Here we are, Lord. Now what?

Just because you’re comfortable in a city doesn’t mean you belong there, right?

I grew up in the logging boom of southern Oregon — a time when prosperity flowed much like the later dotcom boom which I later rode to a career in tech. It’s a weird spot to sit in history.

Carson, WA shared in that logging boom. There’s still an operating sawmill here about a mile up the road.

Smack in the middle, right on the main drag past the one stop sign in town, is a little church whose story trails back in time until the mists cover it. Carson got a post office in 1894, and the earliest ChatGPT-assisted thing I can find is that the church might be from the 1920s.

But look past the few buildings. The Wind River Valley flows to the Columbia River and the longest national scenic area in the U.S. Carson itself isn’t even an incorporated town, which is precisely why it’s so interconnected from Bonneville to Mill-A, Saint Helens to La Grande, Stabler to Cascade Locks.

An only-slightly exaggerated view of Carson, Washington. The biggest building might be the saloon, but we’re praying for restoration if not revival.

Up the road a few miles, just across the county line, is a sign that proclaims the area as the “Supernatural Capital of the Pacific Northwest.” We’ve got apologists for bigfoot and the pacific northwest ape cat. We’ve got Satanists. And if my market research is right, there are a whole lot of “sorta” folks who don’t go to church or “used to go to Carson Bible Church (at one time Carson Community Church) but <fill in the blank with something like ‘church hurt’>.”

Ironically, I recently learned of a large church group in the Portland Metro area looking to plant a church here. Why would they do that? Because they believe there’s a need to reach the area and that current churches ain’t gettin’ the job done.

Read that last line again.

Like many churches in America, Carson Bible Church has looked like it needs help. CBC is the kind of church that “missionary pastor”-sending orgs like Village Missions and InFaith serve — a very full time need, tons of opportunity, a faithful-but-aging population who, for a host of reasons, can’t afford a full time pastor.

Called…and Sent

“What is God’s will for my life?” is a common question (ours too!). One part of answering that is found in community…is there affirmation?

For us, our previous church, multiple small groups we were part of, and various individuals have “sent” us…prayerfully, missionally, and financially…even before being accepted to ‘go’ officially with BeOneTogether.

So now what, Lord?

If the gifts of the Spirit and many long spousal conversations are any indication, one of the “R” words suits: revitalize, restore, renew, rebuild, rejuvenate. Spiritually and physically.

For a little church suffering a long wait on the Lord, God made it possible for us to get here…significant personal decrement to our savings account, supporters who believe with us that this is where He wants us, even a crazy story about there being no houses to rent (zero, zip, nada) and God providing one for just a smidge what our housing allowance is.

And the “now what?” we stepped into includes a killer set of faithful men as elders, a thriving TrailLife ministry and several Millennial/Gen Z families with kids, and 5 acres of woods that we still don’t know what to do with (at one time the vision was a school). This same “now what?” includes many obvious touchpoints across the family of counties — incoming commuters to church and for TrailLife, outgoing commuters who reach beyond our ‘burb, up and down the Gorge on both sides of the river, and increasingly a glaring need for something I may be uniquely equipped to help with… “hybrid church.”

The plandemic obviously kicked a lot of laggard churches into gear in terms of getting services available on YouTube. But a scant 6 months in this has evolved into weekly interaction with people in the region beyond an easy drive on Zoom… pastoral counseling and Bible studies being the first needs served this way.

All in all, Carson Bible Church IS a community church…in composition, in theological diversity, and in a way that reflects the bifurcated economy here. There’s a lot of poverty and the average income in this county is nearly a third less than the state. And yet the cost of living is above the national average.

In One Story:

A few days ago Kristine and I were out for a run and I saw a parked sheriff, approached, and introduced myself. I asked the kind gentlemen (Deputy Jason, if I remember correctly) about what he sees, and he corroborated our suspicions… drugs, domestic violence, and the occasional animal corpse that’s been violated. In other words, signs of those dealing with the dark cloud of hopelessness.

Hopelessness that the American Dream is even possible. Hopelessness that the encroachment of evil from Portland and Seattle is more than can be fought. Hopelessness even more that there is any escape from the rot within.

Uniquely, it’s a forgotten little corner of the mountains…the last gas stop en route to national forests and the most remote area in the state of Washington. And it’s just like every other place where the Lord has led a missionary willing to say, “Here I am, send me.”

As for this pastor and his wife, however comfortable traveling the world and it’s cities, we could not be more glad to be here.