About me ...
I have been in ministry for 20 years, in and out of Colorado. My time has mainly been in Indiana and the Midwest. I first came out here right after seminary in 1997 and went back and forth between the Midwest and Colorado for a while. I've spent 14 years here in Colorado.
I grew up in Michigan, and have been married for 21 years. We've spent most of our days here in Colorado, and we have three kids, ages 16, 13 and 8, so we're busy.
Being a pastor ...
I was on a short-term mission trip to Romania in summer of 1993 and God did two things on trip --; there was a girl on the trip I fell in love with, who is now my wife, and he called me into full-time ministry. I was in the middle-to-end of my undergrad stuff in Michigan and knew I needed to go in for more training, so I headed to seminary after that trip and got married.
I went to Columbia International University in South Carolina, and Fuller Theological Seminary for my doctorate in Family Ministry.
A new home at River Church ...
I came to this church in October and we changed the name to River Church from Light and Life Community Church, complete with a new logo, webpage, all that jazz. I came from Foothills Bible Church in Littleton, where I had been for seven years.
This is my first lead pastor position, but I've been an associate pastor for a long time. I knew God was calling me to be a lead pastor, but I was probably dragging my feet a little bit. It's been an exciting journey since been here. We've seen growth and we're trying to rebrand. I don't want to be known as the best-kept secret behind the Olive Garden anymore.
I've only been at churches with congregations of 600 and above, so coming to a smaller church to revitalize and rebuild is new and exciting, challenging.
My favorite part of my job ...
I love teaching the Bible, I love helping some sometimes complex things be easy to understand and helping folks know who Jesus really is and bring the Bible to life.
I love being a resourceful generalist and having your hands in a lot of different things.
We're a super diverse congregation, economically, ethnically, and we're intergenerational. It's really fun to have diverse people to minister to. There are lots of challenges around that, but super fun.
Our biggest challenge is being known. We're not a typical church, we're primed to grow, and I want to help individuals grow and our church grow.
River Church is at 220 S. Yarrow St. For more information, visit www.riverchurchmovement.org.
from Lakewood Sentinel - Latest Stories http://lakewoodsentinel.com/stories/My-Name-Is-Jeff-Baxter,213785
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