Beautiful but culturally isolated, the Columbia River Gorge is experiencing unprecedented disruption and “stuckness.” Carson Bible Church sits (quite literally) at the center…a vital, historic pillar of leadership in this community.

Like many rural churches, CBC’s at an inflection point: it can’t sustain a full-time pastor financially, and the fractured, overlooked community of The Gorge needs full-time restorative presence spiritually and socially.

We’ve already made the commitment as BeOneTogether missionaries, but we’re part time. Your partnership doesn’t launch a business, it buys back our hours from the corporate marketplace. Every dollar raised directly helps us rely less on secular employment to spend more time on the ground in Carson, turning a significantly-restricted, part-time effort into an accelerated mission of preaching the Word and loving the people.

Mission to the “forgotten pocket”

The county has less than 1% of the population of the State of Washington. Carson itself is a literal statistical anomaly, off the grid, aging, and getting crushed by gentrification. A little country church with 100 years of faithful pastors was tired, and we said “here we are, Lord, send us.”

What we’ve found we need help with:

  • The spiritual vacuum: The PNW, of course, remains one of the most culturally complex, secular frontiers going. But don’t think Seattle or Portland… this is a different culture that includes heavy “spirituality” of cultural/moral progressivism and mysticism.

  • The economic squeeze: CBC is sandwiched between urban gentrification and deep rural poverty. Basic needs are desperate in more ways than one.

  • The pastoral gap: The need could use multiple pastors. CBC can afford a fraction of one. At the moment, I preach/teach/counsel/lead. True community includes counseling, freedom/restorative prayer, a lot of “in their lives” co-journeying, and “doing life here” outreach.

The big picture for a small place

The PNW thinks of itself as spiritual in so many ways. Close to home: a sign up the road proclaims the neighboring county as the supernatural capital of the PNW!

Still, history is strength here. People have deep roots. And the few at Carson Bible Church are serious about Jesus and praying for revival here.

But there’s the problem of ‘more need than capacity.’ There’s a world changing rapidly around a place that’s a statistical anomaly it is so stuck in time. It’s what Alvin Toffler called “future shock” many years ago…that the scale and rate of change would create disruption and disorientation. Especially in an area where telephone land lines are still a thing.

In a way, it’s similar to the work friends are doing in Europe… post-Christian communities steeped in history and crumbling from the inside out.

Except this is in our backyard. Right here in America.

Here I am, Lord. Send me.