Church Planting, COVID Shutdown, Pastoral Isolation & the Cost of Multiplication with Cameron Heger

Send us Fan MailCameron Heger moved from Arkansas to Portland with no ministry plan — just a seminary enrollment and a love for the city. After years embedded at Door of Hope, he felt called to plant a new church. Door of Hope sent him with a core team of 100 adults, a building, and a spirit of generosity. Door of Hope Northeast held its first gathering on March 1, 2020. Its second on March 8. There was no third — the world shut down.In this conversation, Cameron shares what it was like to lead a brand-new church through a global crisis, the season of painful fallout that followed, and the moment his wife told him nobody actually knew him anymore. He talks honestly about pastoral isolation, the temptation to perform strength while falling apart inside, and what it looked like to finally open up.He also shares practical wisdom for anyone considering church planting in Portland — why embedding in the city matters more than launching fast, what it means to experience church as a family and not just a project, and why the cost of multiplication is always worth it.Themes covered: church planting through multiplication, launching into crisis, pastoral vulnerability and isolation, the Door of Hope family-of-churches model, embedding before planting, small church identity, and the cost of sending.Subscribe, share this episode with a friend, and visit https://www.upperleftshow.com for bonus content, resources, and ways to connect.Welcome to Jesus in the Upper Left, where we're talking about gospel multiplication in the Pacific Northwest. We've been praying for a spiritual climate change in Portland, Oregon for decades, and we're excited to see it happening. This episode offers a new perspective on engaging in gospel conversation within our communities. 🙏