Spirit of the Desert Presbyterian Fellowship – Coachella Valley California
“Whoever you are, wherever you are on your journey of faith,
you are welcome here”
A History by The Rev. Dr. Chuck Rassieur, co-founder
These are some of the defining characteristics and facts about Spirit of the Desert Presbyterian Fellowship:
1. At the outset some of us had the sense, and we even said it out loud, that we were Presbyterians “in exile.” Jerry Van Marter, former coordinator and editor of the Presbyterian New Service, one time in an article called us “misfits.” At this link you can read Jerry’s story published about how SDPF was started in 2003: http://archive.wfn.org/2005/04/msg00000.html.
2. Thus, one important consequence for us of being Presbyterians was that we intentionally and carefully adhered to a Reformed order of worship as outlined in the Book of Common Worship, and the usual practice for the preachers was to use the lectionary of scripture readings appointed for every Sunday.
3. Our founding five pastors (Ken McCullen, Carl Nelson, Chuck Rassieur, Gordon West and Don Williamson) took turns preaching and never expected nor received any compensation or honorarium. Thus the practice was observed that even our occasional guest preachers also received no honorarium and only mileage for travel. However, a donation was given to a non-profit as recommended by each preacher.
4. After 3 or 4 monthly potluck fellowship meetings, we decided to include worship as a regular part of each gathering with one another. Our first worship service was held in the living room of Chuck and Ginni Rassieur in Sun City, CA on Sunday, May 11, 2003, with Ken McCullen as the preacher.
5. Because our numbers increasing, we began to be too much gather comfortably in our living rooms. In the fall of 2003, we began worshiping at the Pathfinder Community of the Risen Christ in Bermuda Dunes.
6. At that time, Bill Holby, an Episcopalian and member of our fellowship, was our musician, bringing his keyboard each time we met.
7. It was during this time that we also began the book study and discussion group, which met before worship. It was later led by Ralph Waite. He previously played the role of the father in “The Waltons” TV series (1971-’81). Ralph had gone to Yale Divinity School, and for a brief time was a Presbyterian minister. See the article about Ralph that first appeared in The Desert Sun and then published by the Presbyterian News Service: www.pcusa.org/news/2010/8/6/waltons-star-ralph-waite-finds-home-church/
8. We decided from the outset that the Presbyterian thing to do is to celebrate the Lord’s Supper at each worship service, and always to have both wine and grape juice available. Later, gluten free wafers were also included.
9. In the summer of 2004, we decided that we should find another worship location, and we left the Pathfinder C R C. In October of 2004 we worshiped for the first time at the Congregational United Church of Christ at 43250 Warner Trail in Palm Desert. Then, we took the “leap of faith” that enough persons would attend if we worshiped every Sunday.
10. In November, 2004, we began worshiping every Sunday at 5:00 p.m., and continued our practice of having our fellowship meal after the worship service.
11. Our finances have always been handled according to specific guidelines recommended by the first finance committee and adopted by the Steering Committee, guidelines that included two persons present when counting the offering, an annual financial review, and a financial report to the annual meeting.
12. Michael Dearth became our musician, pianist and organist when we moved to the Warner Trail church. Later, Bruce Mangum became our musician.
13. Our expenses were usually $15,000. to $17,000. each year, while our offering receipts within a couple of years began to exceed $50,000. Consequently, generous mission giving became our regular practice, and with few exceptions the mission giving went to Presbyterian-related causes and non-profits in the Coachella Valley.
14. An important mission cause for SDPF across the years has been Hidden Harvest. Besides a yearly financial commitment to Hidden Harvest, many members of SDPF volunteered their time preparing produce for distribution. Both Carl Nelson and Bill Holby different years were named “volunteer of the year” by Hidden Harvest for their dedicated service.
15. SDPF has, from the beginning, supported all efforts in the Presbyterian Church to include and welcome members of the LGBTQ community to full membership as well as to service in ordained ministry. Our mission money has routinely supported gay advocacy groups in the Presbyterian Church. Lisa Larges, who was eventually ordained in Minnesota, preached a couple of times for SDPF.
16. Since the beginning of SDPF, a number of members from St. Mark Presbyterian Church in Newport Beach, CA, as well as their former pastor, Gary Collins, have been active participants and leaders in SDPF. It might almost be said, because St. Mark shares a similar progressive theology, that SDPF is St. Mark East!
17. Worship attendance has always varied, with very few services ever going over 35 during the winter months. This writer remembers leading a service one time attended by only 9, but the Spirit of the Christ was very much present!
18. Jerry Van Marter, as noted above formerly the coordinator and editor of the Presbyterian News Service, was a good friend of the Meads. So, Jerry was invited to preach for us on at least two occasions.
19. SDPF was stunned by the premature death of Gordon West on July 17, 2012. At the time he was serving on the staff at the Annenberg Center for Health Sciences at the Eisenhower hospital in Rancho Mirage. Gordon was one of the five pastors who initially served SDPF.
20. And, finally, words from Jane Mead:
“Thanks for sharing your notes, Chuck. How well I remember. All the mission work came after we realized we had a group and money.”
Putting FAITH into ACTION for over 20 years!
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A Sermon on the 22nd Anniversary of Spirit of the Desert Presbyterian Fellowship
May 11, 2025 “Challenging the Impossible”
The Rev. Dr. Charles Rassieur
Thank you, friends, for the honor for Ginni and me to lead this 22nd anniversary worship service….the 22nd anniversary of the May 11, 2003, first Spirit of the Desert worship service. And, yes, it was Mother’s Day that Sunday, too!
Of course, that service took place in our living room at 78190 Sunrise Mountain View in Sun City Palm Desert. Ken McCullen was the preacher that day as we looked through the sliding glass doors across a sand trap to the first green on one of the golf courses with the mountains in the distance.
Some of you know this story, and you can read some of it on the Spirit website, but I must mention some of it again on this 22nd birthday. In 2002 Ginni and I worshiped often at this church. Late in 2002 through someone who knew us at this church, we were recommended to a book study group at the Palm Springs United Methodist Church that was studying Peter Gomes’s book about the Bible titled, The Good Book. Gomes discusses homosexuality in his book, and they wanted to hear our perspective. At the end of our meeting with that group, two Presbyterians, Jim and Jane Mead, introduced themselves to us. They too felt as we did like Presbyterians in exile over the homosexuality issue being debated in our denomination.
So, we and Jane and Jim decided to meet in January at our house, and to invite Anne Smith, who was concluding her service as moderator of the presbytery. At that meeting we decided to invite others to a potluck who we knew also shared our views. And, at the end of our meeting, Jane asserted, “But, we won’t start a church!” And, after a couple of potlucks in various homes, we decided it was time to worship.
You just heard the account of Peter raising Tabitha, presumably after she had died, in Joppa. The question now isn’t “Was Tabitha really dead, or how long had she been dead, is this a true story?” Instead, I believe this account of Peter raising Tabitha illustrates a profound truth about our Christian faith, which is that our Christian faith calls us and equips us and empowers us to continually challenge the impossible, exactly as Peter did when he asked all the widows to leave before he knelt down and prayed before Tabitha. Then Peter faithfully challenged the impossible!
Every day, friends, this is what we are called to do, and I know that you know very well what I am talking about. Sometimes it can just be managing to get up and out of bed in the morning. Or facing those days that have so many impossible demands upon us for our energy and time and patience, if nothing else reading over 50 emails each day. It is our faith in our loving God and our living Christ that enables us, impowers us to face all those impossibilities for another day. And, of course, I’ll never know how many impossibilities you had to challenge just to be here this afternoon.
But, each of you is here because this is what Spirit of the Desert has so faithfully been doing for 22 years…challenging the impossible. “Of course we’ll just meet once in a while, but not have a church, which would be impossible.” “Well, we’ll worship just once a month, but not weekly, which would be impossible”……….but, we did it anyway. And, 12 or more years ago I heard some conversation that it was time for Spirit of the Desert to come to an end, because we were all getting so old and tired…………. “To continue would be impossible.” And, then what would have been the response if 22 years ago anyone had suggested that we should form a fellowship so we could raise over a half million dollars for mission projects? “Impossible! You can stop your dreaming! Impossible!”
For 22 years this has been a fellowship of very dedicated Christians, not only to support so many mission projects but also to be welcoming and affirming of all persons as this fellowship offered leadership in supporting this presbytery and our denomination in welcoming all persons into leadership roles and responsibilities! That, dear friends, has been Spirit of the Desert for 22 years, faithfully challenging the impossible!
Back in November, I was asked to preach a stewardship sermon at Claremont Presbyterian Church, which we regularly attend and where Ginni is serving on the session. The pastor, Karen Sapio, left in October to become an executive presbyter, so this is a time of challenge and transition for the church. Without asking your permission, I used you as one of my main illustrations for my sermon. I want to read to you now words from that sermon: “Friends, all I can tell you is that over the years I have repeatedly seen inspired people with an exciting vision for the future who have achieved great accomplishments. The two words here are vision and inspiration. Here are just two examples:
“The first example goes back to 2003 in Palm Desert. And, in Palm Desert there was a handful of us Presbyterians who supported the ordination of gay clergy, so we formed a Presbyterian fellowship under the oversight of the Desert Hills Presbyterian Church in Yucca Valley. And, 5 of us Presbyterian clergy offered volunteer pastoral leadership and preaching. We finally worshipped weekly, but rarely more than 25 or 30 of us, and more often 15 to 20. The Sunday I was the announced preacher, for some reason there were only 9 worshippers. Thank you for coming today!
(Now, just three more sentences.) “But, because the overhead costs for the fellowship were so low, and we never paid the preachers, mission causes became the main goal. Since 2003 that small fellowship has given over $543,000. to mission causes! Friends, (I told the Claremont church) you obviously don’t have to have a lot of people for great accomplishments! You just have to have a vision that inspires you!”
End of my words to Claremont Presbyterian Church about Spirit. And, as the scripture reading has told us, Peter challenged the impossible, because he obviously had a vision that inspired him…the risen Christ living in his heart!
With that empowering vision in your heart, each of you is called to challenge the impossible in your own personal and unique ways. They’ll be different challenges just as the disciples lived out their challenges in different ways. At Pilgrim Place, where we live in Claremont, over 20 or 25 of us challenge the impossible by standing on street corners every week holding signs and listening to a chorus of honking car horns. Maybe you know that some people call that kind of challenging the impossible “speaking truth to power!”
And while you continue to seek and discern how Spirit is being called to continue challenging the impossible, I can’t think of anything better for Spirit than having, as you do, the presbytery’s staff Coordinator for the Vital Congregations Initiative. That’s your own Rob Stewart……well, the presbytery’s Rob Stewart. But, the bulletin says it: Rob is your own Covenant Shepherd, and he brings a lot of understanding to share with you about what it means to be a vital congregation, a vital fellowship challenging the impossible!
I want to end now by telling you just how unique you are as a fellowship, because I think the uniqueness of Spirit of the Desert is what has enabled this fellowship to continue challenging the impossible for 22 years. And, one of the especially distinctive things that makes this such a unique Presbyterian fellowship is the decision that was made very early that we would celebrate the Lord’s Supper, communion, at every worship service. Of course St. Margaret’s as an Episcopal church, celebrates the eucharist every Sunday. But, you tell me if you know of any other Presbyterian church or fellowship that has the Lord’s Supper at every worship. As far as I know, Spirit of the Desert is the only one! And, I say that because I think celebrating this sacrament is very empowering spiritually, and is one of the main reasons I think Spirit of the Desert has challenged so much that was impossible these past 22 years.
And, that may also help to explain the people who have been drawn to Spirit, as members, as visitors, and as preachers including Dr. Samuel Calian, president of Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, The Rev. Jerry Van Marter, Coordinator of Presbyterian News Services, and even the late Rev. Dr. Jack Rogers, past Moderator of the 213th General Assembly.
And, then, one Sunday in 2007 Ralph Waite the actor who played John Walton, Sr., on The Waltons, came to worship and stayed with us until his death early in 2014. Ralph was an active participant sharing every Sunday in the book study that met before the worship service, and even preaching for us.
So, let me make this bold assertion, “There is no other church or fellowship like Spirit of the Desert in the entire Presbyterian denomination!” That’s been true since 2003, and it is still true! And, your spiritual passion to continue challenging the impossible will continue to draw and inspire many more members who share your vision for service.
I was there when your mission statement was first drafted and adopted. These are the four sentences of your mission statement for challenging the impossible: “Called together by our Reformed heritage and tradition of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A), Spirit of the Desert Presbyterian Fellowship seeks to glorify God in worship, witness, mission, study and fellowship. We hold as central the transforming power of God’s reconciling love revealed in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We affirm the worth of all people and nurture each individual’s spiritual journey and call to service. We are a caring and compassionate group of believers, open to all.”
Now, inspired by Peter’s prayerful example, go into your 23rd year and boldly continue your faithful challenge of the impossible. Amen