Westside Church of the Nazarene has met on West Santa Fe Street in Olathe, Kansas since 1977, a single campus where five decades of Nazarene ministry now share space with a preschool, a food pantry, and a community garden. The church is known around southwest Olathe for two Sunday morning services in the Worship Center, a busy Wednesday night schedule that runs five different studies and programs at the same hour, and a long-running program called Kid's Day Out that has been enrolling children for more than thirty years. Members describe themselves as "real people infused with dynamic faith," and the building on West Santa Fe is built so that every age group, from toddlers through retirees, has its own room and its own program running through the year.
Five Decades on West Santa Fe
The church counts its history from 1977, and the building sits on a stretch of West Santa Fe that has grown up around it. Five distinct things shape what Westside looks like today: a teaching tradition that runs from the Church of the Nazarene's Wesleyan-Holiness roots, a Sunday rhythm built around two morning services, a Wednesday night rhythm built around five simultaneous programs, a community outreach built around Manna Ministries, and a preschool called Kid's Day Out that opens its doors three days a week. Together those pieces describe a congregation that pours as much energy into the neighborhood around the church as into the building itself.
Lead Pastor David Shore has been in ministry since 1980 and holds a BA in Biblical Literature and a master's degree in pastoral counseling. He says he seeks not only to pastor Westside, but to reach out to the community, evangelizing the lost and discipling believers. The staff team that surrounds him includes pastors and ministry leaders who have served in places as far apart as the Philippines, Kenya, and South America.
Two Sunday Mornings in the Worship Center
Sunday mornings at Westside run on a two-service pattern. The first service begins at 9:30 am and ends around 10:40 am, with early childhood and elementary worship offered for younger children at the same hour. The second service begins at 11:00 am and ends around noon, and that hour is when age-level Sunday School classes meet for children and teens. Adult Sunday School classes are offered during both the 9:30 and 11:00 sessions, and a brief moment of fellowship between services lets people move from one room to another.
The worship gatherings are described by the congregation as "casual but focused," with an emphasis on contemporary music, prayer, and preaching centered on Jesus Christ. The Worship Arts Ministry team, led by DaVonne Lee, includes vocalists, instrumentalists, sound booth volunteers, video and projection teams, and a lighting crew. DaVonne, who has led worship at Westside since 2002, frames her work around the conviction that worship is "not a twenty-minute segment during the service, it's a lifestyle" (Romans 12:1).
On the second Sunday of each month, an 6:00 pm Evening Worship Service is added to the schedule and runs for an hour in the Worship Center. The additional evening hour gives the church room for a different kind of gathering, often a student ministries service or a missions-focused service when those are scheduled.
Wednesday Nights: Five Programs at Once
Westside's Wednesday night rhythm is one of the most distinctive things about the church. From 6:30 pm to 8:00 pm, five different gatherings run in five different rooms at the same time:
- WOW (Warriors of the Word) in Room 300 for children ages three through sixth grade, where they memorize scripture through stories, songs, and games.
- Youth Group in the West Chapel for seventh through twelfth graders, featuring worship, fellowship, and a message from the youth pastor.
- Bible Study with Pastor Shore in Room 102, open to all ages.
- Young Adult Bible Study (ages 18-29) in Room 406, with fellowship, worship, and Bible study.
- The Oasis in the Ministry Center, an all-ages gathering led by Rev. Larry Mowrey that runs a slightly shorter hour, 6:30 to 7:30 pm.
The Van Ministry supports the Wednesday schedule by providing rides for anyone in the Olathe area who needs transportation to either the Sunday morning services or the Wednesday 6:30 pm programs.
Kids Ministry: Check-In to Warriors of the Word
The Kids Ministry serves children from birth through sixth grade, and the way the church handles a first-time visit says a lot about how seriously it takes safety. Parents check children in at a check-in station each time they arrive, where a volunteer prints a name tag for the child and a matching claim tag for the parent. The name tag includes allergy information, and the parent presents the claim tag at the end of the service to sign the child out. Every volunteer who leads in the Kids Ministry has had a background check.
On Sunday mornings, the 9:30 am hour includes early childhood and elementary worship, and the 11:00 am hour includes age-level Sunday School. The Wednesday night program, WOW (Warriors of the Word), runs from 6:30 pm to 8:00 pm in Room 300 for ages three through sixth grade and explores Bible questions using a curriculum built around the Buck Denver & Friends series. The Kids Ministry is led by Nate Owens, the Children's Ministry and Family Pastor, who previously served as a youth pastor and then as a missionary in the Philippines and Kenya.
The stated mission of the Kids Ministry is to help children create a relationship with God, connect with others, and contribute to changing the world. The team's own phrasing: "we believe that kids have the capacity to walk intimately with God."
Koinonia Youth Ministry
Westside's youth ministry is named Koinonia, pronounced koi-no-KNEE-ah, a Greek word the team defines as Christian fellowship "infused by the Holy Spirit." The name comes from John 17:20-23, where Jesus prays that his followers might be one in this kind of fellowship, "then the world would know that they are His."
The youth ministry meets on Wednesdays from 6:30 pm to 8:00 pm in the West Chapel, and the team describes that gathering as "probably the one event that best defines our student ministry." Teens participate in worship, interact with special speakers and the youth pastor, and have plenty of time built in for fun. On Sunday mornings, the 9:30 am hour includes contemporary worship designed for teens, and the 11:00 am hour offers teen discipleship classes.
The youth ministry is led by Nik Davis, who also serves as Executive Pastor. Nik is described by the church as "a father, husband, pastor, speaker, and friend," and he frames the youth ministry around John 10:10 and the idea that people were created for abundant life through Christ. The Teen Connect, a weekly newsletter for parents, keeps families updated on upcoming events and reminders. Teens who serve throughout the year in the local community qualify for the summer mission trip, which is typically taken somewhere in the United States.
Driftwood: Young Adults on Sundays and Wednesdays
For young adults between the ages of 18 and 29, Westside runs a ministry it calls Driftwood. The Driftwood community meets on Sunday mornings at 9:30 am for worship in the Sanctuary, then gathers for a Sunday discipleship session at 11:00 am in Room 406. On Wednesday evenings from 6:30 pm to 8:00 pm, Driftwood meets in Room 406 for a Young Adult Discipleship Fellowship with worship and Bible study.
The stated philosophy is that community is essential to spiritual growth, and Driftwood exists to give young adults "an environment to grow in your relationship with God and with others through weekly gatherings, friendships, and events throughout the year." Becky Livengood, who works through the church office, is the contact for anyone wanting to know more.
Kids Day Out: A Preschool That Has Outlasted Many Trends
Kid's Day Out (KDO) is Westside's preschool program, and the church notes that it has been "enriching children's lives" for more than thirty years. The program accepts children from 18 months through age five and follows the school year, with children eligible if they are the right age by August 31 of the current year.
Three days a week make up the basic KDO schedule:
- Toddler through Pre-K classes run on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm, with parents choosing which day of the week their child attends.
- Three-Year Preschool meets on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9:00 am to 11:30 am, with an optional extended day on Tuesdays. Children must be three years old and potty-trained by August 31.
- Pre-Kindergarten for four- and five-year-olds meets on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday from 9:00 am to 11:30 am or from 12:30 pm to 3:00 pm, with an extended day option on Wednesday. The Pre-K curriculum includes math, reading readiness, pre-writing, science, social studies, art, music, and Bible stories.
Kid's Day Out is licensed by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment and runs as a non-profit, non-discriminatory program. The phone number for the program is 913-764-0813, and the email is kdodirector@olathewestside.org.
Manna Ministries and the Westside Community Garden
Manna Ministries is the name Westside gives to its food and clothing outreach, and the program's tagline is direct: "food for the body and soul." Each Sunday morning, the ministry feeds the soul through worship and feeds the body by giving groceries to those who need them. Registration opens from 10:30 am to 11:00 am, attendees join the 11:00 am worship service, and groceries are distributed after the service concludes.
The Westside Community Garden is part of the same outreach vision. Some of the garden beds supply fresh produce to the Manna Ministries food pantry during the summer, while other beds are rented out as personal allotment plots. The garden page quotes Jeremiah 29:7: "Seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper." Allotment applications are available at the church office, and questions go to community.garden.westside@gmail.com.
Two other community ministries operate alongside Manna:
- J-Train Ministry brings Bible stories, songs, puppets, illustrations, and creative interactions to children and families at the Santa Barbara Estates neighborhood. J-Train runs two four-week sessions each year, one in the spring and one in the fall. Donna Oster coordinates the program.
- The Olathe Van Ministry provides rides to anyone in the Olathe area who needs transportation to Sunday morning services or Wednesday 6:30 pm services.
Worship Arts and the Sound Booth
The Worship Arts Ministry is the team that makes Sunday mornings run on the technical side: vocalists and instrumentalists on stage, sound booth, video, projection, and lighting crews behind the scenes. The team is volunteer-driven, and the Worship Arts page describes the vision in a single sentence: "the heartbeat of our worship ministry is to inspire people to encounter God." The team's theological frame is John 4:24, that God is seeking "true, authentic worshipers."
Worship Arts also runs the church's media footprint. Sunday services are livestreamed on a YouTube channel that hosts a long history of recorded sermons, and Vimeo carries an additional livestream feed. A weekly bulletin PDF is posted online each week so that anyone at home can follow along. Recordings of every recent Sunday can be found in the Sermon Archive, with messages from Lead Pastor Dave Shore featured most weeks.
Missions, Faith Promise, and the Wider Church
Westside supports missions through what is called Faith Promise, a giving model the church describes as "not a pledge" but "a promise made in faith between an individual and God." Faith Promise giving goes toward the Church of the Nazarene's World Evangelism Fund in addition to regular tithes and offerings, and the giving page notes that hundreds of thousands of Christians have used this model over the decades.
Twice a year, the church's youth ministry takes a summer mission trip somewhere in the United States, and adults in the church take Work & Witness trips outside the United States, typically scheduled every other year. The page lists sponsored missionaries, youth mission trips, and special speakers among the ways members engage with what the church calls "ministries beyond those of the local church."
The Olathe Van Ministry, Manna Ministries, the Westside Community Garden, and J-Train all share the same vision: when the church is "rooted deeply in its community, and its membership is operating as public servants, the church will impact the lives of people."
Beliefs and the Wesleyan-Holiness Tradition
Westside identifies itself as part of the Church of the Nazarene, a Protestant Christian church in the Wesleyan-Holiness tradition. The denomination was organized in 1908 and today includes more than 2.4 million members worshiping in over 30,500 local congregations in 162 world areas.
In the church's own words, the people of Westside believe in "proclaiming the Lordship of Jesus Christ," that in divine love God offers forgiveness and restored relationship to all people, and that being reconciled to God means being reconciled to one another. The congregation looks to scripture as "the primary source of spiritual truth confirmed by reason, tradition, and experience," and believes that Christian life together is meant to exemplify the character of Christ.
The church also states that it is "multicultural, multi generational," with the sole intention of reaching the Olathe community for Christ. The Sunday gatherings are "casual but focused," with the priority of giving attention to God's Word and giving God all the glory.
A Leadership Team from Three Continents
The pastoral staff reflects the international reach of the denomination. David Shore, the Lead Pastor, has been in ministry since 1980. Nate Owens, the Children's Ministry and Family Pastor, served as a missionary in the Philippines and Kenya before coming to Westside and holds a BA in Communications from MVNU and an MA in Dispute Resolution and Conflict Management from Southern Methodist University. Bruce McKellips, the Community Connections Pastor, spent 24 years in missionary service in South America and Eurasia with his wife before settling in the Kansas City metro to be near their two children and six grandchildren. Kathy Polk, the Discipleship Pastor, has been in ministry since 2001 and holds a BA in Psychology and a master's in Organizational Leadership from TNU. Nik Davis leads youth ministry and serves as Executive Pastor, and DaVonne Lee has led worship arts since 2002.
Bruce's role, in particular, focuses on developing connections within the Olathe community. Kathy focuses on the work of disciple-making across all ages and points to Philippians 4:13 as her life verse. Pastor Nate's stated passion is for the missional call to God's people to live at peace with one another and with those around them.
Plan a Visit
Westside sits at 1700 W. Santa Fe St., Olathe, KS 66061, with the church office reachable at (913) 764-1445 or churchoffice@olathewestside.org. Sunday worship begins at 9:30 am and 11:00 am, with the second Sunday of each month adding a 6:00 pm evening service. Children from birth through sixth grade have age-appropriate programming at every Sunday hour, and the nursery check-in station prints a matching parent claim tag for safe pickup.
Members and visitors can watch services live on the church's YouTube channel and Vimeo feed, give online through the Church Center portal, subscribe to the weekly e-news, and follow the church through its Facebook group. The Kids Day Out preschool and Manna Ministries food pantry both welcome new families and new volunteers. Anyone interested in serving in the Kids Ministry can reach Pastor Nate Owens directly, and anyone curious about Manna, the Van Ministry, or the Community Garden can contact the church office for next steps.