Fancy Newsletters
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...
July/ August 2020- Show up and Stick with it!
Years ago an activist from a nonprofit in Portland came to visit. He’d heard about SLF and the effectiveness of our work in Salem-Keizer. He wanted me to share two things: 1) SLF’s political agenda, and 2) our ‘secret recipe’ for effectiveness. For nearly an hour...
May/ June 2020 – Signs of Hope
May/June 2020 issue: You may be receiving this letter shortly before Fancy Friday May 29 ... or you might be receiving it shortly after. Either way, greetings and peace be with you! With all the disruptions and challenges these days, a ‘fundraising event’ is way...
April 2020 – Looking Back on a Tough Passover and Easter
Well, that was an interesting Holy Week, Easter and Passover. We sometimes forget that these historic events occurred in tough times themselves. Passover, in the midst of great oppression, plagues and death in Egypt. And Holy Week—from the Triumphal Entry to the...
March 2020- “Someone” should do something!
Been hearing this a lot lately: “Where does SLF stand on the Homelessness issue? You guys seem very quiet concerning this critical community problem. Is SLF doing anything?” We are not offended by these comments. It’s our mission to support and magnify the...
Sam’s Blog
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...
Read moreI grew up in a great Salem church where Communion was celebrated every Sunday during the Eucharist. I worship today in a great Salem church where we take Communion once a month. From time to time I have pondered this contrast, not with any angst or criticism … but certainly with some lament. Was it just tradition and preference that caused me to yearn? Or something deeper.
The Art of Neighboring
The premise is simple. Get to know the people and families on your block.
SLF’s Political Agenda
With politics dominating the headlines and the newscasts, I’ve been thinking about a meeting I had several years ago. The community organizer from Portland was putting together a faith-based coalition, and he wanted to identify...
Three Epiphanies
Not just the high-needs inner-city neighborhoods, but all neighborhoods across Salem-Keizer. Every neighborhood has assets; every neighborhood has needs. The trick is to organize, energize and deploy the ‘indigenous assets’ so that the ‘indigenous needs’ are met. At this point, SLF stopped deploying the ‘suburban-assets/inner-city-need’” methodology. We now ask everyone, every church, every business, every agency: “What’s Your Neighborhood?”
