On the Ground

We spent last week “on the ground”, actually in Lowry, CO for several consecutive days, a team of 10 from FBC, Boaz, AL alongside. All 12 of us knew this was mainly a recon trip, a gathering of info about this neighborhood God has called us toward, our future home and a place to make His name great. In addition to the recon mission, though, we knew our missions needed to be bathed in prayer, before, during and after. In small groups, we were able to prayer walk the entire “neighborhood” of Lowry, praying specifically over individual housing developments, each public park/space, businesses and schools, and each store and restaurant in the town center. We prayed that, beyond the gathering of info, our hearts and the mission team members’ hearts would be truly broken for the current residents of Lowry and that the people we met while there would be open to talk and share. Pleading for life transformations and opportunities to bless others rang out. We begged God to make any Christians in the neighborhood known to us. I believe God hems us in, just as His Word said he would, going before us and behind us. Several of those specific prayers were answered, to some extent, in our short week there.

Statistically speaking, 90-95% of Denver residents are lost, currently living apart from Christ and destined for Hell. That’s 9+ people out of every 10 in line at the Albertson’s grocery in Lowry! I knew the statistics while living in Alabama and I’ve heard them while living in Colorado Springs, but the conversations with Lowry residents in shops, parks, and restaurants have made the gravity of the situation very real. We engaged in many conversations about the neighborhood, what’s to love and what it needs, and the people were generally so open and friendly, so we pressed on and talked to quite a few about his/her “spiritual heritage”. Though we talked face to face with 50-100 people, we only engaged one Jesus follower, a Lowry store manager who recently moved to Denver from Virginia. She is desperately seeking a local body of believers to come alongside. I was excited to meet a good number of people who believe in one true God, but humbled by the enormous field before us, so many who don’t yet believe in the forgiveness, grace, and redemption made freely available through Christ’s death and resurrection. My heart is broken and saddened to realize the statistics are true, and I’ve been humbled beyond words to see it firsthand. I know that, apart from Him, I can do nothing about it but, in His strength and power, He will use us in Lowry and He will transform lives.

I told a friend that we “planted a handful of seeds in our days there, and dug a dozen or more holes where a seed can be planted, and broke the plow with some”. But I know God loves the people of Lowry and He has changed my life, so “there is a fire in my bones and I grow weary of holding it in”!

We are specifically praying for “a tithe of the people”. Currently, Lowry has about 10,000 residents and another section is being redeveloped, adding housing for another 5,000 in the next few years. We are praying, believing, that a contagious movement of God is in Lowry’s future and that God is graciously allowing us to be a part! We are certainly not in the Bible Belt anymore. This whole town was redeveloped, purposefully leaving no space for a church building. We are having to pray, study, and relearn what church is. We won’t be able to choose a service time, advertise, and expect the people to come to us. We will be missionaries and true neighbors way before we are a pastor and pastor’s wife in Lowry. Church will be small groups in homes, doing life together God’s way, studying His Word together, disciples who make disciples, all the while praying that when others see God transformation, they will be drawn to Him and want to help us build His Church in Lowry!

Believe with us, pray for big things, and join us in prayer each day at 10:02 (AM or PM) for more laborers for the harvest (Luke 10:2).