God began placing the idea of a church plant in the Happy Valley area into the hearts and minds of Christians at the Metro church many years ago. Metro was itself a newly founded, missions-minded church two decades ago, and its first full-time minister was a man named Neldon Watson. Neldon served Metro for eight strong years before moving his family to Abilene, Texas, and became an active member of the Southern Hills Church of Christ. Southern Hills is dedicated to making Christ known around the world, and part of their mission includes sharing the gospel within the United States. With Neldon’s (and the Holy Spirit’s) counsel, Southern Hills chose the Happy Valley/Clackamas area for their current church planting initiative. Shane Sullivan and his family were chosen by Southern Hills (and the Holy Spirit) to lead this initiative on a full-time basis. Kevin Parker and his family, having lived in Portland several years, had also dreamed of such a project and quickly joined the team on a volunteer basis. The Sullivans were hired in December, 2001, and moved to Abilene from California to work with Southern Hills before moving to Portland in April, 2002. David Cranfill and his family met the Sullivans in the spring of 2002 in Abilene, and were called by God to move to Portland to serve Living Streams full-time.

Under the leadership of Shane, Kevin, David and their families, the Living Streams Church launched at the Clackamas Elementary School on November 3, 2002. After a few months, the church took the opportunity to move to our current location at the Sunnyside Village Center. Shane accepted a new position in Southern California in August of 2004. Kevin became the preaching minister for the Saginaw Church of Christ in Texas. Kevin still assists us with the maintenance of this website. David returned to his family business in Abilene TX. He became part of the missions committee at Southern Hills and is still supportive of our work here in Oregon.

Southern Hills, in collaboration with the faithful members at Living Streams hired a new full-time minister in May of 2005. Ken Hines and his family will begin their work at Living Streams in August. We Praise God for all he is doing.

God is writing the story of Living Streams one chapter at a time. He has started adding the exact characters he wants, in his own perfect timing. He has provided us with a wonderful core team, talented and dedicated ministry team leaders, and a spirit flowing with joy, love, and unity. Will you allow God to write you into His story here at Living Streams?