Tag Archive for: Small Group

Faithful Living: The Brittany Sartor Story

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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.

The David Sanchez Story

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David Sanchez’s smile comes readily these days. He serves in the Children’s Ministry at East 96 almost every week, singing and dancing along with worship. And he seems to never grow tired of meeting new people, getting to know them, and sharing Christ’s love with them.

His wife, Sharon, is amazed at his transformation because she always saw David as a true introvert. She jokes, “Now he wants to talk to everyone!” He feels that people have been put in his path that need to be there.

But the love David shares so freely now is a powerful contrast to the type of love he grew up with. Raised in the foster care system, David learned early on that love was often conditional, even transactional. The kind of love he longed for simply wasn’t there—and deep down, he knew it never would be.

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David Sanchez was born in a border town in South Texas to an abusive mother and her boyfriend. The family was very poor, and at the age of eight, David became a ward of the state and was put into foster care due to the physical and sexual abuse he was enduring. He was separated from his sisters and the only family he had ever known. His sisters stayed in the home and were not abused. At first, he missed his mother, but he was happy to have enough food and his own bed and a reprieve from the abuse.

David’s initial foster parents took him to church, and he witnessed a community who were able to genuinely love people because of their love for Jesus. He realized that he wanted to be a part of that and have Jesus in his heart. He was baptized at the age of nine but didn’t have anyone to disciple him as he bounced around in several other foster homes over the next five years. He described his faith as “becoming stagnant” during this phase of his life.

David learned much about how he thought life worked during those years in foster care. He started hanging out with the wrong crowd and getting into trouble. Because of the direct abuse David had suffered and the life he witnessed in foster care, he became very calculated and saw his life like a game of chess during this time. He saw the devastation of the other foster kids when they would hope to go back to their families but then get phased out of the system.

Through it all, his inner voice became I’m the guy. None of this is going to get me down. I will be successful.

Around the age of fourteen, David caught a break and was able to enroll in a magnet school called The Science Academy due to his gift for math and understanding how things worked. It was around this time that he met Sharon—his future wife. They could not have been more opposite. She was a rule follower, while he was breaking them all. Sharon was very focused on her academics, and David was hanging out with troublemakers and making poor life decisions. Despite this, Sharon said once she got to know him, she could “just feel how big his heart truly was.”

Sharon had her own story of abuse. Sharon’s father had been abusive to her mother and siblings but had spared her. She felt a continuous need to rise to his high expectations of her, for fear he may turn on her if she didn’t follow his every rule. She had a very strong Christian upbringing from her mother and remembers coming to Jesus while staying in a hotel with her mom and sisters after one of her father’s abusive attacks. Her mother wanted to sing devotionals, but Sharon was so filled with rage towards her father that it was hard for her to be in the moment. Her mother persisted, and while she was singing the old hymn “It Is Well With My Soul,” she came to know that Jesus was her savior.

These two deeply hurt people were able to see the best parts of each other and come together. The struggles they had both endured during their childhoods created a special empathy in each of them for others, and when they recognized this in each other, they fell in love. David graduated from college with an engineering degree, married Sharon at the age of 28, and they started creating the family and life David had always hoped for.

Five years later, when Sharon and David’s first daughter was born, everything seemed to come crashing down again for David. As a man, he had normalized anxiety and rage as what men just do. The false belief playing in his mind was that men have to be strong. They can’t feel their emotions. David vowed to figure parenting out and studied it like he would an engineering project. Having never been given unconditional love as a child, he found it difficult to feel compassion for his daughter and her sensitive ways.

Sharon leaned on her faith and knew when to pick her battles. She never forced her beliefs on her husband, yet she stayed faithful to her relationship with Jesus. David and Sharon had a second daughter, and as family life became busier, they made church attendance a goal. They tried to attend Clear Creek Community Church when they could but without making any true connections.

Then one day Sharon and David found themselves in front of a group of tables at Clear Creek looking for a small group to join. They began talking with Peggy and Randy Trout, who were starting a married couple’s group. They felt at ease in each other’s presence, and the date and times matched their schedules. So, David and Sharon took a leap of faith and joined their small group.

The group was composed of a lot of older couples with grown children, and even though David and Sharon’s new family was just starting out, they felt like they were amongst aunts and uncles in this small group. The mission of the Trout’s group was “to know and to be known.” David and Sharon soaked up this unconditional love they had never consistently experienced in their young lives.

Soon David and Sharon had people to sit with at church, and they felt known there. This church family that was growing out of their small group started breaking down hard fought for walls. While David felt that his faith was “still lukewarm at times,” he sensed the steady love and support changing him.

Sharon felt constantly in awe of the consistent connection she felt with the people in their group. The older couples modeled how to live a godly life, and the interconnectedness of their church family brought peace to the struggling new parents.

Randy invited David to attend a men’s gathering on the topic of leadership in the home. The speaker talked about how loving your family cannot be done from your own limited source of love, but that you can only love from God’s abundant love. This struck David as very profound. The hardships of parenting and the gift of having two little girls started to slowly chip away at the hard exterior David had created to survive.

David started to understand how selfish and cynical he had been. He could feel the walls he had built as a child slowly starting to come down. In foster care, love was seen as a weakness. But as they experienced love in their small group, David began to feel how good it felt to love others deeply.

He also began to see how his wounds from childhood created a lens of brokenness that he carried into his adult life. But he also discovered that those same wounds that Jesus healed could be his own gift for reaching out to others carrying the same pain.

These lessons naturally flowed into their home life, as their new community showed them how to more confidently disciple their two daughters. The girls could feel how much more their parents had to give to them after they had been poured into during small group meetings.

David and Sharon have been a part of other small groups since the first one that began their journey of transformation. Sharon recalls when one small group leader told her it would bless the group if they could provide meals for their family after one of David’s back surgeries. “That was a pivotal moment that touched our hearts so deeply,” she said.

The endless support from small groups has helped the Sanchezes reach a place of peace within their marriage as well as each of their own inner struggles. They’re able to share the word of God together each morning and bring more patience and compassion to parenting their daughters.

David now seems to carry an abundance of love in his heart for people and shows a deep desire to help those that are fighting similar battles that he once fought. He and Sharon both serve in Children’s Ministry and are planning to become Navigators. Looking back, David and Sharon realize the spiritual drought that they experienced helped them clearly see and appreciate their church family, the authentic community God has beautifully placed in their lives.

A New Creation: The Kevin Mikulan Story

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When Kevin Mikulan started dipping his toes into the party scene, he thought everything would be fine. He enjoyed his new friends, and the alcohol made him feel good. He felt like he was finally finding the acceptance and respect he longed for. Most of all, he gained a reprieve from the growing depression that gnawed at his heart and mind. But those first steps soon transitioned into hard drugs and a sense of deepening inner emptiness that he couldn’t escape.

Stepping into a bar was a drastic shift from the conservative Christian environment in which he grew up. He was the son of two Christians who never touched alcohol or drugs. Throughout his childhood and middle school years, his family regularly attended a church that Kevin saw as very strict. Describing this time in his life, Kevin said, “I knew all the stories of the Bible. I knew of God, but I didn’t have a relationship with God. I could recite verses and I could tell you any story in the Bible back then, but it was never a relationship.”

When he was a freshman in high school, his family began attending Clear Creek Community Church, which felt like a whole new world. Now he saw people full of love and joy, and the atmosphere felt free of the judgment he’d felt at his previous church.

Throughout his high school years, his parents were actively involved in the church, and this naturally trickled down to Kevin and his siblings. Kevin even completed two summer internships at the church, seeing the details of how the church operated. To him, Clear Creek appeared to be a church fully committed to furthering the kingdom of God.

During this time, Kevin was sheltered from the outside world, temptations, and struggles. He didn’t experience much of what the world was really like. But that was about to change.

After completing high school, Kevin started going to the College of the Mainland Fire Academy, originally intending to be a firefighter, though he changed course after graduation. For the first time in his life, he was totally independent, able to go places without the knowledge of his parents or those they knew.

That’s when he started dipping his toes into clubs and alcohol use. Such things were strongly discouraged throughout his upbringing, and as he started to explore, he was surprised that those things felt okay. He tried more things, including marijuana. Everything felt new and strange to him, even crazy, but he enjoyed it. He was getting the acceptance from people that he craved, and he adopted a proud, “I’m the man” mentality. But he hid his activities from his parents, feeling that he should pretend to be a Christian to keep them happy.

Throughout Kevin’s second year of college, he delved deeper into the party scene including harder and harder drugs. He stepped away from the church, only going on rare occasions to keep his parents happy. Kevin still tried to hide what he was doing from them, but they could tell something was going on.

One day his parents sat before him, crying and saying, “What are you doing, Kevin? This is not who we raised you to be.”

He lied to them, trying to convince them that he was not doing drugs. He eventually stopped talking to them altogether, but his parents never stopped loving him or praying for him.

The next time he spoke to them was when his father had a major heart attack. Kevin went to the hospital and saw the medical staff working to keep his dad alive. He prayed, “God, if you’re really there, help him. If you help him, I’ll believe in you.” His dad improved, and as Kevin had bargained, he gave up alcohol and drugs. But two months later he backslid.

After graduating from the Fire Academy, an inner sense of loneliness grew within Kevin, despite having many friends and family around him. He didn’t know if he was happy or sad, and he started to question who he was. This transformed into deep, gnawing depression, which he tried to suppress by trying crazier and crazier things. He felt broken and lost.

At the same time, hatred grew in his heart towards God and Christians. He felt like God must be egotistical if he demanded praise, worship, and one’s entire life in exchange for salvation. And when Christians offered to pray for him, he felt indignant, thinking they were hypocrites no better than himself. Everything in church felt so fake.

Then, he ran into Amanda, his future wife, at a concert. He decided to quit hard drugs, figuring there was no reason to do them while he was in a relationship. But he continued going to bars and clubs, drinking alcohol and smoking marijuana. He would get into fights, and when they were over, he looked for Amanda only to find that she had left the bar. She caused him to reevaluate what kind of man he was going to be. But there was still a part of him that felt like he needed to pretend to be a Christian, for her and for everyone else in his life.

Kevin had many conversations with his brother Kyle and his friend Carson on Kyle’s back patio. They talked to him about Jesus, and he finally told them that he was not a Christian. Carson said, “That’s the most honest I’ve ever heard you be.” The comment cut Kevin to the core.

He realized he didn’t have to pretend anymore, and he was honest with Kyle, Carson, and Amanda about struggling with the idea of Christianity. They lovingly came alongside him and helped him gather whatever answers they could.

Kevin and Amanda married in 2022, and his first son was born in 2023. Motivated to be a good husband and loving father, Kevin decided to completely leave his old lifestyle behind, a decision Amanda played a key role in. She helped him make practical decisions about things to cut out of his life so he would no longer participate in the same activities he had before, including drinking at bars and smoking marijuana.

Kevin knew that his parents and his in-laws would expect his child to be raised in church, but he did not want to put his son in a place that taught things he didn’t believe in. He started re-learning about Christianity and joined a small group. He asked many questions, and those around him listened patiently and without judgment. It was one of the first times in his life he experienced unconditional love.

Kyle was intentional with Kevin, often inviting him to things to spend time with him. One invitation was a pickleball event hosted by the church. Kevin went, and the first person he saw was the father of his ex-girlfriend — a girl he had dated in high school and broken up with early in college when he had started drifting away from Christ. Kevin tried to hide his face in shame, expecting the father to have an angry or even violent reaction after the poor way Kevin had treated his daughter. But instead of hitting him, his ex-girlfriend’s father gave him a big hug and told him he missed him. He asked about Kevin’s wife and child, and other details of his life. Kevin was blown away by the grace he was shown and felt he had truly experienced God’s love.

Kevin was placed on a randomized team for a pickleball tournament and ended up on a team with none other than his ex-girlfriend’s husband. As before, Kevin expected a fight or bad blood, but instead, the young man smiled at him and shook his hand. Kevin was again astounded by the display of God’s love and grace.

Then Kevin went on a drive to Dallas with a friend. During the four-hour trip, his friend shared about the deep brokenness going on in his life. Kevin was surprised to find himself encouraging his friend with things that others had been telling him about God and Jesus — things he didn’t believe himself. Kevin realized he had to decide whether he was truly on board with Jesus or not. God’s peace washed over him as he realized it was okay not to have all the answers. He went home, and as he sat crying in a closet, he prayed and gave his life to Christ.

After this, Kevin’s entire mindset changed. Before, he wanted to be a good husband, but now he wanted to love his wife as Christ loved the church. He wanted to be a good father, but now he wanted to find ways to point his son to Christ. He had been focused on himself and his family, but now he wanted to get more involved in his church and serve other people.

His relationships have also changed. Although he loved his wife before, their now shared love of Christ added a new dimension and depth to their marriage. His relationship with his parents was restored. He talked to people at work he hadn’t talked to before, encouraging them to come to church. He even reached out to friends from his old life, sharing the gospel.

Kevin’s anger towards God and Christians completely melted away. Before, Kevin thought God must be egotistical to demand praise, but now, looking at all the changes in his life, he couldn’t imagine not praising him and living for him.

Wanting to obey Christ and to set a good example for his son, Kevin was baptized in December 2024. Today, he serves in the Student Ministry at Clear Creek Community Church as a leader for middle school boys. He has a Top Five list of people he prays for and seeks to build relationships with so he can extend to them the hope of Christ. Free of alcohol and drug dependency, anger, and depression, he now loves to reach out to those around him to tell them about Jesus.

The Kim Halverson Story

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God used the ladies around Kimberly to put her on a new path of seeing not only her strengths, but also how he could use even her weaknesses to bring him glory and reflect his character.

Here is the full Kim Halverson story:

The Michael Jeffrey Story

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“My small group is a safe place to ask my questions and I can honestly say it’s changed my life!”

Here is the full story of Michael Jeffrey’s small group experience.

Check out more information on small groups at clearcreek.org/smallgroups.

The Sidman Story

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Ross and Alana Sidman have been small group Navigators at Clear Creek for years, living on mission, and inviting others to church all while walking their dog.

The Abby Steele Story

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Small group is a place you can come as you are, without fear of judgment, and be met with authenticity and acceptance.

Here is the story of Abby Steele’s small group experience.

Check out more information on small groups at clearcreek.org/smallgroups.

The Josh Yahoudy Story (Full)

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Being in community in small group is where we believe that you will experience the greatest spiritual growth. It’s in small group that we are able to ask our questions, be vulnerable and honest with each other, care for each other, and encourage each other as we pursue God together.

Here is the full story of Josh Yahoudy’s small group experience.

Check out more information on small groups at clearcreek.org/smallgroups

 

The Jordan St. John Story

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“I came with all of my questions and doubts and they loved me through it.” – Jordan

Here is the full story of Jordan St. John’s small group experience.

Check out more information on small groups at clearcreek.org/smallgroups

The Kate Mendoza & Emily Roy Story

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Kate Mendoza started a women’s small group in March of 2020 and quickly watched her group grow together and take next steps in their walk with Jesus.

 

Tag Archive for: Small Group

202: Do Top 5 Lists Really Make a Difference?

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Small groups and Top Five lists have been a fundament part of how CCCC seeks to grow in faith and spread the gospel of Jesus.

But do they really have an impact?

In this episode, Ted Ryskoski hears the incredible story of how Steven Pittman, Derek Willis, Larry Crochet, and Josh Yahoudy came to Christ through the faithfulness of God working through the commitment of these families to invite others to know and follow Jesus.

050: What Makes Biblical Community Unique?

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Biblical Community is one of the core values of Clear Creek Community Church. On this episode, Ryan talks with Bruce Wesley and Karl Garcia about what “Biblical Community” means, how it became a core value, and how it influences every aspect of the church.

RESOURCES:

Side by Side by Ed Welch

Life Together Dietrich Bonhoeffer

The Lost Art of Disciple Making by LeRoy Eims

Small Groups, Big Impact by Jim Egli and Dwight Marble

Transformational Groups by Ed Stetzer and Eric Geiger

031: How to Have Real Community in a Digital World

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Our community has been ordered to shelter at home and engage in social distancing. As a church, we have suspended all in-person gatherings until further notice. But, does that mean you have to miss out on real relationships? On this episode, Ryan Lehtinen talks with Karl Garcia and Jon Crump about how to have real community in a digital world.

RESOURCES:

Video Conferencing Tools: Skype, Zoom, Teams, FaceTime, Google Hangouts, Duo,

Virtual Group Best Practices

Wanting to join a group?

004: The Power of Small Group: The Stories of Karl Garcia, John Amato, and Matt Jones

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In this episode, Karl Garcia shares his story about connecting with a Clear Creek small group and the role it played in his faith journey. Karl also sits down with two entrepreneurs, John Amato (on location at John’s restaurant) and Matt Jones, about their stories when it comes to the importance of small group in their lives.