Clark County, Washington. In the Columbian's interview, Dale Schlecht, who is one of the preachers at the Brush Prairie church in Clark county, said there is no way to ascertain the exact number of members, because the church does not keep a roster of membership. Old Apostolic Lutherans - as all Firstborn Laestadians - greet each other with the phrase; "God's peace!" This is a shorter form of the greeting "May God's peace be with you." This is believed to be the highest greeting that one OALC member can offer to another. The Old Apostolic Lutheran Church of America is an independent church, but from the beginning it has had close ties to Scandinavian countries and Finland. It is a sister organization to the Firstborn Laestadians of Finland and Scandinavian countries. The global Firstborn Laestadian movement in America, Finland, Denmark, and Norway is under the care and supervision of the Elders of Swedish Lapland. The Firstborn Laestadian movement in Swedish Lapland is understood and accepted as the mother congregation to which all the American congregations look for guidance. Being under the supervision of the elders of Swedish Lapland keeps the church in both outward unity and spiritual unity. Ministers and activities The OALC is lay oriented and has a layman approach to the ministry, meaning the preachers are not paid by the church and the preachers do not have a theological education or ordination. However, they do have a procedure for training their preachers. New preachers are selected by the congregation and the existing preachers. Preachers are expected to work full-time to support their families while also maintaining their preachers' responsibilities to the congregation. Each local congregation has many preachers and no one preacher preaches every Sunday; rather they take turns preaching. Once a person is chosen as a preacher, they generally serve for the rest of their lives. Some preachers are put on missionary work and they are called as missionary men or missionary preachers. Missionary men travel on missions and hold meetings in United States and Canada. Communion services are held on the first Sunday of every month, which is designated as Communion Sunday. Sunday School is also held. In the OALC lay preachers function as pastors, they preach in services and administer baptism and communion. Preachers distribute communion, but if they don't have enough preachers, then male parishioners may help. Preachers also officiate at funeral services, but