23 Parking Spots, 5 Churches, 40 Years: Why This Pastor Never Built Bigger | Scott Rivley

Send us Fan MailA church with 23 parking spots loses a bid on the one piece of land that could have made it bigger. Instead of trying again, the pastor starts giving people away.Scott Rivley has been at the same church in West Linn, Oregon for 40 years. He arrived as a seminary student from Montana who got called to ministry while watching a bad TV game show, moved into a basement apartment that turned out to have a deck overlooking Mount Hood for $75 a month, and walked to the nearest church that first Sunday. He never left. What started as West Lynn Baptist Church is now New Life Church: five congregations across West Linn, Wilsonville, Gladstone, and Oregon City, including a Spanish-speaking congregation and an adopted church that asked to be taken in.None of it happened at mega-church scale. Scott sent 40 people under 40 to plant Oregon City. His elders volunteered to be the first launch team. He gave his son a "restricted headhunting license" to recruit. The whole philosophy is built on the idea that not everybody gets a combine harvester: some people get a sickle, and you just have to say "let's go."This conversation covers lead measures vs. lag measures, why the bottleneck is always at the top, and what it takes to build something that doesn't depend on [email protected]

Send us Fan MailThis pastor deliberately dismantles his own Sunday gathering, gives his church building to a theater company, and loses 90% of his congregation over five years.Chris Snodgrass moved from a Dallas mega church staff role to Portland in 2018 to help plant Remedy City Church. Within a year, the church split and COVID hit. Instead of rebuilding in the expected direction, Chris led a slow, painful transition from centralized Sunday services to a decentralized network of micro churches scattered across the west side of Portland: living rooms, coffee shops, kitchen tables.The cost was real. Coaches warned him he'd lose up to 90% of the people. He thought maybe 30%. It was 90%. But the church is numerically the same size today with entirely different people, and the fruit looks nothing like what most churches measure. A secular performing arts company now uses the building and tells Chris they've never seen generosity like this from Christians. A local dance center asked Remedy to teach them how to serve. Coworkers at the bank where Chris still works keep coming to faith because they can't figure out why he keeps turning down promotions.For leaders wrestling with whether decentralized, co-vocational ministry can actually work in the Pacific Northwest: this is one honest, five-year report from inside the [email protected]

Send us Fan MailJacobsen Valentine had $500 in his nonprofit account, a high school diploma, and a pandemic that had just shut down his cooking classes. So he bought as much food as he could, made 150 meals, and told people to come to a parking lot.Six years later, Feed the Mass has served over a million meals in Portland. Jacobson now owns a 40,000 square foot building, employs 24 people, and is launching a network of free meal freezers across the city with zero eligibility requirements. No paperwork. No income verification. Roll up in a Lamborghini and you're hungry? You get a meal.This conversation traces how a kid from Hilo, Hawaii who experienced racism for the first time at 11, blew a track scholarship chasing freedom from a violent home, and drifted through restaurant kitchens for eight years found his footing by teaching church kids to cut a watermelon with a debit card on a San Francisco sidewalk. From there: a calling, a terrifying leap out of a Killer Burger management job, and a series of God-sized provisions that he can only explain one way.Jacobsen's philosophy of service is blunt: if you're only serving when someone's watching, that's performance. The people he trusts most are the ones doing dishes when nobody's looking.feedthemass.org

Send us Fan MailWhat happens when a theology professor realizes the arguments he built his career on don't actually reach the people he loves most?Brad Harper grew up in the Bay Area with a devout Christian mom and an agnostic rocket scientist dad. He chased a PhD partly to prove his family wrong. It didn't work. He spent eight years studying historical theology with Jesuits at St. Louis University, pastored alongside hundreds of ex-Catholics navigating their faith, co-wrote a book with his gay son about staying connected through radical disagreement, and after 24 years teaching at Multnomah landed on something the apologetics books never told him: people don't come to Jesus because you won the argument. They come because you stayed in the room.In this conversation with Tim Osborne, Brad traces the thread from his family dinner table to the church's current entanglement with Christian nationalism, making the case that every time the church has reached for power instead of proximity, it's lost the thing it was trying to protect. He unpacks what healthy eldership actually looks like, why younger generations are drawn to liturgy, and what it meant to hear high school classmates at his 50th reunion say "you're the reason I followed Jesus."For pastors wrestling with faithfulness without combativeness. For parents navigating deep disagreement with their kids. For anyone wondering if the church can still be compelling without winning the culture war.

Send us Fan MailTwo brothers planted a church together in Vancouver, WA. Seven years later, they merged with another congregation, and within months, one brother stepped away from ministry entirely. The other stayed. That was 2018, and he's still there.Adam Hendrix is the lead pastor of Union Chapel, a role he never wanted and never planned for. This conversation traces the full arc: growing up as a pastor's kid in rural Oregon, planting out of Imago Dei Community in 2009, the scrappy church-in-a-box years of setup and teardown, the hopeful merger with Calvary Downtown in 2016, and then the gut punch of losing his co-pastor, his brother, barely a year later.But this isn't a grief story. It's a formation story. Adam talks about what crisis did to their congregation (it didn't scatter them, it forged them), how their community became unexpectedly trauma-informed before that was a buzzword, and why their Sunday liturgy intentionally makes room for lament alongside joy. There's a story about a four-year-old who told his mom "I accidentally got sad" at church that became an internal motto.Adam closes with the one thing he'd tell his 20-years-ago self: tend your own soul. Innovation and strategy mean nothing without it.For pastors, planters, and anyone thinking about the long game of ministry in the Pacific Northwest.

Send us Fan MailWhat happened to Multnomah Bible College, its Portland campus, and the legacy built by generations of students, faculty, donors, and churches?In this episode of Jesus in the Upper Left, Oshawa Hawthorne sits down with longtime Multnomah professor Dr. Gary Friesen to discuss the school’s closure, its transition to Jessup University, the debt attached to the campus, and the moral questions now being raised by the Multnomah Legacy Project.Dr. Friesen shares why his team believes Multnomah’s community did not receive what it was promised, how private conversations with Jessup developed into an open letter and public campaign, and why the group made a $12 million reconciliation offer despite having no money or formal authority.They also discuss:Why Dr. Friesen believes Multnomah lost sight of its original mission  The reported loans secured against the Portland campus  The leadership changes that followed the controversy  The possibility of a new Bible college emerging from Multnomah’s legacy  How alumni, churches, and supporters can respond  Dr. Friesen’s work training pastors and building Africa’s largest theological library in Rwanda  Why he believes pursuing justice matters even when success appears impossible  This conversation reflects Dr. Friesen’s perspective and his account of an ongoing situation. Listeners are encouraged to review the available documents and reach their own conclusions.Learn more about the Multnomah Legacy Project by searching “Multnomah Legacy Project.”For more episodes, resources, and opportunities to connect with gospel-centered leaders across the Pacific Northwest, visit UpperLeftShow.com.Subscribe, share this episode, and join the conversation about gospel multiplication in the Pacific Northwest.

Send us Fan MailTim Osborne started asking one question in every lead pastor interview: "Who's mentored you?" The answers shocked him enough to keep asking, and keep being disappointed.That question sits at the center of this conversation with Naomi Federiuk, Director of Discipleship Training for Expand Network. Naomi's team has identified a specific gap in local churches: the gathering works, small groups work, but one-on-one life-on-life discipleship barely exists as a culture. Most Christians agree they should be making disciples but feel completely unqualified to start, largely because no one ever did it for them.The conversation covers what Expand is seeing work in Uganda (where 500 inmates have come to faith across 11 prisons in four months and they're now solving for discipleship at scale inside prison walls), why busyness signals unavailability to the very people looking for mentors, and how Discovery Bible Study gives everyday Christians a reproducible tool simple enough to use next week. Naomi breaks down the DBS format step by step: retelling, application, the uncomfortable "I will" statement, and the built-in multiplication question of "who will you share this with?"This one's for pastors who suspect they're unintentionally blocking the thing they preach, for empty nesters who don't think they're qualified, and for anyone who's wanted to disciple someone but didn't know the first practical step.Naomi Federiuk, Director of Discipleship Training, Expand NetworkTim Osborne, Dean of Portland SeminaryGabe Kolstad, Lead Pastor, Westside Community ChurchSubscribe and hit notifications so you don't miss a single episode. Find bonus content, resources, and ways to connect with others doing this work across the city at UpperLeftShow.com

Send us Fan MailWhat would it look like to actually reach every man, woman, and child in your city with the gospel? Not as a slogan — as a strategy.Nick Harding has spent 30 years trying to find out. As the leader of KX City Reaching in Liverpool, UK, he's been building unity, breaking down barriers, handing off leadership, and watching God move in ways that are starting to look a lot like what Portland might be on the edge of.Tim and Gabe sat down with Nick during his visit to Portland to hear what the UK has learned — and what the Pacific Northwest can take from it.In This Episode You'll DiscoverWhat "gospel saturation" actually means — and what it looks like to pursue it across an entire city regionHow Nick built 30 years of trust among Liverpool's pastors — and why vulnerability was the turning pointThe "one church in Liverpool" mantra that changed everythingWhy Nick spent five years intentionally reaching out to Nigerian-led churches — and what it cost to get thereWhat it looks like to hand off leadership well and why timing matters more than most leaders realizeHow micro churches and Alpha are fueling a wave of curiosity and conversion in the UK right nowWhy Nick believes the UK has moved from post-Christian to pre-Christian — and what that means for PortlandWhat Bible sales in the UK going up 134% in one year tells us about where the West is headedHow KX City Reaching is partnering with cities across the UK — and how Portland leaders can get involvedIf this conversation encouraged you, subscribe for more honest conversations about church planting, leadership, and following Jesus in the Pacific Northwest.Resources🌍 KX City Reaching — https://www.kairosconnection.org/city-reaching📧 Nick Harding — [email protected]🤝 Multiply PDX — https://www.togetherpdx.org/multiplypdx#CityReaching #GospelSaturation #ChurchPlanting #PacificNorthwest #Portland #Liverpool #NickHarding #JesusInTheUpperLeft #UpperLeftPodcast #MicroChurch #AlphaCourse #ChurchUnity

Send us Fan MailWhat does it look like to actually live the mission you preach — not just talk about it from a stage?In part two of our conversation with Matt Bowen, lead pastor of Emmaus Church in Beaverton, we get into the real work of building something healthy from the ground up — the elder formation process, the search for a building, and the moment Matt realized he didn't have a single consistent friendship with someone outside the faith on his calendar. Not aspirationally. Actually.What he did about it became one of the most honest and compelling parts of his story.In This Episode You'll DiscoverHow Matt built an intentional elder formation cohort — and why only 1 of 9 made it through the first roundWhat books and practices shaped Emmaus's elder culture from the beginningWhy Matt worked hard to de-center himself as the go-to voice for everything at the churchHow Emmaus ended up in their current building — and the prayer God answered on day two of paintingWhat it actually looks like to be incarnationally present in a neighborhood as a pastorWhy Matt started pouring beer at Wildwood Taphouse two days a week — and what it's done for his preachingHow the Emmaus Road story continues to shape everything the church doesWhat healthy church building really looks like when no one's watchingIf this conversation encouraged you, subscribe for more honest conversations about church planting, leadership, and following Jesus in the Pacific Northwest.Resources🏠 Emmaus Church — https://www.emmauspdx.org/🤝 Multiply PDX — https://www.togetherpdx.org/multiplypdx#ChurchPlanting #PacificNorthwest #Portland #EmmausChurch #Beaverton #GospelMultiplication #ChurchLeadership #JesusInTheUpperLeft #UpperLeftPodcast #BarPastor

Send us Fan MailMatt Bowen didn't set out to plant a church. He didn't think he had the gifts for it. He wasn't the big personality. He just felt God say it was time to go — and said yes.What followed was one of the more remarkable stories you'll hear from a pastor in the Pacific Northwest.In This Episode You'll Discover:- Why Matt resisted church planting for years — and what finally changed- How fear and comfort can quietly become the biggest barriers to obedience- What it looks like to plant within a multi-congregational network model- How the Colossae network was built, multiplied, and ultimately collapsed- What Matt learned about shepherding people through organizational crisis and leadership failure- Why he nearly quit ministry in early 2021 — and what kept him in- How Emmaus Church was born out of the ashes of one of the hardest seasons of his life- What the Emmaus road story has to do with planting a church in BeavertonIf this conversation encouraged you, subscribe for more honest conversations about church planting, leadership, and following Jesus in the Pacific Northwest.Resources🏠 Emmaus Church — https://www.emmauspdx.org/🤝 Multiply PDX — https://www.togetherpdx.org/multiplypdx#ChurchPlanting #PacificNorthwest #Portland #Emmaus #GospelMultiplication #ChurchLeadership #JesusInTheUpperLeft #UpperLeftPodcast