Devon is a man of many talents and passions. You get a whiff of this seeing him at his family’s homestead in the thick redwood forests above the hamlet of Occidental. In addition to being Molly’s husband and engaged father of three young daughters, Devon, with a twinkle in his eyes, deprecatingly calls himself a “terrible amateur” farmer who tends an orchard, garden, goats, chickens, and ducks. He has written a full-length, sci-fi romance novel, has recorded an album with vocals and guitar on Spotify, and is the founder and CEO of an agricultural technology company.

Devon was raised in religious schools and churches. “My whole life was in church. I was always inspired by Jesus and believed in him, and I alwaysloved the sermon; I loved that part of church.” But not much else about the church experience held him, and he abandoned the church as a young adult. Despite many positive things in Devon’s life over the last decade, he acknowledges he felt an underlying emptiness. He recollects college as being a very secular experience focused on career. “And if you go into the tech world,” he reflects, “Saying you are Christian is like a bad word. It left people like me starved of spiritual community.” 

When Devon and his family moved out to the country, they had more free time and lots of space. Living in a remote area left them hungry to meet new people on a deeper level. Devon felt a missing spiritual bond in their lives. “We asked ourselves, ‘How can we lean in to developing intentional community?”

Joining Community Church this past spring became their answer. Devon says his wife, Molly, was the most active in getting the family to church. “She said she felt called to check out a church, and I was feeling it too…something missing,” he recalls. They were going to try a number of congregations and visited Community Church first. “This church was so up our alley, it was awesome,” he remembers. “Just the right people; the sermon was amazing; Molly was crying; everyone was so nice, and I said, ‘Yeah, this is what’s missing.’” That was last winter. After a period of questioning, they returned on Easter Sunday. The congregation felt so right, they did not even want to try another church.

When the family first experienced the children’s sermon, his daughters Poppy and Iris loved it. Devon chuckles, “They were the ones saying to us, ‘Let’s go back to church! We love church!’” He continues, “This church is investing in these kids, trying to adapt the sermon to fit them and then to have it work and make them excited, that’s so awesome.”