SIMON BARDONE
LEAD PASTOR

In 1999, at Cal State Long Beach, just a few months before completing his degree, Simon met Jesus. Or to put it a bit more accurately, Jesus came unexpectedly bombarding into Simon's life - which led to some pretty extreme changes, involving identity, addiction, and emptiness of all sorts and kinds. After graduating, just a few months later, he went on to do a short stint of teaching at a middle school in southern California, until in 2003, when he responded to God’s leading to begin working as a full time vocational missionary on the same university campus where he had met the Lord.

In 2006, Simon moved to London, England, where he continued working as a pastor/missionary in the UK and various parts of Europe for the next nine years. In 2015 (1 wife and 3 kids later), Simon and his family returned to the U.S., where shortly thereafter they were welcomed into the Grace City Church family in Corvallis, OR, with a shared vision to see Grace City planted in Portland.

In September of 2016, Simon, Shirley and company (i.e., Isaac, Evie, Judah, and our small zoo of animals) made the move up the road, where they, along with a handful of some pretty amazing friends, began gathering, worshipping, serving and sharing with others a love that has since given life to a beautiful, growing, Jesus-centered community we call Grace City (Portland!)

Simon currently holds degrees in applied mathematics and theology. And while he's not doing the pastor thing, you'll likely find him either reading, riding his bike, obsessing over some board game, and/or consuming way too much coffee.