Homecoming of the heart: Rev. Patrick Hamm’s 1st Anniversary at the church of his roots
News Story by Nina Culver | FāVS News
The Rev. Patrick Hamm will celebrate his first pastoral anniversary at Mt. Olive Baptist Church in Spokane’s East Central neighborhood, the very church his grandmother helped found and where he made his debut as a drummer at the age of 4.
The anniversary will be celebrated during a special service at 3 p.m. Sunday at the church, located at 2026 E. Fourth Ave. The Rev. James Watkins of New Hope Baptist Church will be the guest speaker.
Hamm’s grandmother, Lola Hamm, was among those who purchased a piece of property on East Fourth Avenue 48 years ago and built a church.
“She founded it with a small group of people,” he said.
Patrick Hamm was born and raised in the church, and it was ever present in his life. He remembers playing the drums during Sunday services beginning when he was 4.
“My legs were short and sometimes I couldn’t reach the pedal and I had to hop,” he said.
But as sometimes happens, he rebelled when he turned 18. He said he needed a break and was resentful of the church.
His grandmother, whom he calls Mother Hamm, made sure church always came first. As a teen, Patrick Hamm played on Hoopfest teams, but his grandmother refused to let him play in the tournament on the second day, Sunday, until after church services were over. As a result, his team often lost while he was in church.
His Hoopfest experiences were just one frustration that he struggled with.
“I found myself drifting from the House,” he said.
But not long after Patrick Hamm began to drift, Mother Hamm died.
“My grandmother raised me, so it was like burying my mother,” he said. “It was earth shattering to me.”
His own relationship with God
In the wake of her death, he realized he needed his own relationship with God, not a relationship through his grandmother or his aunts. He said he told God he would take off his Nikes and stop running.
“I didn’t wander too long,” he said. “I didn’t drift too far.”
Patrick Hamm said he soon realized he was being called to be a pastor. He gave his first trial sermon when he was 19. His only regret was that his grandmother wasn’t there to see it.
“I broke down and cried like a baby after my trial sermon,” he said. “She wasn’t there. She prayed for this.”
He moved to Florida for a few years, then moved around over the next decade working at different churches as a youth pastor and in other roles. Along the way he began dating his now wife, Amaya Hamm.
“We grew up together,” he said. “We’ve been friends for years.”
As their friendship deepened into dating, Patrick Hamm visited her in Spokane several times. By the time they were discussing marriage, he was living in Florida again and the plan was for the couple to marry in Florida and then live there. But Patrick Hamm said God put it in his heart that she might not be ready to leave Spokane and her family despite being willing to leave.
The two discussed it, and Amaya Hamm said she didn’t want to leave her grandmother, who had raised her. She had actually been losing sleep about moving to Florida, she said.
“I cried about it,” she said. “She’s all I know.”
Patrick Hamm said he realized he couldn’t interfere with their relationship.
“Her relationship with her grandmother is a mirror of my relationship with Mother Hamm,” he said.
Moving back to Spokane
Patrick Hamm moved back to Spokane with no firm plan on what he was going to do. They married here three years ago. He said the couple discussed staying in Spokane for three years before going back to Florida. “In my heart, I was not planning to stay in Spokane,” he said.
His wife said she knew the decision to come back to Spokane was a difficult one for her husband.
“It was hard,” she said. “He loved it so much down there.”
But not long after arriving in Spokane, his phone rang. It was the president of Mt. Olive’s board of deacons, asking him to help out with preaching since the church had no pastor. Patrick Hamm agreed and preached for a month, then began alternating every other week with the deacon.
“I said, ‘What’s going on with the church, because I feel like it’s limping along,’” he said.
The church was, in fact, limping. The previous pastor had left in 2019 and the presiding deacon had been holding things together, he said. The board of deacons soon voted to invite him to serve as an interim pastor. Patrick Hamm said he asked to pray about it, then accepted.
He served for 11 months before the board voted to make him the permanent senior pastor a year ago. Now he has no plans to move back to Florida.
“When I came back, God just opened door after door,” Patrick Hamm said. “The Lord said Mt. Olive is home.”
‘Bounced me on their knee’
Mt. Olive has about 20 active members, most of whom are considerably older than Patrick Hamm and have known him since he was a baby.
“Most of the members I pastor have bounced me on their knee,” he said. “
While that longtime relationship can be a blessing in some instances, it can also be a hindrance when he is filling his role as pastor.
“Sometimes it’s harder,” he said. “In some aspects it’s easier because of the relationship. The times I’ve had to issue a word of correction, it’s been well received. They know it comes from a place of love.”
His wife is also involved in the church.
“I feel like I’m more in the background, but I’m there if someone needs me,” she said.
Patrick Hamm said his wife plays an important role.
“She keeps the church schedule on track,” he said. “She handles the phone calls, the text messages, the communication. On top of that, she’s married to me and I’m a difficult person to be married to, I’ll admit that.”
The couple have a blended family of six children, and they’re expecting their next child in October. Patrick Hamm said that while their children account for the majority of the church’s youth group, it’s one of many things he would like to grow and expand in the future.
Future of Mt. Olive
He is making final preparations before opening a food bank in the church within the next month. He said he has seen the need for a food bank in the neighborhood and said he’d like to help fill that gap.
“Anyone who walks into this church, I want to feed them naturally and spiritually,” he said.
People will not need to be a church member or participate in church programs in order to get food, Patrick Hamm said.
“There’s no strings attached,” he said. “If you need food, you can come to this building. It doesn’t matter if you are atheist, Buddhist. It doesn’t matter. We’ll feed you.”
He’s also working to create a mentorship program and a homework helper program with experienced tutors for neighborhood children.
“We’re excited for the future of Mt. Olive,” he said. “We’re taking some steps to make an impact in our community. My prayer is that the doors of the church will be open seven days a week. I want to help build a bridge to reestablish community from the church back to the people.”
The Sunday service, during which Patrick Hamm still plays the drums, begins at 11 a.m. each week at Mt. Olive, preceded by Sunday school at 9:45 a.m.
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