By Brent Bramer
Mike and Kelly were jolted out of bed by screams and the smell of smoke. They ran to their two kids and hurried out to the street. The backside of the home next door was engulfed in flames and a crowd was gathering. The elderly woman who lived in the home was screaming for her husband who had just run back into the house to search for their dog. She feared he’d been inside for too long, and there was no sign of him. Mike and Kelly, their children, and the neighbors watched in horror as flames consumed the home.
The days and weeks that followed were confusing, heavy, and hopeless for the young family. One night, as Mike was putting his youngest daughter to bed, she asked a piercing question he could not answer. “Dad, what happens when you die?” And then she asked, “Dad, what does it mean to pray? How can we pray for the sweet man who died in the fire?” Not having grown up in a church, Mike was lost to explain life, death, and prayer. He felt hopeless.
A few months after the fatal fire, my wife and I met Mike, Kelly, and their kids. We had just moved to San Luis Obispo, California, from Louisville, Kentucky, a week earlier. After serving on the pastoral staff of Southeast Christian Church for over seven years, God moved in the midst of the ordinary and called our family to move 2,500 miles west to a growing city on the central coast of California and into the extraordinary work of church planting.
We settled into a small home a block from the city park and local school. We signed up our two older boys for soccer, which I would coach, and registered the two girls for gymnastics. On a Tuesday night at Sinsheimer Field, we met Mike and his oldest son. Mike was a professor at the local university and was passionate about entrepreneurship. I introduced myself and my wife to Mike, and as I turned to begin practice, I heard him ask Jenna, “What made you guys move here, all the way from Kentucky?”
It was the first time that question had been asked boldly and answered boldly. We had a dream of starting a new, Jesus-centered church in the city—a church that brought real, tangible hope and met the real, tangible needs of real people.
Planning a Church for the Never Churched
San Luis Obispo is a college town full of young professionals and young families, retirees, and start-ups. Like most places in this ever-changing landscape, “SLO” is a city that’s increasingly unchurched and secular. In fact, Barna found that San Luis Obispo and the surrounding regions are the second-most never-churched in the country, and studies show that only 6 to 10 percent of the people in that area attend a local Christian church.
It’s a city of great beauty and brokenness—a progressive city of great opportunity for the gospel. We felt called to plant a new church for the never churched in SLO because church planting is the most effective way to connect the hope of Jesus to everyday people.
Ed Stetzer wrote, “Among the best ways for us to reach people with the gospel is personal evangelism and church planting. Even with all the changes in culture this remains our best option for reaching unbelievers.” Luke Greer of Orchard Group shared,
Planting churches is . . . important simply because existing churches are closing. In the United States alone, nearly 4,000 churches close their doors each year. The way the gospel spread throughout the ancient world (as recorded in the New Testament) is that leaders would move to a city, gather believers, share the gospel with nonbelievers, disciple new believers, develop leaders, and appoint them to oversee the new church that had been formed. We believe this model is still the most-effective way of seeing the gospel spread in our day.
With these things in mind, we set out to move into the neighborhood and live like Jesus. We hoped to gather people, build relationships, and serve the community. Our prayer was for a church to “start up” from these intentional relationships.
Building Intentional Relationships
Mike, who knew the business start-up world, was floored at the risk involved and the belief required to move a family of six from a place of being known to a place of not being known. He marveled at a faith he didn’t quite understand, and a relationship slowly developed. Our kids became friends and played on the same teams; in the mornings, we’d meet up on the walk to school. Mike, Kelly, and their family would come to parties at our home where they’d meet others; over time, something beautiful began to happen . . . a community started to form and grow.
From time to time, Mike would stop by and inquire on how the new “initiative” was coming along. (We were purposeful about being interruptible!) One afternoon, God opened a door. Mike shared the gut-wrenching reality of the neighbor’s fire that their family had experienced just months before we met them. He said, “Brent, when my daughter asked me what happens when a person dies . . . and if there’s a God and how to pray and if we should pray . . . I had no answers. I felt hopeless because I don’t know.” He asked for help. He noticed a hope that was appealing, and he was hungry for answers.
On December 20, 2017, when we offered a makeshift Christmas service in an HVAC company warehouse, Mike and his family were there. On February 10, 2018, we hosted a vision night at a barbecue joint in town to share the vision and mission of our new (as yet unnamed) church. Again, Mike and his family were there. On May 12, 2018, we celebrated Mother’s Day by worshipping in the venue that would eventually become our church home—and they were there. On launch Sunday, September 8, 2018—with hundreds of others from SLO gathered to see a new church that said “There’s Hope for Everyone”—Mike and his family were there. On February 2, 2019, we celebrated “Baptism Sunday”—and I stood in awe as Mike and Kelly knelt down by the baptistery, tears in their eyes, as their sixth-grade son put his hope and trust in Jesus.
Taking Hope to Everyone
I’m reminded of Eugene Peterson’s powerful take on Romans 10:14-17,
But how can people call for help if they don’t know who to trust? And how can they know who to trust if they haven’t heard of the One who can be trusted? And how can they hear if nobody tells them? And how is anyone going to tell them, unless someone is sent to do it? (The Message).
This is why we go and share the hope we have with our neighbors. It is why we sacrifice and serve and pray. This is why we generously give and go. It’s why we meet people where they are. This is why we are interruptible and invitational. It is why established churches raise up young leaders and prepare them for the kingdom work ahead. This is why we answer the call and we’re sent to plant churches.
It’s for every Mike, every Kelly, and every sixth-grade boy who’s trying to make sense of the world . . . and every little girl who is desperate for hope. We plant churches because Hope is attractive and Hope is alive—his name is Jesus . . . and there is Hope for everyone.
Currently in our movement, organizations like Orchard Group, Stadia, Restoration House, and others are partnering with planters to reach unbelievers with the hope of the gospel. We see the need, and new churches are being birthed by leaders in new cities. The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few—and we’ve got a lot of work to do! May we pray for God to continue to move, may we send equipped leaders, and may they go!
SLO City Church is a new church in San Luis Obispo that desires to live the way of Jesus by bringing hope to everyone. SLO City Church is part of the Orchard Group Network.
Learn more at www.SLOCity.Church or on Facebook or Instagram (@slocitychurch).
Brent Bramer is the lead pastor and church planter of SLO City Church in San Luis Obispo, California.
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