Welcome to Community Builders

A place for thoughtful content to encourage our growth in loving God and our neighbors.

We are thankful to have you joining us and we hope this blog can stir up some new ideas in you and help contribute to the flourishing of communities all around.

Read below to find out more about our regular contributors, see past posts, and subscribe to our blog.
 
New posts will be sent out to all subscribers on Mondays at 8am and will be available for viewing here on Tuesdays at 8am.

The Trap: How Poverty and Crime Can Exacerbate Each Other

~By Travis Jones~
I want to start off sharing some song lyrics with you. I still remember the first time I listened to this song and picked up on what was being said. In this song, Derek Minor is describing a family, deeply impacted by poverty, trying to figure out how to survive. The individual who he is speaking for does not have enough food to last them & their family until they get paid next, and so their solution is to turn to crime:

Open up the fridge, open up the fridge
Ain’t nothin’ but old milk and rice again
Got like 10 more days until my check hit
I don’t know how I’m about to feed my kids
Guess I grab the Sig* or the Draco
Run up on whoever till I die or hit my payroll

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August 5, 2025 No Comments

Nobody is a Caricature

~By Travis Jones~
I’m just a lazy bum. I want a handout, a free ride. I’m a stupid drunk, a strung-out junkie. I’m violent, I’m schizo, I’m paranoid. I don’t care about anybody but me. I’m on the street because I want to be. I’m a lost soul…
Maybe I’m many of these things, maybe none at all – what do you people know?

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July 29, 2025 No Comments

LoveINC’s Response to Homelessness

~By Robin Keating~
One of the most significant challenges for those transitioning from homelessness into housing is the need for a new, supportive community. In our experience, newly housed neighbors often face unfamiliar obstacles—paying bills…

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July 22, 2025 No Comments

What the Bible Has to Say About Houselessness

~By Robin Fleming~
People’s life stories often describe the presence or lack of a sense of “home,” of physical and emotional stability, security, and belonging. Research and theories about human development and well-being evidence humanity’s need for security, belonging, and stability…

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July 15, 2025 No Comments

The Power of Being Seen: What I’ve Learned From Walking With People Experiencing Homelessness

~By Lauren Decker~
One of the first times I did outreach with people experiencing homelessness, my whole understanding of who becomes homeless, and why, completely changed. I was at the Clackamas Service Center, a day center that offers food, showers, and other basic needs. I was helping people complete housing assessments when I met an older man, probably in his seventies. I asked if he’d like to talk, and he said yes…

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July 8, 2025 1 Comment

Economic Love as an Act of Worship

~By Jerry Waggener~
And here’s what gets me: loving your neighbor as yourself didn’t just mean being kind or polite. It meant meeting real needs—even financial ones. And it still does. As followers of Jesus, we are all called to live out that same kind of love today—a love that goes beyond words, a love that shows up in real, tangible ways.

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July 1, 2025 No Comments

About the Community Builders Blog:

In this blog, we are going to explore topics around the issues of poverty and how we experience these aspects of poverty as well as how we can, as a part of the global Church, bring about change to help our neighborhoods become whole.

Each month we will cover a different aspect of poverty and discuss what the problem is, how we see and experience it, and how we can address these different aspects of poverty as the church in a given community.

We will have guest writers as well who will contribute their thoughts, experiences, and insights on the various topics.

Ultimately, we who write and maintain this blog are not coming in as experts who know everything. No person is the same, no community is the same, and no experience of poverty and its many symptoms are the same. We are simply gathering our collective knowledge based on our experiences and studies, and trying to humbly provide thoughts and insights that will get us all thinking about how we can join together as the church and be who God called us to be as His beloved.

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Stuart has spent over a decade in vocational ministry both in the PNW and overseas where he spent several years studying Scripture and experiencing the global church across different cultures. A native Oregonian, Stuart has been married 28 years to his high school sweetheart. With two children and two dogs they enjoy time in nature and visiting food trucks around the Portland Metro area. Stuart has lived and traveled around the world his favorite memory is tour riding a motorcycle through Italy, Slovenia, and Hungary.
Stuart Smith
Stuart SmithContributor
Robin has lived in California, La Mision, Baja California and moved to Oregon in 2013. Married 3 years, she and her husband enjoy finding ways to engage with neighbors that are fun and build relationships.
Robin Keating
Robin KeatingContributor
Robin grew up in Vancouver, WA. Her experiences include teaching, mentoring, and counseling and she loves connecting and doing life with people. She and her husband have been married 35 years. After raising their four children in the Hillsboro area, they recently moved to a bit of country in Clackamas County. They enjoy reading, hiking, camping, listening to owls, and savoring good coffee roasted by her husband.
Robin Fleming
Robin FlemingContributor
Travis has been in vocational ministry contexts since 2021 and spent 5 years studying Scripture, theology, leadership, and community development at the former Multnomah University. After growing up in California, Travis experienced life on the East Coast, but returned to the West with his wife of 7 years. They have come to enjoy the rainy days of the Portland area and the beauty within and beyond the city. He enjoys challenging and thoughtful conversations, rich and flavorful coffee or tea, good food, learning from different cultures, and the crisp air of the PNW.
Travis Jones
Travis JonesGeneral Editor