First, I have become very involved in the local community in the Portland Metro area. Over the last six months I have been able to volunteer 20-30 hours a month through community clinics and service projects, school service events, homelessness, human trafficking, healthcare, etc. The highlight of this is when once a week I get the opportunity to volunteer at the local emergency room and help patients and families in their times of need. My search for work has had ups and downs as I thought I had a great opportunity that has not become what I hoped, but it is a new year and I will keep looking.

Over the summer I started attending a church that has been a wonderful place for me to be after my difficult and painful experiences at Colossae Church (I continue to love this church and hope that one day they will forgive me and accept my repentance and reconcile). This church has been a safe and healing place where I was able to start serving, joined a Women’s study group, and have made some great friendships. The teaching here has been especially meaningful to me as it has helped me to learn some things about the Bible and the gospel that I never understood. Back in August I made some other friendships, and learned that some of those people were preparing to plant a church. I have been walking with them for several months and growing in relationship with them. After a great deal of consideration and some difficult questions I have decided with a lot of hope (and realistic caution) to join them in this endeavor. I have been asked to be one of core leaders of this church. As one of my new friends says, “You came to Portland to plant a church, you just were in the wrong one.”

Missio Church (Missio is Greek for mission) officially met for the first time on January 6^th, 2010. Our core team of eleven has been preparing for this launch for several months. We had four others join us for a mid-week missional group that will become the core of the church. It will be a process to build the church over the coming months, before we consider holding weekly Sunday services. It is an exciting time, but also a difficult one as many of us are struggling through the transitions of leaving churches we have been a part of and not knowing what the future holds. Our hopes are that Missio will be a multicultural church (we already have Caucasian, Korean, Chinese, Vietnamese, and Mong involved). Another hope is that this will be a church that will minister to those who have been hurt, disillusioned, and left behind by others churches. Those of us on the core team have a heart to create a church that really impacts our city, that will be actively involved in serving others, and that helps people heal and grow one life at a time. We are very committed to spiritual community, discipleship, prayer, and the Bible (all things I desired in a church but had not found).

Please let me know if you are interested in staying informed about Missio and how the plant is growing (I will post some things on this blog). We will be asking some friends to join us in prayer as we move forward, and I hope you will consider being a part of that time.

Whether you are spending today with friends, family, serving, or even if by chance you are spending it alone I hope and pray that your heart will be overflowing with hope, gratitude, and an awareness of your blessings.

Friends and family, you are treasures in my life. I am privileged to share this journey with you and I count you as blessings. My life is also filled with safety, security, warmth, food, water, work, service, community, faith, and so many other things that many in this world do not have.

Mostly my heart is filled by the love of God who saved me, chose me, loved me, and have rescued my life when I did not deserve it. That gift alone fills me and brings me such joy.

Today, I am thankful, deeply thankful and everywhere I look there is even more to be thankful for.

• Community Forum on Hunger, Homelessness, and Health care – agencies, churches, and individuals came together to discuss and strategize about how to meet the needs of those struggling during these tough economic times. The partnership and unity exhibited through this and through connections that have occurred since this event has been amazing.
• Compassion Beaverton – a free medical and dental clinic that assisted those who can not afford care – over 600 volunteers were involved
• Medical Teams International Gala – once a year this organization holds a gala event that is a fund-raising event – over 250 volunteers were involved and it was the largest event they have ever held (both in size and money raised)
• Marysville School support – This Portland elementary school burned down on Monday, probably due to arson. Hands on Portland, a volunteer clearinghouse house, was able to raise over 100 volunteers within 2 hours earlier this week. So many people wanted to assist that they had to cut off the registrations. We donated 4-5 hours today cleaning, moving furniture, painting, landscaping, etc. so that the teachers and students have a school that they can hold classes in starting Monday morning. Many organizations have donated a tremendous amount to help this school recover as all supplies were lost including personal items such as backpacks, school supplies, and coats. One local company (Nike) has donated new backpacks filled with school supplies and coats for every student, and an area bookstore (Powells) is helping supply books for all the classrooms.

It is very difficult for me to share that things have not worked out with this church. I have grieved and agonized over this and about how to communicate it to you because I care for these people a great deal and I do not want to hurt them. I desire to live and communicate in a manner that is honoring to them and God even as I seek to share honestly with you about what has been going on. It was definitely my heart to be a part of this church for a long time to come and I was working through my questions/issues and aligning my expectations with reality. There are things I was told about the goals and plans for Colossae and planting a church here in Tigard that have not become the reality I expected. Chuck had no training or guidance on church planting before starting Colossae, and as this was a brand new church not reaching every goal is expected but I came here understanding that Colossae was a community with these goals, and they are not what I experienced.

• To build a core community of people – There has been no vision casting, equipping, or building of this core. At the same time there is no outreach to bring new people into the church or to share God with others.
• To “build a body of people who desire to live biblically (not just saying it, but actually living this way)”
• To “hold Scripture up as THE standard, and then revolve our lives around it”
• To build programs around prayer, relationships and the Word – Bible studies were not started as they do not fit the vision of where leaders desire to go, prayer rarely occurs outside of Sunday morning services, and relationships are friendly but surface level with no real depth or accountability
• To be very intentionally involved in service to the community, missions, and outreach
• To value unity, diversity, and people in need
• To donate 10% or more beyond the local church and to grow that to 50% over the next few years – I believe only one donation has been made and that was in September 2008.

I know that no church is perfect and I knew that I came here dealing with wounds from spiritual abuse I experienced 4+ years ago. I had been honest with Pastor Bomar regarding the issues and questions I was trying to work through. I had actively sought his assistance and spiritual guidance in that and tried to seek assistance from someone else in the church also. Unfortunately over time it became clear that helping me sort through my questions and restore trust in the church was more than he could handle and he didn’t understand or accept the issues I was working through. Neither Chuck nor the elders have experience working with people who have been spiritually abused or traumatized and they considered responses and areas where I was struggling and asking for time and space as lack of faith, trust, disrespect, and unsubmissiveness rather than as areas where I needed spiritual guidance, support, and healing. They lacked the faith to believe that God could and would work through the issues with time, love, support, prayer, and focus on God’s truth found in scripture.

Due to this the elders informed me through email that I will no longer be allowed to attend the church. I am saddened that rather than just explaining that they didn’t have the ability to walk with me and assist me, rather than allowing others in the community to help, and rather than talking about our different views on authority and submission to find common ground improper words were spoken toward me. I was told I was unteachable, unsubmissive, twisted communication, and that my questions and lack of understanding was causing disunity. I am not denying some issues might have been present, and I take full responsibility for my sinful and wrong actions/words, but anything done on my part was not done intentionally or with a heart that desired to cause issues. For example, I did turn to an older/elder woman in the church for counsel about how to communicate better, heal, and understand program decisions because I desired the relationship with Chuck and Colossae to be strong and healthy. I was told that this communication was part of why I was dismissed from Colossae, because it was an act of disunity to speak of any miscommunication with the pastor to another member of the church. This has been a painful and difficult situation as I really believed in the vision behind this church, was highly invested in it, and trusted Chuck more than any pastor I have known. I care about the people in this church a lot and considered some of them (including Pastor Bomar and his family) friends that I intended to be in community with for years to come. I had been told that many of these people cared deeply about me, but when the leaders removed me from the church ALL communication with anyone in the church was cut off. The accusations, attacks on my character, loss of over 60 relationships, loss of my church, effects to my identity/value/purpose, effects to my relationship with God, betrayal, and broken trust have been hard to work through. I originally believed I was placed under church discipline and I tried to walk out the situation from that viewpoint going through counseling, discipleship, and a lot of personal work addressing sin and other issues in my life. I have repeatedly sought reconciliation with the church leaders (both on my own and through a counselor) and I have tried to do everything I could to glorify God by working through the issues and restoring relationships. After weeks of silence, the elders finally communicated I was not under church discipline, and there is no avenue for communication, reconciliation or restoration. It has been communicated that I should not contact anyone in the church again even to seek reconciliation. This breaks my heart and weighs heavily on me as I believe Scripture is clear that Christians should not live in broken relationships and should set the example of loving, forgiving, and seeking unity even in the face of struggle and difficulties. I continue to hope that the leaders and members of this church will one day reconcile and walk in unity with me.

As I have walked through this I have learned that there were beliefs I struggle with at the church that I had not recognized as they are not openly shared:

• The church is founded on a theology called Lordship Salvation or Reformed Theology (a form of Calvinism). I didn’t know anything about these beliefs until after I was disfellowshipped.
• The leaders have a very strong and conservative view of submission, not only to God but especially to leaders and husbands. Lack of submission is seen as rebellion toward God and therefore as sin. Marital issues, even violence, seems to be deemed as being due to lack of submission by the wife. I and others have been counseled that greater submission is needed.
• The pastor and elders are the ultimate authority in the church, not only to lead the church, but to speak personally into your life.  They state they speak on behalf of God and hesitancy to listen fully to and submit to all they say may be viewed as cutting off the voice of God in your life. It was expressed that spiritual direction would come from the leaders instead of from a personal faith walk with God.
• The “headship” for single women who do not live at home goes to the leaders of the church, and they expect to have an even larger voice in the single woman’s life than the life of others in the church.
• The leaders respond and interact better with men in the church. I know of multiple women who have had problems communicating with the pastor and the on-site elder. (Three elders are in California)
• There is a “no talk” rule about issues, especially regarding meetings with the church leaders. Communication with the leaders is not to be shared with others. A “no talk” rule is often put in place in families or organizations as a means of control or to stifle or hide anything that has the potential to cast someone (e.g. a leader) in a bad light. Healthy groups thrive on free flowing information, where unhealthy groups experience confused, defective or controlled communication, so the “no talk” rule raised red flags.
• Church leaders believe that all the resources the church community needs can be found inside the existing local church, and there is no need to reach outside the local church for other support, in fact reaching outside the church was not really supported.
• The leaders believe in treating the spiritual person, but not the whole person. There is some disrespect shown for others boundaries and safety. For example: not allowing time and space to process through things, not adjusting meeting logistics to improve conditions for open sharing, not providing care for physical and emotional needs, not providing financially for church program expenditures, not doing background checks on childcare workers, etc.

I recognize and admit that I had areas where I needed to heal, grow, learn, and change. I came to Colossae actively seeking discipleship, direction, support, and counsel for these areas but the leaders were not ready to provide that to me and as I recognized that I tried to look for that support elsewhere but was discouraged from doing that. As I have sought help to work through the separation from Colossae, concern has been expressed and some difficult questions have been raised. I learned the leaders deemed that based on areas where I struggled they believe I am not a Christian; instead they feel I have been “churched” and can talk the talk but do not have an actual walk with God. They did not follow Biblical process for resolving conflict (Matt. 18) because of that claim and I was removed from the congregation with no discussion or avenue for clarification. The belief I was not a Christian and other claims were not expressed until weeks after I was dismissed from the church. This devastated me because I have been a Christian for 25 years and consider it the most important thing in my life affecting all my decisions, relationships, and values. Back in late January Pastor Bomar had even told me he believed I had a true and authentic walk with God, and that the church needed me to step up and share that with others. When I asked about their recent claim I was told that because I struggled to trust and faced confusion over some spiritual issues that it was clear God was not at work in my life. It is confusing that any church would remove people stating they are not believers rather than trying to help them come to relationship with Christ because Jesus’ last words were that Christians should go and make disciples. It is also hard to understand how Christians can shun others and refuse to forgive, love, and live in reconciliation and unity. As I desire and try to live a life worthy of the gospel the brokenness and division with those at Colossae grieves my heart, and I still am trying to resolve the situation with them so we can live in reconciliation.

This has been very hard for me because I care so deeply and I don’t know how to reconcile my feelings of love with the hurt, betrayal (confidentiality was broken and gossip occurred), and abandonment I also feel. I believe that Chuck is a strong teacher and that his teachings are pretty Biblically sound but as I met individually with him he never spoke of God, shared from the Bible or prayed. He is successfully leading a national college ministry, and is now writing college ministry books. I believe Chuck has a heart with good intentions however he just does not have the experience, wisdom, depth of faith, Biblical knowledge, or compassion to care for those who have deep needs or are hurt, abused, scared, or disillusioned with the church. So, from my experience Colossae is not a safe place for people in need. I care for those I know at Colossae so deeply and continue to pray that the church will grow healthy and strong in God’s truth. Although I am saddened and grieving, I have forgiven those involved and freely release them into God’s hands. They are not my enemy and I harbor no anger or bitterness toward them. They are my brothers and sisters in Christ, and I love them deeply, extend grace and forgiveness to them, and will continue to uplift them in prayer and walk in unity and peace with them to the best of my ability.

While what I just shared is painful, there is some great news. Through discipleship and a lot of hard work my faith, walk with God, and life have changed dramatically. As I was led to scripture I have grown immensely in my spiritual maturity, understanding of God, and faith walk. I am overjoyed to share that the confusion and issues I have struggled with for the last 4+ years have been healed as I have gotten to the roots that were keeping my wounds from healing from my past abuse, and keeping my mind from understanding God’s truth. I am doing better than I have for years, and emotionally and spiritually I am very healthy. I don’t have a church home yet, and I still do not have a job (I was laid off due to the economy in May) so there is uncertainty about the future, but several churches have welcomed me to join them even after hearing my story. Over the last few weeks God has connected me with some incredible people and I am now tied into one of the strongest and most spiritually mature communities I have known where I am finding grace, love, and deep friendship and support. I am hoping this may lead to a new church home. I still desire to find a church community to be vitally connected with where I can have relationships, serve, and grow. I am trusting that God will lead me to the right place. Doors have opened for me to be actively involved in community service, and now others are coming to me inviting and recruiting me to serve in ministry in several areas. With the healing I have experienced I am now able to walk in service and relationships in new ways and look forward to a different and much healthier future. I already have been able to serve, lead, and minister at an area youth/young adult conference with a confidence and vitality I have never known. I have enjoyed life in Oregon so I am planning to stay here as I continue to determine where God wants me as I still desire to live dedicated to His service.

Thank you for your friendship, your prayers, and your support. You all mean so much to me. I apologize I haven’t shared about this until now but I have been deeply hoping and praying that reconciliation and healing would be possible with Colossae. Again, it is not my heart to hurt them or misrepresent what has occurred. What I have shared here is only my experience and perspective. I know others have found Colossae to be a place where they are growing and thriving and I praise God for that. As I am now working to accept the closed door with Colossae I felt it was time to share my story with you. It is my prayer that God will be glorified through this, if not through reconciliation then by some other avenue. I am thankful for your continued prayers and support as I wait on God for direction on the next steps for this journey.

Walking with God,
Sherie
“Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.” (Philippians 1:27)

I haven’t posted for a while now. Life has been plugging along without any special to post. Since the holidays I have been working to get that never ending task list whittled down while life is quiet. I also had decided to focus more on finding a house while the prices and interest rates are low and then to focus on finding a new job after things begin to improve. Things were moving ahead nicely and I was seriously looking a few homes and hoping to purchase in about the next 30 days. Sometimes the best laid plans…..

Monday I received notification from my company that they plan to lay me off. I probably have about 6-8  weeks notice, which is a huge blessing as so many people are faced with immediate layoffs right now. However, that one phone call completely changes my focus of life. No longer asm I looking for home, and planning for a spring and summer of settling into a new home, but instead my focus is on finding a job, wondering what the future holds, hoping my current rental situation is stable, and trying to examine budgets and make alternative “just in case” plans for finances and insurance.

Overall I am doing really well with the news. I am in a good financial place for this to occur. Much better than if I had purchased a house first. It also might be good to know where I will be working before I purchase. I am excited for a new job opportunity as work has been incredibly slow lately and I am bored and underutilized. I am also excited to get to know some new people in the community that are not connected with my church. It will be good to firmly planted here in Oregon and not pulled back up north at times for work, although I will miss the opportunities I have had to see some of you during those travels.

I have spent time over the last two days reflecting on how often we lay out plans and something comes along to change those. We have a choice in how we will respond. We can get upset, frustrated, disappointed, and angry, or we can embrace it as a new opportunity with hope for the future. That is my choice today. I don’t know what tomorrow holds in any realm of my life, but today is a gift and I have the wonderful opportunity to share it with others and be a part of some amazing things. The coming weeks will hold change, but I believe that change is a good and I have the fantastic opportunities to meet new people, learn new things, and take on new challenges. It may be an about face, but this is one I am looking forward to!

• I enjoy being around people and struggle when I spend too much time isolated from others.
• It is important to have others to share with who understand what you are going through.
• You can’t live on the west side of downtown Seattle (West Seattle is actually southwest), so it has been hard learning to drive east to get to the city.
• Streets that cut sideways across a town built on a grid are convenient but very confusing.
• Seattle traffic is AWFUL!
• I don’t miss Seattle’s misty rain and gray days.
• I really want a yard and outdoor space to enjoy.
• I love walking down streets with trees and fall leaves.
• I am glad I live in a community with similar businesses, and culture elements to where I have lived previously.
• I miss living in smaller communities and enjoy being away from the city.
• The relationships and culture at work are much more important to me than what I do and where I work.
• Making decisions about the future is difficult.
• You can’t predict what tomorrow holds.
• The best laid plans…….always need to be flexible
• I get bored really easily.
• We all have idiosyncrasies, but we tend to think our idiosyncrasies aren’t strange.
• Making new relationships is exciting, challenging, difficult, confusing, and takes a lot longer than I want it to.
• Change is a really good and healthy thing.
• Trusting others involves risk, but can lead to amazing opportunities.
• Life is a blessing and is very valuable.
• Every person that we have the opportunity to meet can teach us things and fill our lives with amazing things if we will take the time to embrace and enjoy them.
• Having a purpose in how you live life is really important.

I hope you are learning a few things about yourself and your life this winter too. What makes you happy? What confuses you? What are you filling your life with that is making a difference?

Inside I joined a group of staff from Providence Health Services who were organizing the Festival of the Trees. For the last 25 years they have held an event where trees are decorated and then auctioned off to raise support for medical programs for children in need. I spent the rest of the afternoon unpacking boxes, unloading 8-10 foot trees and moving them to the exhibit hall, decorating a tree, hanging garland, and helping out wherever needed. It was a lot of fun to see a bare room begin to be transformed into a grand event. Thursday the trees will be auctioned off, and on Friday and Saturday the public will be able to come in and view the trees. They will also be entertained with music from a stage, can get pictures with Santa, build craft projects, view 140 gingerbread houses from a local high school, and visit the Teddy Bear Hospital. I will be able to help out as a volunteer for the public even also. It should be a lot of fun!

I am enjoying volunteering in the community here in Oregon. I am meeting some amazing new people, and learning a lot about the community as a whole. It is fun to see the community through others eyes, and to hear stories from others who have lived here for a long time. I have been thinking a lot about why I am volunteering and serving in the community though. It is not just to do something good, or to give back. It is because I was created to be involved in others lives, to share life with others, and to give to/love/support/encourage others. Many people believe that humans have been born selfish and evil. Maybe that is true, but my life with God has made me into something new. I have been made to love others, care for them, and be a part of making their lives better. My life isn’t just about me, but it is about the people in the community I live and being an active part of their lives. It is about living living in way that my life has meaning and purpose and makes a difference. I am enjoying that purpose!

The past two weeks have been a time of realizing a lot of the things I am learning and ways I am growing. The temporary status of this transition is wearing off, and I am realizing how the last few months have left unchangeable impressions and impacts on me. The lessons are not always easy, in fact some of them have been incredibly hard, but when put together they are something good. For example this week I have been realizing how often I can let circumstances affect my attitudes and how my attitudes can then affect my outlook, especially toward my view of myself. As I walked away from a situation on Wednesday where my gut level reaction was to feel rejection I was able to make decisions to choose a different attitude and different outlook. I am learning, I am growing, I am changing, and I believe becoming stronger and more healthy.

I wish there were words to share that would really give you an impression of what I am experiencing. As I sat in church today and listened to the pastor speak about the exact things I have been learning on my own this week I knew God was present and working in my life. I came here as a step of faith, and with a desire to grow closer to God and to learn to serve others in new ways. Sometimes I don’t speak of my faith and all that God is doing and teaching me, maybe that is because the list is so long, or maybe because I lack faith. If someone was to ask me right now why I made the choice to be here I don’t know I would have words to say, but with tears in my eyes I could tell them because of all that God is doing in my life right now to make me a different person who is more deeply in love with him than ever before.

1) The church is going great. We are growing both in numbers (although only a few) but even more in our understandings and relationships with each other. Things are going along really well, and financially the church is in a great spot. Due to that (and a few other things) the leadership has decided to take advantage of a great opportunity for a 3 year lease of a facility we can use 24 hours a day instead of the 3 hour a week rental of others space we have been doing. So, sometime in December we will be moving into our own building! It is such a huge and amazing step this early in the life of the church and it will allow us many opportunities to reach out to others and serve the community.

2) We are starting community groups (aka home groups). Once a week we will be meeting in someone’s home for dinner and a time of getting to know each other better. These groups will also be looking for opportunities to serve out in the community at least once each month. We are really excited to be at a place where we can start making a difference in our community!

3) When I moved to Oregon I choose a 6 month housing option, not knowing what was about to happen with the economy. It has ended up being a very good decision, but within a short time here I need to make a decision if I am going to ask to extend my lease, move to another rental, or look for something to purchase. If I choose to purchase my decision to be here really will be a more permanent decision.

4) I have had lot of questions about my job for much of the last year. I have swayed back and forth many times about whether to ride out the problems or look for something else. After my yearly review this week where my manager described what she sees my job becoming over the next year I am certain I need to look for something new. Now comes the tough decisions of how to find a stable job in our economy while also making housing decisions. Some tough choices might lie ahead, but I am excited for some new opportunities.

That is the big news for now. Otherwise I have been busy painting, refinishing furniture, and trying to sort through some belongings so I won’t have to move them again if I do move in the near future. Life feels pretty temporary and unsettled right now due to job and housing decisions, but I that is an okay place to be for this season.

I took a day off on Monday and spent some time reflecting on why I had moved and if I was staying on track with the goals and hopes I had for this change in my life. I realized it is so easy to fall back into the same old patterns of life. Over the last few weeks I had stopped looking for places to volunteer, spent more time at home rather than seeking out new relationships, and had returned to some of the ways I can waste time rather than using it wisely. I have been getting off track from what I hoped. Now, part of that is due to being out of town every week and dealing with illness twice, but still it wasn’t what I had hoped.

I’m not upset about that though, because what we hope for isn’t always the best thing for us. Sometimes our hopes can lead us astray or send us looking for something that keeps us from something else. Maybe I haven’t been completely on track with the goals and hopes I started with, but new ones are forming, and I know more about what life could hold here now rather than dreaming about something unknown.

Things are good! In looking at the big picture of what the last three months have held I can honestly say this has been one of the best decisions I have ever made. I am happy, safe, healthy, and feeling really good about where life is at. Hopefully I can pursue relationships, places to give to others, and new opportunities more in the near future, but I will also be balancing that with those new hopes, dreams, and opportunities that are coming my way. Life truly can be a grand adventure!

In 1902-1904 a team of experts built a seawall in Galveston. To date it has never been overtopped by a storm surge. The seawall is 10 miles long and 17 feet high. It is 16 feet think at its base. It is both a national historic place and an engineering landmark.

Galveston seawall monument

My fascination with the hurricane and seawall comes from the fact that the seawall engineer, George W. Boschke was the brother of my great, great grandfather. After building the seawall he became a chief engineer with Southern Pacific Railroad and settled in Portland, Oregon. Right now it feels like as small world as I watch history unfolding and remember those who have come before us. What an amazing feat it will be if the wall continues to stand more than a century later with another deadly storm thrashing at it.

Anyways, the thing I miss the most is people who know me, who I have history with, who know things about me beyond the surface level. This week I was reminded of how important friends are, and how deeply I value each of my friends. It doesn’t matter if the connections we make are through a card, a call, an online chat, a text message, a note on a Facebook wall, or something more. Thursday I was blessed with the opportunity to see a dear friend from college. I picked him up at a coffee shop, drove him across town, and dropped him off at the airport. It was just a short trip and a few minutes, but even that was well worth it.

Cherish the time you have with those you love. We never know when things will change, nor how long/short or good/bad it will be. I have lost friends due to moves, death, broken relationships, and mostly just due to lack of effort. I am learning to be thankful for every moment I get and every opportunity I have to share with those I love.

Some of you expressed you were concerned about me moving and taking the risks that go with it. Some of you have asked if I had fears about making this change. Some of you know about struggles I have faced in my last two churches and how much of a risk this move has been in certain ways. As I sat watching the storm I realized that I am not fearful. I am confident in the changes and decisions I have made. I feel safe in my new home and in my new church. The relationships I am making appear to be healthy, and many of them are more than just surface level friendliness. The church is going well, and I am feeling challenged by the teaching plus opportunities to serve are opening up.

Have I faced fears in making this move? Yes, a few, but most of them were tied to finding housing after I gave notice to move from my old apartment. Overall I have felt tremendous peace about this, even in the middle of a major downpour and hailstorm! (Now, if you ask my cat about her fears….you might hear a different story.)

There are a couple words we don’t use much in American society, orphan (or fatherless) and widow. Both of these words are used in the Bible though and it tells us to care for these people. The pastor and I talked about who these people are in our society, and what we as a church can do to share with them. In a general sense these people are those in society who don’t have family or support structures in place that are helping to care for them. That might be those who are divorced, single parents, singles, college students, the elderly, or the ill. The pastor asked if I would be willing to help look for and brainstorm ways our new church community can reach out to the orphans and widows in our town. We are looking for ways we can become the family and support structures for these people who don’t have others in their lives.

I am excited for this new challenge and hope we can find ways to be a positive impact on our community!

I have been learning a lot about education in Oregon. As most of you know students and the idea of life long learning are very important to me. Not only have I prized my own education which has included post high school work at three different universities and 2 vocational type programs, but I spent 10 years working in public education.

Public education in Oregon has a lot of similarities to Washington both in its strengths and its weaknesses. As a general community member that is not an employee or a parent I don’t have much ability to interact with the system and try to make positive changes, but I am looking for ways to give it a try. I have identified one organization that is funneling donated resources into the classrooms.

I have also been looking into the local post high school educational arenas. The Portland area has numerous colleges and universities such as Lewis & Clark College, Linfield College, George Fox University, Reed College, Portland State University, Marylhurst University, Oregon College of Art and Craft, Pacific University. I have had the opportunity to speak with two individuals from different schools regarding education, campus life, and faith of local college students. Of course every school has its own unique culture and diversity, but one of things the two schools seemed to have in common with the independence and unconnected nature of relationships the students have with each other and with mentors/other adults.

The most concerning and eye opening for me was the conversation about Reed. Reed is referred to as the most godless campus in America. It is actually written into their bylaws that there will be no religious ties of any type at the school. Students come in as freshmen excited for college and embracing the experience but even within the first year they are limiting eye contact with each other, burying themselves in their studies, isolating themselves, and there are high levels of drug use, alcohol use, and promiscuous behavior. The students predominantly live in single door rooms or apartments so they become very isolated and relationships are poor if they exist at all. Some students go months without having a meaningful conversation with another human.

I don’t know how or where I will be able to become involved with students here in Oregon, but it definitely is a part of my heart and interest.

Colossae had its first gathering in April. Two Sunday’s ago we met in a rented building for the first time. The facility is called the Inflatable Kingdom. It is a business that hosts team building events, children’s birthday parties, and recreational activities. We have warehouse space where they have large blowup bouncy toys. They are deflated at night so we just push them off to the side and hold a Sunday gathering (it is not quite a full service yet). After church we blow up the toys and children and adults alike have a great time of play.

It doesn’t look much like a church!

We are off to a great start. We are developing a core foundation of active people who want to be involved in  the church, and each week someone new seems to come visit. This week I sat next to a pastor and his wife that were in the area from Manhattan, New York and decided to stop by for a visit. They planted a church two years ago and were a great encouragement regarding our new plant.

I am living in a 2 story townhome. I have a nice front and rear deck. I have planted some flowers and am enjoying the peaceful neighborhood I live in. My mornings include a walk through the neighborhood instead of getting in the car to commute. At this time I have kept my job in Redmond and am working remotely most of the time. I will have to go to Redmond once or twice a month, and otherwise will be working from home. This has been a huge blessing in getting settled, but it is a trial situation and I don’t know yet if it will work out long term. It also has a drawback that I am not meeting new people down here are quickly as if I was working locally.

Now that I am settled I am starting to find things to do with my spare time. The church isn’t planted yet so we don’t have any programs to be involved with. Instead I am looking into the community for volunteer opportunties. Tomorrow I will help out an organization that assists with school supplies, Sunday I will be making cards for sick and injured children, next Saturday I am volunteering to help beautify local schools, and over the next week I have two different meetings planned to talk with leaders of a college ministry organization at two different private colleges in the area (Lewis and Clark, and Reed). I am excited for the various opportunities and to meet some new people here in the Portland area. I am in no rush to have a set schedule and am enjoying the various new adventures.

Thank you to each of you for the role you play in my life. I am very thankful for each of you. You are not just my friends, but to me you are family and my life would not be the same without you!