Pastors Jeff and Holly Hastings

Jeff and Holly are excited to be a part of the dynamic team at Turning Point Church in Marysville, WA.  They joined the team in November, 2011 and are believing for great things to be accomplished in this next season.

Jeff and Holly Hastings began pastoring in Tillamook in the spring of 1989.  They had previously served as Deacons in Bible Temple in Portland, Oregon under Rev. K.R “Dick” Iverson. Jeff and Holly founded the Young Marrieds ministry in Bible Temple. As Deacons they also lead a home group. Nearly simultaneously to being asked by the leadership of Bible Temple to consider moving to Tillamook, Holly was diagnosed with cancer. Jeff’s first trip to preach was right after Holly’s initial surgery and the commencement of cancer treatments. Their firstborn son, Jared, was eight months old at this time. Even in light of the personal challenge of overcoming cancer, Jeff and Holly answered the call to Tillamook. Jeff was 26 years old while Holly was 23. They were in essence the youngest married couple in the church and the “senior” pastors. 

The first several years were spent replanting and re-establishing the foundations of the fledgling church.  Jeff found himself working as many as five part-time jobs at one time to make ends meet. The Eldership at Bible Temple encouraged Jeff and Holly to consider closing down the church in Tillamook and returning to Portland. Yet, all the while, the Lord continued to download vision, dreams and hope to Jeff and Holly even in the midst of the hard season they were enduring.

Jeff and Holly endured the difficult seasons and turned a corner around the five year mark. Living Water Fellowship became a leading dynamic force in the church and civic community. Though it never became one of the largest churches in the county, it certainly was one of the most influential congregations. 

Historically, pastors in Tillamook generally did not have much interpersonal relationship when Jeff and Holly first came to town. Many of the pastors did not fellowship, work together or relate personally. The various congregations in the area did not conduct joint ventures. Throughout the first few years, Jeff worked diligently at building bridges between church leaders and pastors. Eventually, after years of laboring to bring unity, over 70% of the churches throughout the county cooperated in either evangelistic outreaches or in the Countywide Prayer Team envisioned and created through Jeff and Holly’s ministry.

The Countywide events are still occurring over 10 years after the departure of Jeff and Holly from Tillamook. It is not uncommon for these events to have over 500 people in attendance from many churches.

The work in Tillamook was going extremely well when Jeff and Holly began to feel that the Lord was calling them to move. The finances were good; the church was growing and gaining influence; people were being sovereignly touched by God; in the natural, there was no reason to leave. Yet Jeff and Holly answered the call to Seattle, The City Church and the Sentinel Group.

Both Jeff and Holly worked for George and Lisa Otis in their ministry, The Sentinel Group. Holly served as a research associate while Jeff functioned as the Director of Program Operations. The Sentinel Group is best known for producing the provocumentary video series entitled “Transformations and Transformations II”. These videos chronicle the awesome intervention of God in various communities around the world. The Hastings worked for The Sentinel Group until the terrorist events of September 11, 2001. The Sentinel Group suffered financially when people who regularly funded the ministry held their pocketbooks in the aftermath of the horrific attacks on America.

Holly launched her own business as a personal assistant. Jeff was hired by the Department of Homeland Security in the Transportation Security Administration as a supervisor. Jeff worked his way up through the management team   securing the position  Model Workplace Program Manager, Integrated Conflict Management System Coordinator and Mid-Level Leadership Development Program Manager. He served as an advisor to the Federal Security Director and provided conflict management services to over 1200 employees. Holly was hired as the  purchasing agent for The City Church for almost 4 years.

Jeff and Holly served as Care Pastors in The City Church. They oversaw and adminstrated the Pre-marital Counseling ministry in The City Church. They also served as Campus Pastors assisting the assimilation of the North Sound Campus into The City Church family. Jeff and Holly  hosted several marriage City Groups, including “Laugh Your Way to a Better Marriage” and “Love and Respect”. Holly assisted in the Ladies Bible Study at the North Sound  and Kirkland Campuses while Jeff helped answer online doctrinal questions sent to The City Church from its web site. Jeff also taught the Disciples class when needed, a responsibility normally reserved for full time staff pastors of The City Church.

Jeff and Holly responded to the call to re-enter full time ministry in the fall of 2011 and are now the Senior Pastors of Turning Point Church in Marysville, WA. They are eager to continue the journey into the will of God for their lives.  The next chapter promises to be one of great influence and Kingdom accomplishments. 

Turning Point Church has been a force of unity and evangelism in the greater North Sound region.  Founded over 16 years previous, Turning Point Church was renowned for hosting Summer Jubilee.  Many churches cooperated in this community outreach and thousands of lives have been touched and changed through this one event!