Fancy Newsletters
June 2021- A Quarter Century of Bridge Building
We had big plans for SLF’s 25th-anniversary celebration at the Salem Convention Center. For the second year in a row, Covid-19 kept the ballroom doors closed. Not only for SLF, but all nonprofits and ministries. This pales in comparison to the losses and sacrifices...
May 2021- Naming Some Names Over 25 Years
(A genesis story, Part 2) One of the more fascinating elements of Scripture is the collection of genealogies that appear in both the Old and New Testaments. Long lists of names that usually get overlooked ... I hadn’t given them much heed until I read a commentary by...
April 2021- Where are the Churches?
(A genesis story, Part 1) In the mid-1990s, a headline in the Statesman Journal shocked the community. “Youth Gangs Plague Salem-Keizer.” Gangs? In our small, beautiful city? With eight...
March 2021-Small Things Lead to Big Things in Shalom, OR
At SLF we have a little thing called the ‘Fancy Bus Tour.’ Maybe you’ve been on one. When things open up, we’ll kick-start the engines and get back out on the road. It’s a little bit history, a little bit theology, and a lot of neighborhood as we visit some...
February 2021- Understanding Salem’s History to Build Shalom today
Some people know that Jennifer and I love antiques. Fiesta ware, Craftsman furniture, old photos and postcards—we especially treasure artifacts of Salem’s history. One day, 16 years ago, I was at the Salem Collector’s Market at the Fairgrounds. I was thrilled to...
January 2021- There’s Nothing New Under the Sun = Hope
2020 was quite a year. Hard and harrowing in many ways. A pandemic. An economic collapse. A summer of killings and protests. A contentious Presidential election. And to start the New Year, a mob assault on the Capitol and legislators. Tumultuous times. One day...
Sam’s Blog
June 2021- A Quarter Century of Bridge Building
We had big plans for SLF’s 25th-anniversary celebration at the Salem Convention Center. For the second year in a row, Covid-19 kept the ballroom doors closed. Not only for SLF, but all nonprofits and ministries. This pales in comparison to the losses and sacrifices...
May 2021- Naming Some Names Over 25 Years
(A genesis story, Part 2) One of the more fascinating elements of Scripture is the collection of genealogies that appear in both the Old and New Testaments. Long lists of names that usually get overlooked ... I hadn’t given them much heed until I read a commentary by...
April 2021- Where are the Churches?
(A genesis story, Part 1) In the mid-1990s, a headline in the Statesman Journal shocked the community. “Youth Gangs Plague Salem-Keizer.” Gangs? In our small, beautiful city? With eight...
March 2021-Small Things Lead to Big Things in Shalom, OR
At SLF we have a little thing called the ‘Fancy Bus Tour.’ Maybe you’ve been on one. When things open up, we’ll kick-start the engines and get back out on the road. It’s a little bit history, a little bit theology, and a lot of neighborhood as we visit some...
February 2021- Understanding Salem’s History to Build Shalom today
Some people know that Jennifer and I love antiques. Fiesta ware, Craftsman furniture, old photos and postcards—we especially treasure artifacts of Salem’s history. One day, 16 years ago, I was at the Salem Collector’s Market at the Fairgrounds. I was thrilled to...
January 2021- There’s Nothing New Under the Sun = Hope
2020 was quite a year. Hard and harrowing in many ways. A pandemic. An economic collapse. A summer of killings and protests. A contentious Presidential election. And to start the New Year, a mob assault on the Capitol and legislators. Tumultuous times. One day...
December 2020- Remembering a Salem Saint …
In 2010 there was a bit of a community snafu. Not the end of the world by any means, but a logistical headache for two local nonprofits. A classic ‘good-news/bad-news’ scenario. The good news: The Marion-Polk Medical Foundation had miraculously landed South Africa’s...
November 2020- Thanks-giving is Life-Giving
I was thinking about thanks. It’s that season. A scripture came to mind … As Jesus continued on toward Jerusalem, he reached the border between Galilee and Samaria. As he entered a village there, ten men with leprosy stood at a distance, crying out, “Jesus, Master,...
October 2020- Salem-Keizer Youth Collaborative
We have a saying around here. The “F” in “SLF” stands for “flexible.” Never has that been more true than the past six months. First with Covid-19, and then the wildfires. Flexibility is built into our DNA and our practices. As a consulting ministry, we are free of...
September 2020- A Salute to our Friend and Colleague Imani
I’m eternally grateful to the 2017 Eclipse. And the City of Independence. They are the reason Imani Hall came to Oregon. Imani, a recent graduate from Ithaca College in New York, accepted a 9-month AmeriCorps assignment for the City’s “Indy Goes Dark” tourism...
