Darren Kenworthy
Facilitator & Friend in Residence for annual sessions, 2024
After selling his construction company to take care of his newborn son, Darren discovered his calling: to be present for people, to help them discover what it is that they want to be and do together. He sees his role as asking questions like
How can we create a moment of spiritual encounter where we really meet each other?
How can we do some kind of work together that brings out for each of us, and for all of us, what is important for us now and for us in the future?
How do we generate meaning?
What kind of purpose do we have together and individually?
Darren’s prayer for Sierra-Cascades
I recognize that Sierra-Cascades is uniquely positioned to become a place of healing for people who are holding the tension of a radical commitment to Christian identity, while also being moved by deep awareness of the violence that Christian identity has, and continues, to enable.
My prayer for Sierra-Cascades is that you may hold both a sense of being guided together in seeking the source of loving connectedness that lies at the root of Christianity, while also being radically attentive to the prophetic cries of those most acutely feeling the grief of the harms done in its name.
Darren’s biography:
I was born in Alaska and lived my first nine months in a cabin in the woods. Needing a drastic change of scenery, my parents took me and my older brother to California and bought a 30 something foot sailboat, which we sailed to Hawaii (My parents self published a book about it called “1000 Miles From Land”). After a few years, we returned to the mainland and settled in rural SW Washington. I started attending Multnomah Monthly meeting of Friends when I was five or six. My adolescence was filled with family, friends and Friends. I found spiritual community among the Quaker youth group of NPYM, which I served as clerk for two years. I trained at ballet, various Martial Arts, sang in Choir and performed in my high school’s dramatic productions. I
I played both soccer and Dungeons and Dragons, and enjoyed the diversity of friendships you might imagine from such divergent interests. I found ways to bring Quaker spirituality to all these communities and activities. I sought membership in my Meeting soon after I graduated high school, and chose to attend Earlham College, where I focused my intellectual and spiritual energy on Philosophy, and my physical energy on soccer. I also met Audrey Crist, to whom I’ve been married for 19 years, and with whom I have an alarmingly wonderful adolescent child. When I left Earlham, I spent ten years learning the carpenter’s trade, and building a construction company with a close childhood friend, to whom I sold my share when my son was born. In the fifteen years since then I have served my family as a full time partner and parent, and continued to be active among Friends in various capacities.
Find out more about Darren in an interview with Judy Maurer, the Sierra-Cascades newsletter editor. It’s here.