A creative collaboration between Trinity United Methodist Church and Sellwood Faith Community

We've been living here in Sellwood for 10 months now.  When we arrived I knew that the neighborhood had undergone some pretty big changes in the previous ten years.  The student population at the local elementary school has doubled in that time. What was a...

The other day I found out a new friend was having some pretty big relationship stuff going on.  I instantly thought, "She needs ice cream."  I was headed over by Salt & Straw but as my meeting was winding down I began to make up reasons why I shouldn't...

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina a friend of mine posted a link to a blog entry titled Being Poor by Science Fiction author John Scaliz.  I found the entry captured something important in the midst of that horrible coverage of the people suffering at...

One Wednesday a month you will find me folding a tablecloth into my purse and heading out to my local.  When Jeff and I first designed our ministry proposal we knew that we needed gateway events.  These were times when people who were curious about the new...

Our back yard is a little bit of a jungle.  It's nice to have the arbor vitae between us and the parking lot of the apartments next door.  (P and her two buddies who live there have figured out a secret path which is really what childhood is all about.)...

We had a fairly big milestone last week with the Sellwood Faith Community.  People came to the Tazie worship experience who we had never met before.  They saw about us on Facebook and came along because they were interested in being part of a church starting...

This past week has been an anxious one.  I'm not sure if it was the gas company inspector telling us he thought we were lucky to have survived the winter due to the unsafe condition of our furnace or the 7 hours I spent navigating our taxes, but I was having a...

Today I had my semi-regular meeting with the other United Methodist Church planters in the area.  We get together every few months to support one another, share ideas, and check in with our supervisory team.  As we shared today one of the phrases that got...

I just got back from a few days hanging out with a bunch of 30something pastors.  As we engaged in small talk over the dinner table the first night one of my new acquaintances asked, "So, what do you do all day?"  Most people know the basics of the work of a...

It's fast approaching the church season of Lent.  This time of the church year was created as part of the early practices of the people to help prepare themselves for Easter.  The idea was to focus on spiritual growth and to make yourself right with God....