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.

Growing Up, and Learning to Understand This Complex World

~By Travis Jones~
Growing up, I always wanted to become a police officer. I admired what they do in the community and wanted to help keep people safe. Three of my cousins were also police officers and my uncle was a retired police officer. Needless to say, I grew up with a high view of law enforcement.

As I was in my early teenage years, I also became a huge fan of hip hop music, specifically…

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October 7, 2025 No Comments

These Shallow Bars

~By Travis Jones~
These shallow bars of my security,
can only keep out so much.
These feeble bars offer me surety,
but their protection is just a crutch.

Fragility stoking my fears,
I put up another bar.

Afraid of my own tears,
I become a controlling czar.

This need for security,
turns my focus inward,
away from all others.

This need for surety,
shifts my locus inward,
giving me no time for all my sisters & brothers.

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September 30, 2025 No Comments

What We Can Do About the Insecurities In Our Community

~By Robin Keating~
This month, we’ve been discussing how a lack of security affects those living in poverty. Insecurity often shows up in behaviors such as low confidence, anxiety, or fear. But at its root, insecurity often stems from misplaced trust or a misunderstanding of where a person’s true worth comes from.

When we encounter someone struggling with insecurity in any area of life, we have the opportunity to point them to the unshakable security found only in Christ. As we come to understand who God is—and the great value He places on those created in His image—security grows. Knowing His promises, His character, and His steadfast love brings a peace that circumstances cannot shake.

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September 23, 2025 1 Comment

Sharing in Security With LoveINC

~By Robin Fleming~
I would like you to close your eyes for a couple of minutes as you think about the words “secure” and “security.” Let those words roam around your mind, bring up images, and stir up feelings freely and with no expectation of anything in particular. Ready…go.
I’m curious what came to mind for you. As I did this exercise myself, I saw locks on trunks, storage units, dump loads tied down in our trailer, and guards stationed at a shopping mall. I heard calls of “Batten down the hatches!” and “Secure the perimeter!” I thought about secure attachment in relationships. And I experienced feelings of comfort, safety, certainty, and being held.

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September 16, 2025 No Comments

God’s Security for the Rich and the Poor

~By Travis Jones~
In the days in which the Bible was written, security was a common issue for most people, and the Bible records that it was especially problematic for the people of Israel (both in the OT and NT). Cities needed to have a wall built around them to provide protection from outside forces who might riad or destroy them. This is evident in the book of Nehemiah where Nehemiah went back to Jerusalem to help rebuild the wall so that the people would be safe from their powerful neighbors who sought their downfall.

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September 9, 2025 No Comments

Seeing Through Our False Sense of Security and Finding it in a Community of Love

~By Stuart Smith~
Years ago, my mom was a caretaker and had the opportunity to move into a nice apartment in downtown Portland to be closer to her work. So my parents decided to rent out my childhood home to my wife and I to live and raise our son in. One dark winter evening while we lived there, I came home from work to find our power was out. The odd thing was, only our house didn’t have power…

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September 2, 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