Tyler Kern, Shine 104.9 chaplain and Home of Shalom pastor, first moved to Spokane on April 1, 2024. Shortly after his arrival, he began volunteering and making connections with organizations serving the community. Home of Shalom is a Spokane-based ministry of Upper Columbia Conference.
“When I first moved here, I didn’t know anyone,” Kern said. “I couldn’t just start a new church with a church service. Nobody knew who I was. Who would come? So, I started by finding how I could serve the community and where other people were already serving.”
Kern quickly connected with food pantries, local parks and other non-profits aimed at community service. Through volunteering to clean up trash with the Spokane Riverkeeper program, Kern got in contact with local park officials who were eager to help Kern organize additional park clean-up days.
On June 9, 2024, Kern launched his first Simple Act of Kindness Event, inviting Shine 104.9 listeners to help with painting over graffiti at a tennis court in Minnehaha Park in east Spokane. The graffiti in question was particularly vulgar and filled with hate speech. Several community members passing by expressed gratitude for the work.
After hours of work, while most other volunteers had already left, Kern’s family and a small group of volunteers carried on until the job was finally done.
“The donated paint was exactly the right amount,” Kern said. “After my kids scraped the bottom of the paint buckets to get the last drops, it covered the entire court.”
Following their first SAKE project, Kern continued to invite people to a large variety of service projects, including writing letters to first responders, volunteering with food banks, cleaning parks, praying with the homeless and shoveling snow.
At the end of 2025, Kern estimated nearly 100 SAKE projects, contributing at least 800 total volunteer hours, with 220 of those hours spent cleaning up trash at local parks.
Kern frequently includes his children in SAKE projects. However, that isn’t the only time his family serves their community.
“Something we’ve done on our own as a family is adopting some of our neighbors’ houses that need someone to shovel snow off their driveway for them,” said Kern. “It’s something that doesn’t seem that big to us, but for our neighbors it can determine whether or not they make it to an important doctor appointment they’ve waited months for.”
Beginning in February 2025, Kern developed the Home of Shalom church plant. Home of Shalom currently has no permanent location, instead gathering regularly in local public spaces like coffee shops or parks. Most members participate in regular SAKE events.
“Personal invitation has been my approach, saying, 'Come with me, come serve alongside me,’” Kern shared.
This January, Shine 104.9 and Home of Shalom kicked off the new year by hosting biweekly worship events featuring local Christian musicians in Spokane’s Northtown Mall food court. The concerts began in January and will continue every second and fourth Saturday through April 11.
For more information on SAKE, see shine1049.org/events.
Kern and his family serve neighbors by shoveling snow.
SAKE volunteers participate in regularly scheduled community service events.
Many SAKE projects include cleaning up local parks.
Tyler Kern, Shine 104.9 chaplain, plans SAKE projects around the Spokane area.
