love our community, and live out His mission to reach the world. This past week, you stepped up in a big way to love our community. In the midst of a blood shortage, we hosted a blood drive, and I'm so grateful that Peter Bower organized this event. He shared that we had eight volunteers, including several who were serving for the first time. Thirty-nine people donated blood, including an impressive fifteen first-time blood donors! Our Red Cross representative said he rarely sees that many new donors at a single blood drive. Thank you for loving our community so well, Mercer Creek. Your willingness to serve will make a real difference in the lives of others, and we're already looking forward to hosting another blood drive this fall. See you Sunday! Dan Arnold

Dan Arnold

Lead Pastor