All of the posts that Eric Sanford creates.

Frantic Pace

The last few days have been full. I had the opportunity to visit Alabama, spend time with family and friends, meet with partners and talk with potential partners. On top of that, I preached three times in different churches. I am grateful for the support provided by First Baptist Boaz, Ridgeview Baptist and Fairhaven Baptist. Without these churches and the support of many individuals our time with Frontline Church Planting Center would not have been possible.

Thank you to those who gave of their homes, time, and food during our travels. You were a blessing to our family and may Hod bless you for your generosity and hospitality.

If you are interested in supporting us through prayer, please send an email to prayerpartner@sanfordfamily.org to sign up for our monthly prayer newsletter.

If you are interested in supporting us financially, please visit the financial support page on this blog about the ways to give.

Our time in Alabama has been fruitful and full but it reminds us of the calling God has placed on us for Denver and the Lowry neighborhood and the need for laborers in His harvest. It is my prayer that many were stirred up to love and good deeds from our time in Alabama.

Re-purpose

On my way to church, I pass at least four church buildings that no longer have congregations meeting in them. One is now a local newspaper, two are office buildings, and one a theater company. Each of these buildings has been re-purposed. The churches that met in them no longer exist or have moved on to larger facilities. If church growth was the reason and not church death, it makes it easier to stomach. But I suppose that death was the reason. On the other side of the coin, I sat in a church building in Erie, CO that was once a garage, a machine shop, and a dance hall. I talked to another church planter who is meeting in an old warehouse in uptown Denver, while many schools, community centers, and storefronts are the locations for church services each week.

It is mildly ironic that church buildings are used for lofts, offices, and businesses, while churches are are meeting in non-traditional places. The building is not the church. The people are the church. For the first 300 years of Christianity there were no congregation owned buildings, but exponential growth still occurred. I believe that God can use this time of repurposing to bring days of exponential growth again. May God build His church and may His kingdom come.

Leadership Lessons from the Incline

The Start The past two weeks, I have taken up the challenge of The Manitou Incline.  This is a 1.5 mile long trail that gains 2,000 feet in elevation.  Once at the top, you take a 2.5 mile Barr Trail down.  It has taken me around 3 hours per round trip each time I have done it.  And while hiking, I have seen some great leadership lessons.  Here are a few of them:

Keep the End Goal in Mind.  It is easy to get caught up in the next step and even the way that you attack the problem.  In our journey of church planting, it is easy to get overwhelmed by the lostness, day-to-day actions and jobs, and the next steps in the process.  But our end goal is making disciples and allowing God to establish His church through us.

Achievement is accomplished one step at a time.  No one, not even the best athlete on the incline can take it two steps at a time, though I have seen some running up the mountain.  These people must take the journey one step at a time, even though they are more fit and have a faster pace.  With the end goal firmly envisioned and focused on, take one step, then another, and a few hundred more toward your goal.

Looking Back Should Encourage You to Push Forward.  About half way up the incline, while

Looking BackI was out of breath and wishing I had not pushed toward this goal, I turned to take a picture.  The view that I captured encouraged me to move forward toward the goal.  Sometimes you just need a reminder of what you have accomplished along the way.  I know that one of those markers for us was our second assessment with Frontline.  We heard from four men who encouraged us and used their observations of our time in the program to show us our strengths and weaknesses.

Enjoy the Journey and the View from the top.  Besides the pain of sore muscles and the shortness of breath (ok, that is an understatement), the journey was well worth the work.  I was able to enjoy the view from the top and the satisfaction that I was able to accomplish my goal.  The second time, I was able to enjoy the journey a little more and the view was still sweet from the top.  I hope to see what God has done through me in a few years and be amazed to be part of it.  I desire God to do great things in Lowry and beyond because of our faithfulness, ministry, and missional presence.  And it will be hard work and sweet reward to take that journey over and again with people throughout our lives.

Know there is another mountain to climb.  Once the Incline is conquered, you realize that it sits at the base of Pikes Peak.  The top of the Incline is around 8,000 while the summit of Pikes Peak is just over 14,000 feet.  Once you accomplish your goal, there is always another around the corner.  Take it on, just as you did the last.  Focus on the end goal, take it one step at a time, look back for encouragement, and The Topenjoy the view at the top.  As we venture toward life in Lowry, we look at where God has taken us and we are encouraged, yet know we have not arrived.  We are reaching the peak of one adventure with a larger summit looming in the distance that can also only be reached one step at a time.

Community

One of the buzz words thrown around in Lowry is community. We have tried to press for a deeper understanding of what exactly Lowry means by community. And the answer we get is similar to this, “My neighbors know my name, if something strange was happening they would call the police or get help.” “Our children know a few other neighborhood kids and they play a good deal with them.” Or, “It is nice to come to a shop and know everyones name that comes in.” According to www.m-w.com Community is a unified body of individuals as in a group of people with a common interest living together within a larger society. One of the biggest drawing factors in Lowry is community. But I see that idea of community as shallow and in desperate need of redemption. Ephesians 5:16 urges us to redeem the time for the days are evil. So we seek to redeem the idea of community in Lowry.

We want to build biblical community. A ministry friend, Bill Lighty, defines biblical community as a group of people actually loving one another transparently and hearing from God together as they do life with one another and are edified into the fullness of Christ. He went on to indicate several vital characteristics of biblical community: time commitment, prayer, transparency, serving others, loving others, sensing the Holy Spirit as a group, accountability, and honesty. We want a marker of our church to be genuine biblical community. Without biblical community, we are just another social club and that is not desired or needed. God desires His church to impact Lowry, Denver and the World through the redemption of community. Imagine a day with us when Lowry will be known for the community of believers who are changing the world and pray with us to that end.

Big Picture, Small Phrase

In any venture that is new, most of the initial marketing, sales, or investment is in a dream or a vision. Concise communication of this vision is important. All of the major points of emphasis should be contained in this statement without being too wordy or technical. Vision is presented but is transferred much like the common cold. As a church planter, my role in this is to take the vision God has given me and sneeze it on others. I know that sounds gross but it is better than using a stomach virus as the analogy. Back to the sneezing, God has given me a fire in my bones that is Journeyman Church in the Lowry neighborhood of Denver, CO.

I see a day when the community Lowry desires to have is redeemed by the Gospel and Journeyman Church is an epicenter of disciple making for the glory of God in all the nations. And because of the need for a concise statement, I have tried to pull all of those thoughts into one statement…Journeyman Church is building a community of disciple makers.

For those of you who are artists and think outside the box, what do you see when you hear that last statement? I desire to embody the vision God has given to me in my vision statement but I don’t want it to be too wordy. If you have another idea for wording let me know; I would love to hear your take on it.

Spring Fever

Though there is a chance of snow on Saturday, spring has come to Colorado. Spring brings new life out of a seasonally dark time of year. That is our desire, spiritually, for Colorado and,more specifically, Lowry.

This spiritually dark place needs new life. And this renewal can only come through Christ in us. Matt. 5:16 tells us to allow the light of Christ to shine through us so that men will turn to God.

Where is the place you are bringing the light? How bright does Christ shine through you? Does your life point others to worship God?

The Message shares Matthew 5:14-16 like this, “”Here’s another way to put it: You’re here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We’re going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. If I make you light-bearers, you don’t think I’m going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I’m putting you on a light stand. Now that I’ve put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand—shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you’ll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven.”

Information overload

firehydrant-gushing

February 24th-27th, Amanda and I took part in Basic Training for Church Planters. The volume of the information is best depicted on the left. Over the 3 days worth of training we were challenged to work on different pieces of the church planting puzzle. Some of the pieces were understanding our call to planting, vision, values, small group strategy, large group strategy, financial information, and evangelism. Ideas like nonnegotiables and mission were talked about from practitioners and leaders from Colorado. The wisdom in the room was invaluable and I am grateful to have a state that seeks to train, equip and release church leaders of all types into the mission field to be harvest hands.

I waited until now to write about the weekend because I was still processing. I might be still processing a year from now but I must begin to put the action plan in places that will lead up to being on the ground in Lowry. The puzzle pieces are on the table and the edge pieces are lining up now it is time to work on the image in the center and places the pieces correctly so that others and can see the grand design of God.

On Location

This past monday, the Sanford clan invaded Lowry.  We had a meeting with a key person in the community to start the day.  Key people who can open up the community and organizations are commonly referred to as a “Person of Peace”.  These individuals are non-believers who help with relationships, community approval and open doors to community resources.  Please pray that God brings us people of peace in Lowry.

Secondly, we met with the NAMB, Send North America representative and his wife for lunch.  I have been meeting monthly for coaching.  I am grateful for the experience Dave brings to the table, for the encouragement that he has provided me, as well as the challenges he has given me through assignments and tough questions.

Finally, we spent time playing in a windy, cold park and driving around in the warmth of our car to show the children the neighborhood.  We desire to make Lowry home and not just somewhere we live.  Monday was a step toward that for our children.  I am grateful for a family that is willing to go as God calls and enjoy the journey together.

God at the Movies

This past weekend Amanda and I went on a date to celebrate my birthday. I was privileged to have a late lunch and take in a movie with my sweetheart. Our movie of choice was Les Miserables. Having seen the movie that came out a few years ago, I knew the story line but I was taken back by the musical version. As we sat there glued to the silver screen, several biblical themes came to the forefront and, since then, I have not been able to put them to rest.

First, the idea of justice verses mercy, personified by Inspector Javert and Jean Valjean. Both men claimed religious reasons for their actions. Javert reminded me of the Pharisees while Jean Valjean made me think of Christ. Javert wanted justice to be done at the cost of humanity, while Valjean was more worried about the person than the law. Too many times, I am so focused on doing the “right” thing that I miss the rights of the person. As a believer, I struggle to show mercy like Christ. This idea throughout the film revealed my sinfulness and focus on rules, not souls. I am to show the mercy of God in this fallen world, not demand justice that I myself cannot enforce or live up to.

Secondly, discipleship is seen in the life of Jean Valjean and Cosette. When Valjean follows through on his commitment to care for Cosette, he promises that he will always be there for her and love her. Later in life, Cosette voices those same words to her future husband. Our goal as followers of Christ is to make disciples. This is not a class you take or a number of books to be read; discipleship is walking together toward God. It is allowing Christ to shine through in our lives so that it will be reflected in those who we are discipling. Those we disciple will look like us. It is my prayer that I am leading people to follow me as I follow Christ (to take the words of Paul in 1 Cor. 11:1).

Finally, the theme of revolution loomed large in Les Miserables. These young men were captivated by revolution, not just for personal glory but for the betterment of their people and those who would come after them. Are we willing to give our lives to the revolution that God is creating though His Son, Jesus? Are we captivated with the ideas of the Kingdom of God, the redemption of man through Christ and the desire to see all nations turn to Jesus in repentance? If not, we are missing the whispers of revolution that is God-created and God-centered.

All this from a movie. God is so good to speak to us if we will only listen. Ephesians 5:16 tells us to redeem the time. We need to allow God’s redeeming desire to flow into all parts of life, even a night at the movies.

What does it look like?

Missional_Communities_Cover

This month our formal learning was designed to make us ask questions and rethink the way we intend to “do” church. It all started out with reading the book to the left. After much research on small group strategies we have landed on missional communities. Missional Communities embody all of the elements we would like to have our small groups to live out. They focus on discipleship, evangelism, accountability, ministry and mission and their greatest trait in my opinion they are based in the community not a church building. If you want more information on Missional Communities make sure to read McNeal’s book and check back on this blog for the type of missional community we plan on leading in Lowry.

The second part of our formal learning was focused on biblically defining these terms: Priest, Deacon, Elder, and Pastor. It is important to not only define these terms but to properly implement them. Our desire is that we would not only define these terms biblically but implement them as prescribed in the Word.

One of the biggest desires is that we start with healthy DNA in our church so that church has the greatest chance to survive and thrive. We are so thankful for the opportunity to learn, grow, and plan during this residency.