With Spokane Mayor Nadine Woodward and Congresswoman Cathy McMorris-Rogers

By Rob Bryceson, Pastor, The Gathering House

The Gathering House Church in Spokane WA is partnering with Quinn Agency to host monthly gatherings for women in leadership across the social spectrum. Dynamic, inspiring, women are coming together to speak to issues in society about women and for women. Government, business, education, health, and social industries are going to be tackled each month with panel discussions led by inspiring women leaders.

The leader of these events is Bonnie Quinn-Clausen, who owns the marketing firm next door to the Gathering House. She is recognized as one of the top businesswomen in the region. Her vision is to host monthly meetings at The Gathering House so that women in Spokane and beyond can connect, inspire, and aid each other. When the church first moved into the neighborhood, she was admittedly one of the greatest skeptics about a church buying prime, anchor, property in the business District. But after creating the coffee shop and café, she became one of the church’s strongest supporters, both from her award-winning business background and her own position of Christian Faith.

Spokane has been seen as progressive with so many women in leadership in the arenas of politics, banking, corporate CEO’s, health industries, and other fields. 100 such women bought tickets for the first Women’s Panel held on September 16^th.  Mayor Nadine Woodward of Spokane, and Congresswoman Cathy McMorris-Rogers were the keynote guests. The opening night’s topic addressed women of influence in politics with an emphasis on the heritage and impact of our free-market economy.

Throughout the evening, it was obvious that these gatherings will have a distinct flavor of women getting personal while sharing stories of success and struggle with each other. There was a refreshing level of honesty and candor when women leaders aren’t speaking to the press or to the society at large but are simply allowed to share their hearts and be authentic with each other. The evening opened with the simple questions; “Who are you? What do you do? Where do you come from? Tell us something about yourself.

Mayor Nadine Woodward spoke of being a local television broadcaster for many years. She loved covering stories of people great people who do wonderful things in their community. She finally decided she didn’t want to just tell the stories but be one of them, so she ran for mayor. She talked about the nature of divisiveness in politics and how painful and personal the attacks became. Mayor Woodward shared with the ladies how surprised and unprepared she was for the nasty things in politics and the impact of different standards that women are held to by society at large.

“I always had a job where I was scrutinized for my appearance, and women are, but in politics it was so much worse. The attacks were so much more personal and painful to be honest. I had an award-winning career, but as soon as I ran, I was nothing but a newsreader who didn’t know anything about the stories I was reading, and I cared more about my hair and make-up and veneers than the content of the news I was reading.  I will tell you it was really misogynist, and it came from everywhere. It came from both sides and every demographic. That was a huge surprise”, she shared with the women gathered. When asked what drives you to do this? Mayor Nadine Woodward discussed how her faith and trust in God keep her going.

Congresswoman Kathy McMorris-Rogers followed up with how women can be too quick to tear each other down. “None of us can do it alone. If we learned anything during covid is that we need human connection” she said, “At the end of the day my identity is as a beloved child of God”, she added to a round of applause. “When you come to terms with who you are before God, and can really just grab on to that, you can let go of a lot of other voices out there. I have to daily remind myself of that. Then I can go out there and be strong and courageous and a mighty warrior.”

The evening also hosted a second panel discussion of political voices that took a surprising and touching turn when another political leader spoke of restarting life after abandonment in a difficult divorce. She spoke of how another strong woman lawyer helped her through a time of homelessness after the judge awarded the home to the father and she and the kids were displaced. She had driven tractor and knew a bit about farming but had no understanding of business and managing money. Other women helped teach her and lead her out of poverty. Now, she is empowered to act through her faith on behalf of her family and the world they will inherit.

Another political volunteer spoke of how she loves being her age, she doesn’t act it, and won’t tell it, but she didn’t get her mojo until age 70. She spoke of what life on her mother’s reservation was like and it how it was not a pretty sight. She informed the women how her life is empowered by God through prayer. Her personal life has been transformed by hearing Jesus call her and it changed her. Prior to that, she couldn’t be around people and never felt good enough, but God’s love gave her strength and purpose.

Before the night was over the panel discussed the current top-down driven economics, control of the federal government over local powers and ideas, the creativity and innovation of the free-market, and how to empower younger women to emerge as leaders. Although it came together as a business networking event, attendees were inspired at how much these leaders spoke of their Christian faith as a foundation on which they stood to find their bearings in life. Upcoming monthly meetings are going to be incredibly enriching.

Visit The Gathering House online for more information

By Greg Asimakoupoulos

COVID-19 plunged our nation into a season of darkness. In addition to locking down and masking up, one of the visible indicators of that unforgettable dark time was seen in the heart of Manhattan. The lights of Broadway went out for a year and a half. Secular artists hoped and prayed for the chance to perform again.

But Christian artists prayed and hoped for the same thing. I know. I’m the father of a classical musician whose attempts to cobble a career through performing and teaching were severely impacted by the pandemic.

My daughter is a thirty-year old professional flutist who offers her gift on Sundays at Emmanuel Covenant Church near Seattle’s Woodland Park Zoo. Although Lauren has opportunity to perform with the Seattle Philharmonic Orchestra from time to time, her income is primarily derived from contract work as a flute coach with a handful of public schools and her private instruction studio. When schools were forced into virtual instruction, Lauren’s coaching was impacted.

Lauren’s flute students were no longer allowed to have lessons in person. The majority opted to try ZOOM lessons from home. But after months trying to navigate virtual learning, most called it quits. In an effort to pay her bills, my daughter took a parttime job at a local Starbucks as a barista. While pulling espresso shots behind a face mask, Lauren pondered God’s purpose in her life during the pandemic.

Meanwhile, back in Manhattan, a professional violinist by the name of Heather Bixler was struggling with similar thoughts. Out of the blue this point person in New York City for Crescendo North America, a consortium of Christian classical and jazz artists, had an idea. What if Crescendo could find a way to pay some musicians for rehearsing and performing while sharing and praying about their struggles during COVID?

Heather shared her idea with David Gier, the director of Crescendo North America. Gier loved the idea. It was consistent with Crescendo’s vision first birthed in Europe in 1985 by Campus Crusade for Christ missionaries. From the beginning Crescendo sought to find creative ways to encourage the arts and extend the boundaries of God’s Kingdom. Gier offered to find the funding.

When a generous anonymous donor stepped forward, Crescendo’s Chamber Music Project was born. Three U.S. cities with active Crescendo chapters were chosen: New York, Chicago and Seattle. The initiative called for finding gifted artists lacking for performance opportunities and providing them a stipend for rehearsing together, talking about their faith, reaching out in service projects and joining together in a culminating concert. A total of thirty-five musicians were selected.

Of the thirteen performers selected by Seattle hub leader Anthony Spain, conductor of the Northwest Symphony Orchestra, three were members of area Covenant churches. The thirteen were divided into four performing ensembles with whom they would rehearse and perform over a period of eight to fifteen weeks. In addition to my daughter Lauren, the Seattle Crescendo musicians with Covenant connections were clarinetist Brian Schappals and violinist Cherlyn Johnson.

Brian, also a member of Emmanuel Covenant and part of their worship team, was grateful for the opportunity. Having recently become engaged, the promised money provided by the Crescendo initiative was welcomed. The pandemic had negatively impacted Brian’s income stream. But it was more than the money. After more than a year of feeling on the shelf, the opportunity to perform again was life-giving.

“It was getting to the point where practicing was very difficult,” Brian recalls. “There was no real goal to be working towards. Having a chance to play with and before people was truly energizing.”

Cherlyn echoes Brian’s thoughts. Her longings for performance opportunities were palpable. As the wife of a Covenant hospice chaplain, Cherlyn was understandably pleased that the Seattle Crescendo initiative included performing at nursing homes.

“I was especially drawn to the fact that Crescendo wanted to send us out to be a blessing to churches and retirement centers where people were stuck during the pandemic,” Cherlyn observed. “I was also grateful for the chance to connect with fellow Christian performers who were experiencing the same isolation that I was.”

For my daughter Lauren, the Crescendo experience was an affirmation that God had not forgotten her. In addition to receiving her two Pfizer vaccines, the summer music project was an unexpected shot in the arm.

“For much of the last year it seemed like God was wearing a face mask along with the rest of us,” Lauren mused. “It felt like God was hiding his face from me. But when I was contacted by Anthony Spain to practice, perform and get paid, I realized the Lord still knew where I lived.”

Eight weeks of rehearsals, spiritual discussions and serving in the community culminated on July 6. On a warm iconic summer evening in the Pacific Northwest, the long-awaited concert of the Seattle Crescendo initiative was held at West Side Presbyterian Church where Anthony Spain is minister of music. David Gier, the executive director of Crescendo North America, was in attendance to witness the fulfillment of Heather Bixler’s dream.

The brilliance of the evening sky over the Emerald City was most appropriate. A night of music penetrated the darkness of the pandemic with a beam of God’s presence and joy. But that is not the end of the story. These three Covenanters continue to bless others with their talents.

Now that COVID restrictions have lessened, Lauren and Brian continue to perform in person at Emmanuel Covenant Church. They also rehearse regularly with a woodwind quintet called Winds5 they assembled just before the pandemic. In addition, Lauren and Cherlyn (along with a harpist friend) recently performed at a worship service at Covenant Living at the Shores (a Covenant retirement community on Mercer Island). Although Lauren and Cherlyn first met at the culminating concert of the Crescendo initiative in July, they both believe the Lord has brought them together for an ongoing purpose.

The entire Seattle Crescendo concert can be accessed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6c1wHlj2q0&feature=youtu.be

More information on Crescendo North America can be accessed at https://www.crescendonorthamerica.org/

By Jessica Palmer, Cascades Camp and Conference Center

There’s something uniquely captivating about a campfire, isn’t there? Something that reaches beyond its practical purposes of providing light or heat and draws you in. Perhaps it’s the ever-changing flicker that can hold your attention for hours on end, the nostalgia of camping trips past, or the comforting warmth of glowing embers.

Or perhaps it’s the faces on the other side of the campfire ring. Perhaps it’s the nods and the echoes of “me too,” or “tell me more.” Perhaps it’s the voices that come together in song, or the laying on of prayerful hands that make way for healing and wholeness. Perhaps it’s the togetherness that keeps us coming back.

We will forever remember summer 2021 at Cascades as “the summer of returning to the campfire.” This season of ministry saw movement toward a sense of normalcy with the return of most of our programs and a steadier flow of guest groups. Despite the fact that nearly every aspect of ministry here looks different that it did 18 months ago, the transformative nature of community in this sacred place remains.

Reconnection appeared to be a common priority this summer as more and more people were ready to venture out and engage in-person once again. Our family camps and getaways seemed more critical to our mission than ever before. Cars filled with both newcomers and seasoned Cascades veterans flooded through our gate, eager to get away and spend time with loved ones they hadn’t seen much of over the last year and a half. One family camper reflected, “We were reminded of the importance of setting aside time for fun and play together, and of the sweetness of community and deep friendship.” Another commented, “I loved seeing the body of Christ come together. I met many new people who are walking with the Lord and it was so encouraging.“

Our youth programs – Rainier Kids Day Camp, Brightwood Station, Camp Timber Rock, and the S.A.L.T Program – provided a much-needed respite for elementary, middle, and high school campers. The opportunity to grow in faith alongside their peers and explore God’s creation together filled a void that couldn’t help but form after a year of primarily connecting online. According to parental feedback, 24.2% of campers made a significant spiritual decision of some sort during their time here – and that number doesn’t account for all of the quietly sown seeds that will take root and spring up in a future season!

Behind the scenes, our small but mighty summer staff of 27 young adults came together in a powerful way to provide a safe, fun, and comfortable environment for our campers and guests. Working long hours side-by-side to accomplish a feat that has historically been undertaken by a staff of 80 produced the kind of fruit that can only bloom within the context of a tightknit community: lifelong friendships were formed, new gifts were discovered, trajectories were altered, and God’s message of love was proclaimed.

As we collectively reflect on this past summer of ministry, will you join us in praising God for His faithfulness to Cascades? We couldn’t have done it without the prayers and support of our Pacific Northwest Conference family, so from the bottom of our hearts: thank you. We hope that we’ll see you out at Cascades for another campfire sometime soon!

Visit the Cascades Camp and Conference Center Website for more information about the camp and their programs

By Erik Cave, Director of NextGen Ministries, PacNWC

As we wrap up our quarter 3 focus on community I know many of us are disappointed.  We had hoped things would be back to normal, but we have only kinda sorta returned from quarantine.  Many in our congregations and communities are still reluctant to return.  Whether this is due to safety concerns, comfort preferences, laziness or fear, online ministry is as important as ever.  

Churches have worked hard over the past year to develop an online presence. Many have used our Resources for Online Ministry Guides to start streaming services, shape up web sites and think missionally about their online presence.  Most got their services online and breathed a sigh of relief, but I am here to say this is not enough. I want us to change our thinking about being online –  from technology to people, from surviving to thriving, from services to ministry, from clicks to community.

One way to enhance your church’s online ministry is to designate an Online Ministry Director/Team.  Much like you have a youth, children’s, men’s, women’s, and small groups ministry director, their responsibility would be to put time, thought, prayer and energy into ministering to your online participants.  This person/team should be different from, but work with, your online technical director. Technical directors make sure your online service looks nice.  Ministry directors make sure people are finding hope in Jesus and community within the Body of Christ.  For most churches this position will be filled by a volunteer or a team of volunteers.  Here are some ideas for what that person or team’s responsibilities would include:

• Live Host: Viewers of your services will become better engaged, build a stronger connection and take first steps towards connection when they see a live host at your online service. This person would welcome, ask for questions, and receive prayer requests during the online service.  If you have the technical ability, have them on video or audio at the beginning and end of each service welcoming and thanking the online participants.  Use a free service like churchonlineplatform.com to easily engage through chat and provide a private space for prayer requests.
• Connect Outside of Service:  Use a virtual welcome card to gather contact info for online participants.  Reach out to those who participate to thank them for joining.  Pay attention to who is attending and notice when they miss a week. Send visitors a gift card.  Do all the ministry with your online participants that you do with your in person participants.
• Celebration Reports: Greg Yee taught me, “You are what you celebrate.”  Every ministry in your church needs to regularly celebrate wins. Online ministry is no different.  Bring reports to your leadership team meetings, newsletters and announcements to celebrate the ways people are finding community.
• Add Online to Your Assimilation Pathway:  Every church needs a clearly understood pathway for deeper connection.  For most it goes something like this:  Invitation -> Sunday Services -> Fellowship Events -> Small Groups -> Service -> Leadership.  Strategically think about how your online participants fit into this pathway.  It could be in-between invitation and Sunday Service, or in parallel with Sunday Service and Fellowship Events.  Encourage everyone, including online participants, to move along this path.
• Online Events:  Invite your online participants to online next step events that are socially focused.  Some ideas include meeting the pastor on Zoom, movie viewing party and discussion, and interactive game nights.  Here are some ideas for going deeper: online Bible studies and online membership classes.

In no way do I want to encourage the idea that it is healthy for online ministry to take the place of in person ministry. Instead I want you to look at online ministry as an onramp to true community in your fellowship.  Online community is real.  It looks different than what we are used to, but it is meeting a felt need that we all have which is to be known.  The church has a real opportunity to meet people in this online world and draw them into deeper community and hope in Jesus.  Will you help them go beyond clicks to community?

Contact me any time at erik@pacnwc.org if you would like to discuss these ideas or would like some help setting up your online ministry.

Tim Anderson and Kristi Smith Co-Chaired the Invitation to Mosaic Planning Team along with team members Diane Leavitt, Kari Williams, Jedediah Kim, Kim Thomas, Britta Burger, Greg Yee and Erik Cave. Below Tim and Kristi reflect on the importance and impact of this event.

Tim Anderson, Associate Pastor of Youth & Worship, Creekside Covenant Church

Invitation to Mosaic was a great first step focusing on the call we, as a church, have received from God to see one another through His love. We heard the call to, ‘never stop fighting for our own,’ and as members of one body, each made in the Image of God, we are welcomed into a journey to live into a mosaic of ethnicities, histories, stories, and faith communities.

The PacNWC is home to people from all walks of life. Students from churches in Washington and Oregon were invited to see one another again, to have fun together and build bonds, and to challenge one another to put their relationship with God at the center of how they interpret our cultural context. As our nation continues to engage in conversations about race our church has seen the deep-felt need to respond in faith, looking to Scripture and prayer, worship and fellowship to better discern God’s heart for justice; while we are often tempted to start with where we are divided, we hoped to take a step forward by taking a step toward one another. 

As a Native Alaskan with ties to the Yupik tribe in Southwestern Alaska, I was encouraged to see students and leaders from many ethnicities engage, participate, and reflect on our time together. It was so helpful to witness firsthand young people having conversations I only really delved into later in life.

I was just as encouraged to see kids making human pyramids together, sitting down and eating Mediterranean food from a food truck together, and getting on stage for a totally improvised freestyle rap battle together! It’s the kind of potential the Youth Commission envisioned a year ago, but realized in the lives of our incredible students. 

I2M was an encouraging and exciting start! 

Kristi Smith, Director of Children, Youth & Family Ministry, Milwuakie Covenant Church

Covid has changed many things, bringing loss but also gains. When the PacNWC Youth Commission realized a year ago that Unite (formerly CHIC) would not be able to take place as planned this summer, we began dreaming about ways we could replace that loss with something new for high schoolers in our region. 

Our dream was to host a four-day Youth Journey to Mosaic event at a local campus, flying in speakers and taking students on excursions for interactive engagement with various racial experiences in the Pacific Northwest. Unfortunately, that dream also was thwarted by Covid, as the Delta strain swept through the region. When it became clear that being housed together was a risk we should avoid, we shifted directions again. Instead of a four-day journey, we launched a one-day Invitation to Mosaic — two synchronous regional gatherings for teens to explore God’s heart for racial righteousness. Our hope was to get teens and youth leaders thinking, praying and talking together about the intersection between Scripture, race and justice in our lives and communities, hopefully sparking what would become a lifelong discipleship journey.

Despite the Seattle and Portland events being separated by 175 miles, we worked to plan equitable experiences. Both sites had a live worship team and site emcees, with pre-recorded speaking sessions. Dominique Gilliard spoke in our morning session about Jesus and Justice, pointing out the biblical basis for racial righteousness. Tara Hollingsworth spoke for our afternoon session, talking about how we have to experience God’s transforming love and grace in our own lives in order to offer transformational love and grace to the world. In addition to our worship, learning and discussion sessions, our schedule included a food truck lunch (gyros in Seattle, and Lakota-inspired frybread tacos in Portland), a video scavenger hunt revealing the beautiful variety of gifts and skills found amongst our students, and a livestream interaction between both regions where we engaged in a Kahoot contest. Both regions followed the same general schedule and used the same printed materials ensuring that the experiences were closely equivocal. 

Following the event, our students and youth leaders were sent home with a list of films and discussion guides they could use to take steps on their journey of exploring different racial experiences in North America. We hope Invitation to Mosaic was simply one small step in a lifelong journey of seeing one another as God sees us, of listening to the lived experiences of those with racial and ethnic roots that differ from our own, and of leaning into the diversity and justice of God’s enduring kingdom. Our hope and plan is to be able to expand from I2M and launch our originally-planned YJ2M event—perhaps in the summer of 2023.

You can find more information at the event website, here. 

By Dawn Taloyo, Associate Superintendent, PacNWC

Enjoy this video interview with Co-Pastors Rachel Gough and Michelle Huskamp. They share how they are rebuilding community after meeting through Zoom for over a year through coming together for Summer Camp Sundays, connecting with neighborhood business, and collaborating with other community ministries.

Additional Information by Michelle Huskamp:

As we reopen, we are gathering together for our Sunday services on the lawn outside our church building and doing everything outdoors. We are calling it ‘Summer Camp Sundays’. We set up a fire pit in the middle (though we haven’t actually lit the fire yet – it has been too hot), pop-up tents on the grass, and camp chairs under the shade. We have a camera set up so that our few people still not ready to meet in person can join us on zoom and participate in the service. The kids run around with squirt bottles filled with water during the singing and then go to the basketball court for their own lesson time during the sermon. And we get to take communion together again!

Places I see community in this: 

the process of setting up and tearing down each week – people come early to set up the sound and camera, the pop-up tents, bring out the bins of kid’s supplies (bubbles, chalk, squirt bottles, etc) and get to connect relationally while working together to get everything ready. Then after the service, most people stay to help clean everything up (and stand around drinking coffee and chatting in the ever shrinking shady areas as the tents get taken down). 

• Our physical presence in the neighborhood again – our church has a bell in a bell tower that we ring at the beginning of the service each week – this didn’t happen for over a year, and we are so excited to have this loud, physical reminder for us (and our neighbors) that church is starting and we are here. And we our outside, very public and visible, for our services each Sunday, so our neighbors out for walks see us and hear us and we get to chat with anyone who might walk by. Also, a number of our people live in this very neighborhood, so already know a lot of the people who are walking by, which just creates even more connections.

• Our practice of communion – this is small, but we think meaningful – we have chosen, now that we are taking communion together again, to just use one loaf of gluten free bread each week so that everyone can take the same communion – the symbolism of one loaf and one body is something that we intentionally highlight as we serve communion each week.

• Our relationships with local businesses (and the people who run them!) – our building is right next door to a local coffeeshop/bookstore called the Christian Armory. They have truly amazing coffee (roasted daily on the premises) and when we prepared to start gathering again Rachel and I threw out the year + old Folgers in the kitchen and decided that we will drink good coffee at church from here on out. So now we buy our coffee for the coffee hour from Heather (the owner). Rachel and I are known by Heather and the other employees as are many of the people from our church. We also are in the process of getting our communion bread from a local bakery (Darrin, the owner, has never made gluten-free bread before, so he is practicing for a few weeks before he will be ready to make it for public consumption). 

So as we work to rebuild our community as a church in new ways after such a long time apart, we are also being intentional in how we are members of the community of Monroe. We have an opportunity to help facilitate regular opportunities for the Latinx population to meet with the mayor in a safe space (our church building is already a safe space for many of them because of so many of the programs run by Take the Next Step) that we are exploring right now. We are intentional about connecting with our local businesses and buying from them for anything that the church might need whenever we can. And we are lucky in many ways, because the actual community within our church body seemed to stay connected pretty well over the last year and a half because the relational roots were so deep to begin with (40+ years of going to church together and living life together in a small community can do that, and that is our core group of just retired folks). So the rebuilding of community within our congregation had a bit of a jumpstart. 

Well, now that I practically wrote a whole article anyway… if there is something here that you would like to talk with us about for the interview, let us know and we can figure out a time. I know we will both be at the clergy women’s retreat in a week and a half, so that might work (though that also might not be an appropriate time and we can just do it via zoom). 

Visit the Monroe Covenant Web Page to learn more about their ministries