The Jay Coon Board Meeting @ Forks Seventh-day Adventist Church

We had only been to one board meeting since we returned to Queets the second time. During my first sentence in Queets, I was a board member at the Forks church under Ryan Wilson. However, when we returned to Queets for two more years, we were not offered board membership. We did, however, go to one board meeting. This is that story.

It was now night. The black sky hovered above Forks, WA like an angry demon. The church was a solace from the world. A place of peace and refuge against the storms of life. The Forks Seventh-day Adventist church is a small building on the outskirts of town. On the occasion where we would go to this church, there were often elk grazing outside as the fog rolled off the mountains to the east. 

But this was not day, nor was there elk. We sat down at the board meeting that had already started. We were late, as our daughter was hungry. We came into the room and sat down. A few papers were handed to us by the family that had held up the church for so long. I had heard from them just how this pastor was different than Ryan Wilson. A real "go-getter." It was no secret that Pastor Jay Coon had some huge plans and this board meeting was a chance for him to flex that muscle.

We all sat down and looked through the papers. This was going to be a long meeting, I realized. We were there for one reason, and that reason would have to wait until the end. Coon wanted to build a creation garden outside of the church. He had already secured funding to buy an R.V. and it was parked outside in the back. It was his place to spend the night when he came to visit so he would not have to drive back late like Ryan Wilson did. Now, we heard that this was kind of a contention with the church, but Coon wanted to have his own way, and his own way he had. 

Now he was going to build a creation garden in the same town that was famous for Olympic National Park. Over the course of the board meeting, Coon discussed the fence that would need to be built. It was going to be a huge wall. A great wall! And the elk would pay for it all! Actually, the Forks church would pay for it. The creation garden would not be cheap, but it was a good use of the funds that the Forks church had amassed over the years according to Jay Coon. Far better than doing nothing with it or letting it sit. 

I wondered to myself, "why are they building a creation park when there's a national park right outside? Why build something like this when there are plenty of nice parks in the area?" But I think Coon wanted to leave a legacy with his name on it. He was already working hard to secure grants. But it would not be enough (that I would learn later).

Now, I never got the feeling that Jay Coon didn't like us, but looking back, I wonder if we were a third party that he didn't want to deal with. Jay Coon was never particularly outgoing towards us. He was all about business and expansion and getting his own way. He seemed driven and focused on achieving his own goals, despite the cost. When the Forks church was against the purchase of the RV, he went ahead with it anyway. Nobody would get in Jay Coon's way, and that's probably the way it has always been.

Jay Coon's mouth moved, chattering. Few of us could get a word in. Although we had one small purpose to be at the board meeting, it had to wait until the end. Our child, bored out of her mind, sat there as Coon went on and on about how the Creation Garden would be a great benefit for the town of Forks. Ideas about how the Creation Garden could make money for the church. Ideas about how the church needed to use its money for something and it was no good just sitting there. His eyes batted back and forth as he spoke. 

Being a pastor in Forks is like being a big fish in a pond full of minnows. The church probably has about a dozen members. Few of those show up every Sabbath. Every four weeks, Jay Coon makes his way to Forks to preach to this small crowd. It's a dying church, and he knows that. A creation garden perhaps would breathe life into it! I can just imagine the Forks families: "Let's go to the church with the creation park! The one that worships that crazy woman prophet who got hit on the head with the rock!"

Board meeting topics were always so drab at this church. Things like fixing a light that went out made for a total yawn fest. Going over endless financial papers was always such a drag, man. I always felt that it was unnecessary to have all these board meetings for a church with twelve people. Why not just have a couple a year and call it at that? But this creation park and that RV were so important to Jay Coon! 

We had climbed into that RV during the summer before we went to train with AFM and it was pretty nice. Jay Coon was super proud of it. He said he was going to let visiting pastors use it when they came to preach at Forks. Maybe it was his way of getting out of having to drive there so much. 

I feel like pastors that are sent to Port Angeles and Forks are kind of at a stalemate in their career. It's not the most glamorous place to be sent. I'm guessing Jay Coon is kind of a small deal in a dying church. The Washington Conference is in a bad place. The church is dying and Washington SDA churches seem to be less and less relevant as time goes on. But to be placed at a church with 12 people is just pathetic. And that had to grate on Jay Coon's epic ego. 

As Coon spoke I could not help but think that maybe he chose the wrong job. This guy is not a pastor, I thought to myself. No way! This guy can't be a pastor! He seems more like a shady business person than a person of the cloth. Of course, this was before I realized just how dark and deceptive the SDA church was. Later on I'd start to question Ellen G White and the rest is history. Jay Coon couldn't handle anyone who thought differently or asked questions in his church. After that meeting, we'd never speak to Coon again. He needed us out of his hair, and he did everything he could to separate himself from us in every way possible.

Fast forward a couple years, and Jay Coon got his garden. The last I saw him was in the Forks Fourth of July parade as he marched down main street with a big banner that said "Creation Park" on it. He didn't look too happy to see us! I waved but he just scowled. He got his park, but the cost was huge. Projects before people. Ego before compassion. These were things that made me seriously question Adventism further. What's kind of funny is, had Jay Coon just spoke with us, this blog may have never been. In fact, the Washington Conference could have saved themselves a HUGE headache if their pastor didn't cut us off. 

But now the Washington Conference of Seventh-day Adventists gets this big beautiful blog, and that's my parting gift. Thank you for reading!