Meet The Pastor
Pastor Simon Bardone
In 1999, at Cal State Long Beach, just a few months before completing his degree, Simon met Jesus. Or to put it perhaps a bit more accurately, Jesus came quite unexpectedly bombarding into Simon's life, rescuing him from a thoroughly debauched lifestyle. After graduating, he went on to do a short stint of teaching (middle school math and science), until in 2003, when he responded to God’s leading to begin working as a full time vocational missionary.
In 2006, Simon moved to London, England, where for the next 9 years he continued working as a pastor/missionary in the UK, as well as various parts of Europe. And 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 north, where they, along with a handful of some pretty amazing friends, began gathering, worshipping, serving and sharing with others a love that has now given life to a beautiful, growing, Jesus-centered family we call Grace City (Portland!)
Simon currently holds degrees in applied mathematics and theology. And while he's not doing the church thing, you'll likely find him either reading, riding his bike, obsessing over some board game, and/or consuming way too much coffee.