Hi! I‘m David Kratz. Welcome to Fauntleroy Church, United Church of Christ. I hope you enjoy exploring this site. I’ve been so fascinated with this place and these people that I’ve been invested here for over 20 years! Maybe you don’t want to stay that long. But I would say that this congregation is a place where you can make long-term commitments and find ways to grow over time.

We’re not a place that will overwhelm you with glitz or impress you with how great we are. But we “wear well.” I think you’ll really love the people here—of course nobody’s perfect, but there really are good folks here. People of all ages, people with all sorts of questions, interests and beliefs, people who will be genuinely interested in you.

We are obviously a Christian church, and we seek to pattern our lives after this Jesus of Nazareth, whom we call the Christ. We are the kind of folks, however, who are not pushy about faith. In fact, we may seem a little reticent. On the other hand, most of our folks would fall into the category of those who believe that actions speak louder than words. It’s not that words are unimportant. It's that we value integrity. We are humble enough to know that we often fail to live up to the commandment to love one other and we are grateful enough for God’s love to keep on trying. In fact, we believe God's call to love others so much that we respect their differing beliefs.

The church is currently in a time of transition—maybe we have been for all 20 years of my ministry here. The current transition is based on a renewed sense of vision for our church and a new set of goals that we trying to carry out. These have to do with becoming more welcoming of those who come our way, being intentional about forming our faith and becoming a brighter light to the community. We are also in the beginning stages of a proposed remodeling project of our building. We have some preliminary plans, which we like. We are in a conversation with the YMCA that lives in this buildingtrying to work out a stable continuing commitment to one another as we plan our future. We are beginning to look at how we might pay for these wonderful renewing changes.

I enjoy being a pastor—visiting people, planning programs studying and reading—especially the Bible, which I find endlessly fascinating, challenging and inspiring. Religious questions and the quest for God, meaning and purpose have always been important to me and I feel privileged to be able to explore them with a community of folks who are also on a spiritual quest.

I hope you have some fun and find some treasures as you explore this website. If you have questions or concerns, please give me a buzz or send me an email. I do enjoy folks.

Here’s a little bit more about my background:

The youngest of four children in a preacher’s family, I grew up in Pennsylvania—Catasauqua and Erie - and graduated from high school in Dayton, Ohio. I earned a degree in history from Earlham College, a little Quaker school, in 1967. I attended Eden Theological Seminary, a small seminary outside St. Louis, for two years, pausing long enough to marry Lyn Splitgaber in June of 1969. As our honeymoon, we went to Seattle, where I became an intern at Alki Congregational Church and Lyn attended the UW School of Social Work. We stayed for two years before returning to Eden, where I completed my degree.

Having fallen in love with the Pacific Northwest, we returned to Olympia, where I served a federated United Church of Christ and Presbyterian Church called the United Churches. We lived there for seven years and added Lib and Alex to the family.

In 1979, we moved to Lewiston, Idaho, where I served The Congregational-Presbyterian Federated Church of Lewiston, Idaho, Inc. The congregation was unpretentious and loving - not nearly as formal as its name. Our youngest child, Adam, was born there. In 1986, we moved to Fauntleroy and all of us have done lots of growing since then. In 2003 I received a Doctor of Ministry degree from San Francisco Seminary in San Anselmo, California

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