The History of Port McNeill's      

Full Gospel Church    

Our church began in Port McNeill in 1972 when Brothers Ed and Elmer Jorgenson moved their families to Port McNeill, and soon after organized a Sunday School program for children and adults (though most adults were teaching the children). . The first gatherings were at the “old school” on Sunday mornings, and this continued until 1973, when the congregation began holding evening services by moving to the “A” frame church building and sharing it with the Anglican congregation. Ed Jorgenson and Mervin Bowden shared the preaching duties in those early days, along with Tom Stokes, a man with Baptist roots. The church family continued to grow… A building was needed, and a pastor needed to be called. Land was donated by the Jorgenson’s and our existing building was started in 1974. The Jorgenson’s looked to their Apostolic Roots, and Al and Barb McLean from Nanaimo were called to be the first “official” pastors. The congregation also included of a number of people with Baptist roots and when the decision was made to move from the “A” frame church, a group decided to establish a Baptist Church and build their own building. Both groups began to grow rapidly after each established their own “identities”. Alan and Barb McLean were followed 2 years later by Leonard Simcoe, and 2 years later by Virgil and Dorothy Jonat. Six years later, Ralph Girard came, and was followed a little over a year later (in 1988) by Peter Lippmann. In 1991 Robin and Cathy Toupin arrived and were here until 2000. There were a number of months without a pastor, then in 2001, Leroy Davis came to fill in as an interim pastor. Rick and Poula Ivens arrived in January, 2002 and are our current pastors. In September of 2002, John and Melody Rousseaux also came to serve as Youth Pastors and have a fruitful and thriving ministry with our youth.