Change has been a way of life throughout the nearly 107-year history of Willow View United Methodist Church.

The church began life June 1, 1902, as First United Brethren Church. The first meeting was held in the county courthouse. In 1946, after Evangelical Church and United Brethren Church merged, the church became known as First Evangelical United Brethren Church.

In 1968 Evangelical United Brethren and Methodist churches merged, creating United Methodist Church. At that time the church became known as Central United Methodist Church.

In 1984 a decline in attendance — sparked in part by its downtown location, just a block from First United Methodist Church — prompted Central’s congregation to begin planning to relocate.

On Feb. 24, 1985, the church moved to its present facility at 3525 W. Purdue and became Willow View United Methodist. In 2003, a new worship center was completed, and the rest of the $1.5 million project, including a children’s area and rest rooms, was completed in 2004.

Last fall Willow View resumed having two Sunday worship services, after going to just one service when the new sanctuary opened in 2003. Willow View now offers “The Blend,” a service combining traditional and contemporary aspects of worship at 9 a.m., followed by Sunday School at 10:10, and “The Oasis,” a contemporary service featuring a praise band at 11.

The change has not been easy but has been positive, said the Rev. Lesly Broad-bent.

“We’ve increased our attendance about 12 percent since we started our second worship service,” said Broad-bent, a Leedey native who has been Willow View’s senior pastor since 2004. “When there is change there is frustration on some people’s part. I think that is something every church experiences.”

“We’re trying to reach anyone who enjoys contemporary praise and worship music,” said associate minister James Lambert, “but we’re focusing on young families, young adults who may not have grown up in church, who have different musical tastes than older adults. But we also have some of our older members who enjoy the same kind of music.”

“We’re also reaching folks who want a relevant message using today’s language,” Broadbent said. “Our message is very orthodox and traditional, but the way in which we present it is a modern presentation. It’s an unchanging message, but the manner in which we proclaim it, I think, has to be different.”

One thing that is the same in both services, Lambert said, “is the spirit of fellowship. It is the strength of our church in both services.”

Lambert, a graduate of the University of Oklahoma and Asbury Theological Semi-nary in Wilmore, Ky., has been at Willow View since June. Besides his duties as associate minister of evangelism and adult discipleship, Lambert also leads the praise band. His degree from OU was in musical arts.

The band consists of Lambert on keyboard and vocals, with two Willow View youths, Parker Summers and Bryant Peck, on guitar and drums, respectively. In addition, longtime member Gene Mooney plays bass, while director of music ministries Jessica Cummins and accompanist Pam Harmon also provide vocals. There are occasional guests artists, as well.

“The most important thing to me, in running a praise band, is that someone has a servant heart and wants to worship God, wants to help other people worship God and is flexible,” said Lambert, who is working to become an ordained United Methodist deacon. “All our people fit that description really well.

“We found people already in our congregation that had the gifts and talents to make a really great praise band,” Lambert said. “We all enjoy singing and playing together.”

Instead of stand-alone sermons, Broadbent has in recent months opted for sermon series covering a variety of topics, including a study of Christianity’s relationship to various world religions, another on different Christian denominations that included interviews with local pastors, one titled “Lessons from the Farm” and his current series delving into the Lord’s Prayer.

“I fell in love with sermon series about seven or eight years ago,” Broadbent said. “Instead of having one sermon where you cover four topics, you have four sermons where you would cover those four topics. There is always a thread that holds those sermons together, and, too, I think it encourages people to come back, to see what is going to be said next week.”

After Easter, Broadbent plans to begin a series on the sermon on the mount.