MILL CREEK — Church isn’t the first place a person thinks of going to get a tattoo.
But Snohomish resident Sharon Snell went to a service at Gold Creek Community Church expecting to have her third tattoo done as part of the church’s Permanent Ink series.
During last Saturday’s noon sermon, pastor Dan Kellogg invited Snell and tattoo artist Matt Sawdon, owner of Sunken Ship Tattoo in Everett, up to the stage in front of 150 members of the congregation for a live tattooing. Snell sat backward on a chair so the congregation could watch Sawdon tattoo an image of her husband’s Everett police badge on her lower back.
Snell explained that each of her tattoos represent significant events in her life and her newest one wasn’t an exception.
“My husband is my best friend, my greatest ally, my toughest critic, and has always been there for me,” she told the congregation. “He’s my protector and his badge is a symbol of that.”
Snell said she started thinking about getting the tattoo after she learned the wife of a Seattle police officer had a tattoo of her own husband’s badge. When Seattle police officer Timothy Brenton was killed on Oct. 31 while sitting in his patrol car, Snell decided she didn’t want to wait any longer.
“When (Brenton) died it was kind of a sign that there’s some things in life you need to do at the time and not put off and do 10 years from now,” Snell said. “When you have a husband in the line of work where he leaves for the day and may never come home, it’s about more than just saying ‘I love you’ every day. The badge, it’s something that will be there all the time.”
The buzzing of an ink gun was part of the background for each of Gold Creek Community Church’s four services on Nov. 15. The sermon was the culmination of a series that addressed the Book of Revelation and the things that should and shouldn’t be permanent in life.
“We started thinking about all the things Book of Revelation is known for and the tattoo ‘666’ came up,” Kellogg said. “We just figured since people are already (getting tattoos) why not use it as an example to teach the scriptures.”
Kellogg polled the congregation of 2,000 people and learned that one out of three members of the church congregation has a tattoo. He and pastor Larry Ehoff invited members to tell stories about their tattoos. They put out a church bulletin asking for anyone who would be interested in getting a tattoo or having one removed as part of the series.
Two people said they wanted to get their tattoo removed. The removal process of one tattoo was sped up and shown by video during the Nov. 8 sermon. Snell was one of 15 people, Kellogg said, who offered to get a tattoo done during a service. Snell and two others were chosen as participants because of the reasons they wanted their tattoos.
“We wanted a story,” Kellogg said. “We wanted it to be meaningful and we thought Sharon’s story was good.”
The live demonstration was meant to be a reminder, Kellogg said, “of God permanently writing names in the Book of Life.”
The church isn’t promoting or condemning tattoos, the pastor said.
“It’s all about trying to be culturally relevant,” Ehoff said. “We find these themes that have to do with culture and then we present the gospel which is the unchanging story.”
Snell said she appreciated the series.
“I loved the series,” she said. “I like that this church does a lot of things outside the norm.”
At the end of the service, attendees had the option of getting the word ‘found’ temporarily painted on their arms. The word represents the church’s Christmas series, Ehoff said.
Amy Daybert: 425-339-3491, adaybert@heraldnet.com.
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