The CitySalt Story...

CitySalt Church (formerly SouthHills Church) is part of the Foursquare family of churches and was established in September of 2004.

The church was started by Pastor Shannon Kearney following her 13-year service as an associate pastor and counselor at Eugene Faith Center. She and a group of 60 people began a prayerful search for a meeting location. The group settled on the 70-acre campus of Oak Hill School where a team of faithful volunteers weekly transformed the school's gymnasium and classrooms into sacred gathering spaces.

In 2009, Dusty and Julie Johnson joined the staff to help the growing needs of the church. Dusty served as a part-time associate pastor until assuming the role of Senior Pastor in January of 2010. Shannon continued her service to the church as associate pastor until she retired in the Fall of 2012. 

During this time, South Hills Church began to see themselves with a new perspective less specific to the “south hills” geographic region and more broadly to the civic heart of Eugene. It became clear that as the church’s ministry evolved, so too would the name and gathering place. In the Fall of 2014 (the church’s 10-year anniversary), the membership celebrated their new name: CitySalt Church.

CitySalt continued its search for the next location to root its ministry. Creative solutions, outside-of-the-box thinking, and partnerships across denominational lines opened up a new opportunity in the University District of Eugene: leasing from Emerald Community Fellowship and partnering with First Baptist Church of Eugene’s college ministry (CCF), and Eugene Chinese Christian Church (now The Trauma Healing Project). In 2016, CitySalt moved into their new home, and current location: The Box at 661 E 19th Ave. 

In the midst of the 2020’s COVID-19 pandemic, Pastor Dusty confirmed a stirring within his heart that it was time to step down from senior ministry leadership, explore other gifts, and empower the next leader’s vision of navigating the post-pandemic world. Working with Foursquare district leadership, Dusty retired from the role of Senior Pastor in 2021. Through a season of discernment, Pastor Mike D’Eliso, who had been with the pastoral team since 2016, was installed as the next Senior Pastor of CitySalt Church in November of that same year.

Aaron and Heather Friesen soon joined the CitySalt family in this new season. Coming on in a very part-time capacity as the CS Kids pastors, the Friesens’ heart for the broader church was immediately felt as they quickly found themselves serving and supporting a wide range of activities and ministries in the life of CitySalt. 

After a couple of years, the collaborative nature of both Mike and Aaron, as well as a history of less formal team leadership at CitySalt, led to conversations and a discernment process about how they might adjust their formal roles to match the unique strengths that they both bring to the table. Foursquare’s relatively new co-pastoring leadership model seemed to be an obvious answer to this question.

In March of 2025, both Aaron Friesen and Mike D’Eliso were co-installed and co-appointed as co-lead pastors of CitySalt Church. Both men are employed part-time at the church and work part-time outside of the church: Mike as a Clinical Pastoral Education student at a local hospital, and Aaron as an adjunct theology professor at different local universities. 

Today at CitySalt, along with co-pastors Mike and Aaron, the leadership team includes: Pastor Abby Wilday, a licensed Foursquare minister, who oversees our creative expressions of worship and music ministry, Heather Friesen who oversees our children’s ministry, and many other volunteers and leaders who serve our congregation and city. Read more about each leader on our on our staff page.