
We're not just about reporting religious news and publishing reflections on issues of faith and ethics. Spokane Faith & Values prides itself in bringing the Spokane community together — offline — once a month for our Coffee Talks.
We started this community forum in January at Chairs Coffee. I asked our panelists to discuss God and the Newtown shootings. You, readers, packed the coffee house. And you did it again in February when we gathered at Boots Bakery to discuss “Violence and the Sacred.”
For eight months now we've bounced from coffee house to coffee house discussing important theological and moral issues in a manner that's fruitful, respectful and insightful. And we're supporting local business along the way.
Leading up to the Coffee Talk each month our writers post articles about the month's topic (September's topic is “engaging millennials.”) Several of you have asked for this website to have a place where all things Coffee Talk can live, and I'm proud to say that as of today, we have a Coffee Talk page! The Coffee Talk page will be updated regularly.
Thanks for making Coffee Talk a success. If you want to become a Coffee Talk community sponsor, please email tracysimmons@spokanefavs.com.
I hope to see you at our next discussion, which will be at 10 a.m., Sept. 7 at Revel 77.

Tracy Simmons is an award-winning journalist specializing in religion reporting and digital entrepreneurship. In her approximate 20 years on the religion beat, Simmons has tucked a notepad in her pocket and found some of her favorite stories aboard cargo ships in New Jersey, on a police chase in Albuquerque, in dusty Texas church bell towers, on the streets of New York and in tent cities in Haiti. Simmons has worked as a multimedia journalist for newspapers across New Mexico, Texas, Connecticut and Washington. She is the executive director of SpokaneFāVS.com, a digital journalism start-up covering religion news and commentary in Spokane, Washington. She also writes for The Spokesman-Review and national publications. She is a Scholarly Assistant Professor of Journalism at Washington State University.