Extraordinary Sisters - Kent Boles

A connection with Sisters youth

By Jim Cornelius

Kent Boles remembers the pivotal moment vividly. He was in the eighth grade in Pleasant Hill, Oregon. He and some friends snuck out. They were drinking beer and smoking pot and riding on a motorcycle with a 14-year-old driver down Highway 58.

“It was that moment I said, ‘If I survive this I’ll never be so stupid again. Please, God, let me survive this.’”

Boles recounts this tale of youthful foolishness with his trademark grin — but he’s serious. The moment truly shaped his life, leading him into a calling for youth ministry, helping young people navigate their own tipping points and guiding them toward good choices instead of potentially deadly bad ones.

He credits a German Lutheran pastor named Harry Schultz, whom he knew growing up, with helping to shape his approach to his work.

“He wouldn’t try to force you into anything or tell you what to do,” Boles recalls. “He was the kind of person that would come alongside you and say ‘Maybe you should look at it this way.’”

That’s the way Boles conducts himself to this day.

“I never speak at them,” he says. “I speak with them.”

Boles connects with kids in a variety of venues: He conducts the middle school youth ministry Collide on Wednesday nights; conducts Sunday school at Vast Church; and works with the high school-aged ministry of Young Life on Sunday evenings.

“There’s nothing I’d rather be doing than being in the middle of middle schoolers who are wanting to learn about who they are and who God is in comparison to who they are,” Boles says. “That’s the greatest.” Boles — who was a competitive runner though high school and into

college and ran an ultra marathon a couple of years ago — also coaches middle school track. He works hard to keep sports joyful, with a coaching style he defines as “light and encouraging.” From his standpoint, sports should be fun — especially in middle school — and it’s probably more fun for him than for anybody on the track. “I had one of my kids say ‘You’re the oldest 12-year-old I’ve ever met,” Boles said with a laugh.

Boles and his wife, Cara, moved to Sisters a decade ago with their children Sarah, Hannah and Galen, struck by “the positiveness of the Sisters community.” The community helped sustain them through loss when Galen took his own life in 2018.

The Boles’ loss has lent urgency to his ministry.

“It’s being honest and keeping track of your friends,” he says. “I talk about that way more than I ever did.”

Doubling down on his calling not only helps Kent face loss, it is a way of honoring his son. Quitting his work was never an option.

“If I would have stopped doing youth ministry, it would have made the loss of him so much bigger,” He says. “Youth ministry in honor of him is such a great thing.”

Boles is a painter by trade, and he and Cara are about to start building a new house in Sisters. He keeps running when he can find the time.

“I actually did run with the kids the other day, which surprises them,” he said, laughing. “They look at you like, ‘Are you going to have a heart attack?’”

And through it all, they cherish a sense of connection — with their church and its youngsters and with the community at large.

With that broad smile expressing his sincerity, he says, “I love that part of Sisters.”