Spiritual Holiday - East Valley Bible Church

Wow! We never would have thought that less than a mile from our home as the eagle flies is a bible teacher of the caliber of Tom Schrader.

East Valley Bible Church has been around since the mid 90’s. Its campus is situated on a 22 acre footprint. This large church has multiple Sunday services held in two different buildings. A couple of amenities there immediately caught our attention: The book store and adjoining free Wi-Fi coffee shop. We split a delicious nine grain chicken salad sandwich after our first church experience at EVBC. The only drawback on the coffee shop is its hours. It is closed Friday and Saturday. Dang! So Tom continues his early Friday morning Bruegger's walk and devotionals.

EVBC services have two venues. The Chapel provides a contemporary polished worship team with songs that we found somewhat difficult to sing, thereby tempting us to sit back and be entertained. Others in the congregation appeared to drift into the same temptation. In the Chapel you see and hear Tom Schrader live. Children are welcome in any of the services, but the Conference Center was the venue of choice for most parents.

The Unplugged worship found in the Conference Center (CC) provided upbeat, contemporary, and easy to sing uplifting choruses. Most of the congregation seemed to be actively involved in the worship.

The CC has Tom Schrader projected from the Chapel. What we thought would be a drawback actually is a plus. So rather than see an 8 inch high guy from the back of the chapel, Tom is colossus on the three big screens easily viewed anywhere and from behind anyone in that CC.
Whether you choose the Chapel or the CC, there are warm friendly people to greet and hand you a program as you near the doors. And if you are early enough, there is free coffee.

A couple of other items that stood out: NO offerings were taken. Now that takes faith! They did mention the offering receptacles at the front and rear of the facilities. Also communion is celebrated every week. It is always good to “remember.”

The other item, though a bit intangible is perceptible to one’s spirit within the very ethos of EVBC. It resonates through the sermons, people, and verity of clergy lead ministries: “liberty.” Tom alluded to it when unpacking 1 Sam 8:10-18 and noting how centralization can be destructive to the human spirit. He further developed the thought when attributing America’s greatness to “its system”. He stated that this system encourages individual freedom, entrepreneurism and puts fewer restrictions on the individual. And this is not only true with government, but also with all organizations. It was brought home to our weary spirits when he stated, “Take something as simple as EVBC. The more we centralize it the more we kill your spirit’s potentially for ministry.” EVBC is a place that not only believes in grace but practices it by empowering the saints for the work of the ministry.

Now we come to the main course. Personality wise and looks, Tom Schrader reminds us of a cross between our good friend Mark Lassiter and Frances Schaffer, minus the knickers. He is a smart, loquacious guy’s guy.

Tom’s title is Pastor of Teaching which appropriately acknowledges this man’s gifting. He is reformed, expository in teaching style and has no apparent doctrinal hobby horses. Praise the Lord! In addition he does not narrowly focus the gospel, but sees it from a kingdom prospective where God plants and uses his saints in their capacity from housewife, to businessman to statesman. In this scenario the church can speak to the conscience of government, business, education and family.

The three sermons we’ve now heard demonstrate Schrader’s amazing ability to layer the scriptures. These are the types of sermons you can listen to over again, and discover something new each time. His expository approach gets you immediately into the history, the players, the thinking, the desires and the specifics of what God was saying in that day. When appropriate, principles are drawn from the text and teased out and presented in gems to live by. The sermons are full of Tom’s earthy humor, conviction and faith. In three different sermons we heard more practical advice on raising children than might be heard in a decade from other pulpits.

Definitely this church will be among the top contenders vying for our association at the end of our spiritual holiday.