Who We Are

We are a diverse group of people working to encourage relationship and community building. We are committed to the exploration of spirituality and how it can encourage and support us in the life journey. We are also committed to providing a place for youth that is safe and to engaging youth in activities that build the foundation they need to live, learn, work, and play in the world!

Debby Chenoweth

• Debby Chenoweth has a BS in Natural Resource Management from the University of Michigan. She has worked for the US government for 33 years as a Park Ranger, Park Manager, Manager of Bonneville Dam and most recently Operations Chief for the Corps of Engineers. She was raised Episcopalian but has also been a member of non-denominational, Baptist, and Presbyterian Churches in Ohio and Nebraska. Debby and her husband Art have raised three daughters and a son. Debby currently attends Our Redeemer Lutheran Church and is a member of the executive board of the Oregon Synod. She recognizes that Soul Cafe provides a place for anyone in the community to question spiritual issues and grow together with others who have not had their needs met by traditional organized religion.

• Jill Rowland is an ordained minister in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). She has served traditional congregations in Tuscon, Arizona and Hood River, Oregon before being called to Soul Cafe as Lead Mission Explorer and Pastor. Her God-given passions are paying attention to - and being surprised and even discomforted by - what God is doing in the world and then boldly participating in those things AND learning and living being the church with others - especially with those who have had negative experiences with organized religion. Jill is a bi-vocational pastor - working at Soul Cafe as well as at the Providence Hood River Memorial Hospital where she serves in the Department of Mission Integration and Spiritual Care as a chaplain and Coordinator of Faith in Action Providence Community Caregivers. Jill enjoys life with her children Emelia and Alden, Siamese cat Sushi, Golden Retriever Carmen, and extended family and friends.

• Larry Visser is 59 years young and a retired school teacher. He has a B.S. in Education, and he taught elementary and middle school children for 32 years. He is the father of 2 grown children and a grandfather. Since retiring, Larry fills his time by volunteering, raising cattle, gardening, hunting, and fishing

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