Willow

Hi, I'm Willow. I am the lead convenor, organizer, and spiritual director at Infinitus. In the spring of 2019, amidst serious burnout, I conceived a vision that led to the formation of Infinitus Ministries to create a space for community building, spiritual formation, and advocacy for what is now a sizable underserved minority group (estimated to be somewhere around 2 to 3 percent of the U.S. population) -- neurodivergent adults.

Since then, I spent the pandemic and post-pandemic years studying at Christian Leaders Institute (Spring Lake, Michigan), a non-denominational Bible college, to gain ministry skills and knowledge. I have since earned a two-year Diploma of Ministry (69 credits, December 2024), and hold a Chaplaincy Certificate (41 credits, October 2023) and a Commissioned Pastoral Certificate (43 credits, December 2024). I am currently working towards a three-year Diploma in Divinity, which largely mirrors traditional seminary programs. Previously, I also studied feminist theology at now-closed Ocean Seminary College (Monmouth Beach, New Jersey), a multi-religious and interfaith institution, and religion and Christian ministry at Warner Pacific University (Portland, Oregon).

While my aspirations for ministries began quite early as a newly-baptized teenage Christian, the first serious attempt at it was 20 years ago. In 2005, I formed what was then termed a "missional" community at a non-profit community center in Portland, Oregon, in part inspired by the Catholic Worker Movement and in part by the emergent church movement. It was sadly short-lived. In 2011, I organized a local chapter of the Protest Chaplain movement at an Occupy encampment, where I coordinated over 20 worship services, small groups, and religious events representing a variety of spiritual traditions during the 40 days of the "Occupation" of city parks.

Raised in a non-religious family, my childhood curiosity for world religions and spiritual practices led me eventually to an independent fundamental Baptist church as a teen (where I was baptized), and later to a Pentecostal church. As adult, I became disillusioned with the American Evangelical Christianity and continued on my spiritual quest that took me through many places, including a couple of years exploring Judaism (and ultimately decided against converting, that would be a long story), stints in feminist Pagan communities (including living in a witches' temple for a few months), a couple of years in the Independent Sacramental Movement, and a few flavors of progressive Mainline Protestantism. Perhaps ironically, I began making peace with my Christian faith when I came across a Netflix biopic on the late Bishop Carlton D. Pearson and learned more about his life story. Despite all that I had gone through, perhaps, one cannot get the Baptist and Pentecostal (or, as Carlton Pearson called himself in his later years, a "Metacostal") out of me.

I come with the lived experiences from the intersections of marginalization, oppression, and injustice -- both as my own direct personal experiences, as well as by living close to and working with those who are at the extreme margins of society. These experiences deeply inform what I do here at Infinitus.

Aside from being an instigator here at Infinitus, I am also an exhibited visual artist with years of experience, a former community organizer, a former digital marketing and brand management professional, and always a professional cat spoiler.