Lynnwood pastor’s focus on homelessness inspired by his faith

LYNNWOOD — His faith tells him to love his neighbors.

That inspires him as a pastor, and it also guides his work as a Lynnwood city councilman.

The Rev. M. Christopher Boyer leads Good Shepherd Baptist Church along 196th Street SW. He’s been on the City Council since being appointed to fill an empty position in 2012. He was elected to keep the spot the next year.

His main push on the council has been addressing homelessness, and he launched a city-based coalition called the Homelessness Task Group.

The group connected Lynnwood leaders with people in other local cities and social service groups. They’ve spent months studying homelessness in Lynnwood to get an accurate picture. The next step is working together to make change, he said. Helping others also is part of Good Shepherd’s mission.

Boyer, 54, originally is from St. Louis though he moved around as a child.

“My parents took me to church since the day I was born,” he said.

At 16, he started thinking about becoming a pastor. At 17, he was licensed to preach.

In college at Rice University, he got interested in theater, and spent decades working in professional theater groups, some of which were faith-based. During that time, he also went to the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and earned his master’s degree in divinity.

Acting and directing provided a chance to “express in my art what was the deepest concern of my heart,” he said.

He was raised Southern Baptist but became American Baptist after his childhood church moved toward fundamentalism in the 1980s and ’90s, he said.

He and his wife, Constance, have been married 32 years. They moved to Lynnwood in 2005 when he was hired at Good Shepherd. They have three grown children.

As a councilman, Boyer tries to be a good representative of all people, he said.

He sees homelessness as a “psychological, spiritual, economic conundrum.” Finding solutions requires new approaches, new angles.

“They’re my neighbors. I’m called to love them. I’m called to help,” he said. “This is one way I choose to do that.”

Rikki King: 425-339-3449; rking@heraldnet.com.

Good Shepherd Baptist Church, 6915 196th St. SW, Lynnwood, 425-774-1010, www.gsbchurch.com. Sunday services start at 10:30 a.m.