Carson’s a statistical anomaly. Ready for some weirdness?

Carson, WA isn’t even big enough to be a town. No stoplights, one gas station. This “census designated area” is in between three volcanoes, up the road to the forest from the Columbia River, it’s the last stop before you get to some of Washington’s most remote frontier. In a relative sense, little moves in our out.

But there are lots of unique places in the world, right?

Let’s just say Carson’s in a small group of company.

This puts Carson in a category with 2-5% of communities in the U.S. Crazier still, it’s an “old” community that didn’t get there by way of being a retirement community.

What’s unusual isn’t just the number…it’s also the trajectory. 25 years ago it was normal. But Carson has aged FIVE times faster than Washington or the U.S.

A pastoral challenge? Internally, we’ve got expectations that a new pastor will return CBC to its “heyday” when they had to have two services, kids were everywhere, and money was flowing. 25 years later they’ve closed the local middle school (a thriving home school co-op uses our building through the school year). Externally, many (most) people here grew up here. Some moved away and moved back. We are plopped into an area with decades of history together.

The bottom line

In sum, this isn't just an older town…it’s becoming one of the oldest ordinary communities in America. Not because thousands of retirees moved here, but because young people left, fewer young families arrived, and those who stayed faithfully built this community together. It’s not a criticism…it’s simply the reality we've inherited—and it tells us where ministry opportunities are greatest.

Remember the theme of the first sermon series when I showed up in January? As you have received, so also guard and give (to faithful men who’ll carry on).

Wait! There’s more.

Everyone knows that affordability’s an issue, and here in the Columbia Gorge we’re right on the border between C- and D- for housing affordability. But Carson gets even weirder than that. (What a great opportunity to see how the Lord shows up! And He already has!)

If age in Carson makes it look like it got stuck, the economics affirm the story.

Housing prices in Carson are comparable to Portland (one hour away) or our old stomping ground in Tacoma. But average income in Carson has risen less than $6000 since 1990.

So, it’s not too much of a stretch to imagine a story… like 30 years ago someone flipped the off switch. There’s a working lumber mill in town that has a lot to do with that…and this I know well. I grew up in the timber capital of the world (Douglas County, Oregon)…you can’t help but know loggers, saw filers, choker setters, greenchain pullers, jitney drivers, etc. Unlike Douglas County (which had Oregon’s highest unemployment for years), Carson’s never recovered.

Here’s the rub

What happens when someone retires on a fixed income? Over time — especially if it’s a long retirement — the world starts closing in. Rising cost of living means scrapping luxuries. And decreasing physical capacity means projects that may have once been DIY (e.g., repairing a roof, painting some walls, keeping up the yard, replacing the carpet that was new in 1993…) go untouched.

And that’s Carson Bible Church. Historic, known for faithful hardworking pastors and elders, a place everyone around here has been for at least a wedding or funeral. It’s a place of working people who are used to commuting elsewhere (Portland’s only an hour) for work.

The church appears to have peaked in the late 1990s when it built a larger sanctuary and hosted multiple services. Three decades later?

Like a zillion community churches, it can’t afford a full time pastor in the midst of a place that desperately needs one. By nature, CBC used to punch above its weight class relative to the many other tiny towns of the Gorge. We still have people commute a long way to attend…

The bottom line, for real this time

…and here come Roger & Kristine, no strangers to the Pacific Northwest mountains already experienced in the Gorge. We still weren’t ready for the shock. Gorge-ites live here on purpose, and this is doubly true for Carson (which is smack in the middle).

The weirdest thing? It’s not aging churches and people living at the end of the grid. It’s how God’s showing up in faithful people showing up.

May it never get tiring. And thank you, Lord.