Diversity S e pecial
dition
Page 4
July 17, 2019
Highland Welcomes
New Pastor
Dr. Shon Neyland, a charismatic religious leader
who was raised in New Orleans and served as a mil-
itary chaplain in Hawaii and a veteran of the wars
in Iraq and Afghanistan is the new senior pastor of
the Highland Christian Center in northeast Portland,
a historically black and diverse congregation that was
most recently led by their beloved pastor Dr. W. G.
Hardy Jr. who died last year.
Originally trained as an industrial engineer, Ney-
land served in the Air Force as a nuclear launch of-
ficer and as an aerospace flight commander in the
Milstar Communications Satellite program. At the
same time, he and his wife of 34 years, Madeline,
have served as devoted evangelicals, finding church-
es in communities from England to Abilene, Texas.
Neyland comes from a religious family. His dad
was a church deacon and musician and his mom
served as a worship leader and singer.
Highland church leaders say there is an atmo-
sphere of joy and relief in having new leadership
to fulfill the late Pastor Hardy’s vision of a church
founded on firm biblical principles and an active in-
volvement in the community.
Neyland has authored four books. His latest “The
photo by J ohn l ampkin
Dr. Shon Neyland is the new pastor of the Highland Christian Center, a historically
black and diverse congregation in northeast Portland.
Courage to Stand: A New America” touches on the
state of our society today, exploring race and reli-
gious stereotypes. He writes, “It is time to eliminate
the antiquated race and color identification terms
of “black” and “white” and begin a new nomencla-
ture--we are Americans!”
He describes his philosophy of life as centered on
unconditional love and a positive attitude, qualities
that comes through his exuberant preaching style, a
warm sense of humor and a dazzling smile.
Pastor Neyland and his wife have three adult chil-
dren and one grandchild.
Democrats
Defend
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but one of whom were born in the United
States, should “go back” and try to fix the
“crime infested places” they “originally
came from” before telling the U.S. govern-
ment how to handle its problems.
House Democrats introduced a reso-
lution Monday condemning the president
for the comments, and a black Democratic
lawmaker from Texas, says he will again
force a vote on articles of impeachment
against the president by next week, citing
him as a bigot.
Rep. Al Green said Trump’s latest tweets
were the impetus for his third effort to push
through an impeachment vote. In 2017 and
2018, when the Republicans ran the House,
he cited similar controversies, including
Trumps comments about demonstrators in
Charlottesville and his description of Afri-
can nations as “shithole” countries.
About 60 of Greens’ colleagues joined
him to support him in the previous im-
peachment votes, but the moves were eas-
ily defeated. His bill drew no support from
Oregon’s Congressional delegation.
Also on Monday, a Pulitzer Prize-win-
ning historian said President Trump has
joined Andrew Johnson as the most racist
president in American history.
John Meacham said Trump has stoked
racism with both his recent comments as
well as his “birther” lies about former Pres-
ident Barack Obama.
He said that America has never been
about the concept of birthright but rather
the belief that “all men are created equal,”
as stated in the Declaration of Indepen-
dence.