Faithful Living: The Brittany Sartor Story
Brittany Sartor grew up in a home where faith was lived out—where putting God and church first were part of daily life. But as she stepped into adulthood, she began to feel a quiet ache, as though a vital piece of her relationship with God was missing.
She had connections at Clear Creek Community Church and began attending on and off. It was through the smaller campus of East 96 where she began to wrestle with deep questions about the faith she grew up with, realizing that many of her childhood beliefs didn’t align with the gospel of grace she was learning about at Clear Creek’s Sunday services.
Brittany needed a place she could ask all her theological questions. She tried joining a women’s small group but had difficulty finding a time that worked with her schedule. Undeterred, she joined Starting Point, attended classes offered by Clear Creek, and even began serving in Creek Kids to find answers and community. During this time of seeking, she began to accept the grace Jesus offered.
After months of searching, she joined a women’s small group that felt like home. Many of the women were further along in their faith journeys and patiently walked alongside her as she openly asked questions and began fitting together the puzzle pieces of her faith. Small group was the place she felt seen and known. She began to see problems of pride and shame melt away as she experienced friendships without judgment. No longer did she feel the expectation to measure up to certain standards or hide her struggles. Brittany experienced the tangible love of God through simply sharing life with these women—allowing them to bring meals after the birth of her children and praying over deep concerns. Together they saw prayers answered and celebrated them. These women were all in for growth in their faith and sharing life with one another, transforming the way Brittany saw a community of faith.
Small group now feels so part of her normal routine and essential part of her walk with God that she recently began leading her own small group. She often encourages other women to get plugged into a group, saying, “You need to have a day-to-day relationship with other people that are believers that are walking the walk and having those conversations that allow you to form a deeper relationship with Christ.”
Through small group, Brittany has learned that community isn’t a requirement for faith but a source of support that has journeyed with her. This transformative experience in small group is what has fueled her conversations with those in her Top 5 and beyond—really a network of family and friends who she intentionally prays for and builds relationships with in hopes they one day come to know Jesus.
Often, Brittany simply gives others a glimpse of faithful living—engaging in church, participating in small group, and prioritizing her relationship with God.
Brittany says that she never gave a formal invitation to any of these people to come to church. They just saw her living out her faith, and they decided to try it, too. She finds a positivity naturally comes out in the way she interacts with others because she knows she’s “living with the reassurance that she’s saved by grace.”
When talking with others who are seeking Jesus, she trusts God’s direction in what to say and where to go, understanding that she doesn’t have to get it “just right.”
“Living out your faith begins with focusing on your own relationship with Jesus first, and it naturally comes out in conversation,” she says. Brittany is always trying to find ways to keep God in “the front of her days.” When she prioritizes time in God’s word and prayer, those topics are simply top of mind when she’s talking with others. The conversation can easily shift into matters of faith because she’s already been thinking about it.
More than anything, she invests in prayer, having prayed for some for over a decade to come to faith in Jesus.
This past spring, Brittany baptized two women in her family she had walked with for years. And the effect trickled down into the next generation with her niece and her cousin’s daughter also making the decision to be baptized. Over twelve people in her family have become engaged with Clear Creek Community Church since she began coming on her own twelve years ago. Noting the moments when God has moved in the lives of these people she’s prayed for has fueled her faith and encouraged her to keep praying.
Brittany recognizes that investing in the lives of others to know Jesus is slow work. On the day of her sister-in-law’s baptism, over thirty people showed up in support. She says, “It can be frustrating whenever you’re looking at it day-to-day, but when you look back at a decade’s worth of prayers you realize it went from me coming to church by myself [to a whole community supporting and loving one another.]”
Brittany’s life reflects faithful living, yet her story points beyond her own effort to the God who always moves first. He first stirred her heart to receive his gift of grace, and now he continues to move through her life—drawing others toward the same love, community, and hope she has found in Jesus.
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