This Little Light of Mine

I was invited by a group of church leaders from around the country to come to Reno, Nevada, to join them in prayer for the city.  A Christian Church had not been started in the area for decades and the two or three that were there were struggling to reach 50 in attendance.  We drove up the hillsides in a complete circle around the “Biggest Little City in the World,” stopping to pray at various points along our journey.  The valley was devoid of evangelistic Christian Churches and it was our prayer to see that change.  That was twenty years ago.

A call was made to Steve and Pam Bond to leave their church in Wisconsin and move to Northern Nevada.  The landscape of friends the Bonds had in Reno was as stark as the barren desert hills that surrounded them when they hit the ground in 1998.  That has changed.  Today, Summit Christian Church sees 2,400 in attendance each weekend and over the years has planted three daughter churches. 

Summit is actually in Sparks (a suburb of Reno) which has nearly half the population of its bigger next door neighbor.  Reno and Sparks are home to about 300,000 people, which means that Summit and its daughters see about 1 out of every 100 people in the valley in one of their services every weekend.

And no wonder.  Summit has adapted itself to the culture without compromising the core principles of the gospel.  The number of people involved in Life Groups, the amount of new conversions (Summit had 39 baptisms last Sunday) and Steve’s engaging preaching style make for a dynamic church.  There’s a real energy in the building before, during, and after services.

One indication of that energy is Steve’s preaching.  The introduction of lapel, and then headset, microphones have allowed preachers to get out from behind the pulpit, at least long enough until they have to get back to their notes.  Steve has an answer to that, which I have not seen before. 

He has in iPad strapped to his hand like a baseball glove.  It follows him around wherever he goes and then he can take a peek every now and then to see where he’s headed next.  Watch for the ball glove wielding preacher at your church soon!

Steve’s shirt says “SERVE OTHERS.”  Summit is getting ready for a week of service in their community and they passed out those shirts to everyone in the congregation to get them excited about outreach and, well, serving others!

Shortly after Steve and Pam came to Sparks the new church was born and they started working with CDF almost immediately.  CDF helped them procure a beautiful 36.5 acre parcel of property which sits on the side of a hill, visible from virtually every corner of Sparks.  Jesus said, “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.” 

Summit Christian Church is giving light to their entire valley.  And that light will glow even brighter when they complete their next phase of expansion.  The investments provided by CDF investors gave the capacity to fund new connector lanes from the church property onto busy Pyramid Highway and to create this pad

for a new worship center.  That kind of reminds me of another saying of Jesus: “for truly I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you.”  I’m not kidding you, that flat spot was a mountain of dirt about six months ago!  It was nothing that a little faith and trusting in God’s guidance couldn’t take care of.

Here is what the land looked like when I visited Summit in 2001…

Faith and light.  I think there’s a sermon in there somewhere.  If nothing else, it reminds of the line I learned from a song we sang in Sunday School when I was a young boy, “Hide it under a bushel, NO!  I’m going to let it shine!”  Let it shine, Summit!  Thanks for your long-term faith, Steve and Pam!