Oversight Team members ensure that we are cultivating our rhythms according to our values. They also oversee our practices, bylaws, budget, lead pastor, and HR-related issues.
Cheri Gilbert
Cheri has been at Pearl Church since 2014. She has served in many volunteer positions throughout the years. These run the gamut from home group leader and helping run the food pantry to hosting whiskey tasting nights. With her love of cooking and passion for people, Pearl’s common table and showing divine love to the community is a perfect fit. Cheri and her husband Dan have two grown daughters and a grandson.
Constantin Khalaf
Constantin (“Constantine,” rhymes with “wine”) has attended Pearl since the Spring of 2015, and became a member that Fall. He was raised in a Catholic family and became an Episcopalian as an adult. He describes his faith today as simply Christian and uncomplicated: He believes in a higher power that is as inexplicable as the Trinity, yet as real as that silent presence he sometimes encounters in prayer. Constantin has served in various ministries throughout his years at Pearl, including as a volunteer with Pearl Youth and as a home group leader alongside his husband, David. He values the notion of being in covenant with this faith community, and dreams of growing old together with the friends he has made at Pearl.
Mike Roth
Mike is passionate about exploring the good—for today’s context and culture—in scripture, the gospel, and Christian life. Some of Mike’s values are storytelling, curiosity, and non-violent/non-dominion theology. He believes that these values contribute to an engaging community that thoughtfully nurtures our wholeness as human beings. Mike and his partner, Jen, were both born in beloved Portland. They married in 1997 and have three teenage children. Besides spending time with his family and dear friends, Mike enjoys reading, hiking, and exploring the great Northwest in an old VW campervan named “Lemmy.”
Tym Andrews
Tym has been attending Pearl church since 2017 and is passionate about building community, creating spaces of inclusion, and serving all people. He enjoys singing on the worship team, attending events for the queer folks at Pearl, and co-leading a home group with his husband, Drew, who he met at Pearl. Tym stays busy by singing in a local choir, taking ballet classes, baking at home, and exploring the many vegan food options in Portland. Drew and Tym live in NE Portland with their pug, Fish, and their orange tabby, Beans.
Valinda Harlan
Valinda came to Pearl in 2018, saw it as a spiritual community that she could evolve with, became a member, and then a home group leader. Originally from Venice, California, Valinda is glad she migrated to the PNW and gets to experience seasons for the first time. She has been married to Paul for over 30 years, and they have four adult children and two grandchildren. Valinda has a private practice in Vancouver as a mental health counselor, teaches at Clark College, and is working toward her doctoral degree in Clinical Psychology. She is passionate about healthy relationships: with self, others, and The Divine.