Seattle has the country’s highest percentage rate of residents with a college degree. The percentage of non-religious people in Washington is the highest of any state and church membership is among the lowest of all states.


By Joe Conway


Drop 29.68 north, 179.47 west into your GPS. Survey your new surroundings. You are half way between the Aleutian, Hawaiian and Samoan island chains, and a long way from Guam or Okinawa. Liquid vastness far greater than the open plains of the American West engulfs you, and you are alone. You are almost literally in the middle of nowhere. Now put yourself there for eternity.


While difficult to imagine, that sense of utter, absolute lostness is comparable to the spiritual lostness found in the West region where the North American Mission Board (NAMB) partners with 11 state conventions. State conventions, which also include some of the most populous metropolitan areas in North America. Is there a place where you could be surrounded by more people and yet sense greater despair than Hollywood? How about San Francisco?


ON MISSION • Summer 2011 27

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