“All we need is love”: New pastor, Scott Harris, returns home to Orcas Island

Published 1:30 am Thursday, May 14, 2026

“The Jesus way — the Beatles got right when they wrote their famed song, ‘All We Need Is Love.’ Love is the foundation of a walk with Jesus, and it’s what we all need. All of us is to learn to love,” said Scott Harris, incoming senior pastor, Orcas Island Community Church.

It’s a sentiment that feels as much at home in a coffee shop on Eastsound as it does in a Sunday sermon — and that’s precisely the point. Scott Harris, the newly appointed senior pastor of Orcas Island Community Church, isn’t arriving as a stranger. He’s coming home.

Harris first came to Orcas Island in 2000, serving as youth pastor — and later pastor of family ministries — at the Community Church for nearly 15 years. During that time, he and his wife, Sandy, wove themselves into the fabric of island life. He coached football and other sports at the high school. Sandy served as secretary at the Christian school and eventually became athletic director at the public school. They raised their two daughters here. Then, in July 2014, the couple moved on.

Now, more than a decade later, Harris says he heard a calling to return.

“I heard a clear word from God to return to Orcas,” he said. “And that aligned with my heart. I love the island. I love the people. I love, of course, it’s beautiful. I love the culture.” He doesn’t hesitate when describing what this return means to him: “I am coming home.”

His daughter Sydney, her wife Jessi and their children also live on Orcas.

For those who may not share his Christian faith, Harris is quick to frame his message in universal terms. His vision for the church is, as he puts it, “simple, but complex” — to live by what he calls the Jesus creed: love God, and love others as yourself. Whether you’re a believer or not, that’s a philosophy most anyone can respect.

Jon Hane, the church’s director of family ministries and interim preaching pastor, describes Harris as someone whose warmth reaches well beyond the church walls.

“He really cares and loves people regardless of where they come from,” Hane said. “He reaches across the aisle to lots of different people, even if he disagrees with them.”

When the topic of Orcas’ spiritual diversity comes up — its Catholic, Episcopal and Mormon congregations alongside his own — Harris sees it as one of the island’s quiet gifts.

“We get the privilege of going deeper into one another’s story,” he said. “You can’t hide on an island. And I think that’s a beautiful thing, because then you get to become fully known.”

When asked about declining church attendance nationally, Harris doesn’t shy away. He acknowledges that pain and broken trust have driven many people away, but sees an opportunity rather than a crisis. “Every church has an opportunity to bring their story,” he said, “and to graciously allow people to walk with them.”

You’ll find Harris where he’s always felt most at home — in coffee shops, on the sidelines of a game and wherever people gather to share their stories. “What brought you to Orcas?” is, he says, one of the greatest questions you can ask anyone here.

For Harris, the answer is simple. Love brought him back.