We recently took a survey of portable church pastors around the country to find out what was ONE THING they would do differently if they were to start over again, and what was ONE THING they did well when planting their church. Today, we want to introduce you to Ernest Smith of Front Range Christian Church. Enjoy!
Front Range Christian Church | Castle Rock, CO
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Front Range started in Feb of 2014 in Castle Rock, Colorado. By the grace and power of God, Front Range has seen over 250 people make commitments to Christ and hundreds of lives radically transformed. Front Range launched a second campus in 2015 and currently they have 3 campuses (one online). The mission of Front Range is to help people become intentional neighbors through knowing and following Christ. As this mission is lived out, many lives and communities are being transformed.
Given the experiences and knowledge you have now as a church planter/pastor, what is the ONE THING you would do differently if you were starting over again?
I would have visited with more church planters and for two reasons. One, to see what their Sunday morning looks like and feels like. This would have given me a better picture of what things could be or things not to do. Visiting with these guys would have also given me a better understand of the pressures, weight and challenges of church planting. It’s much harder than I was anticipating, especially mentally and emotionally, so it would have been good to hear more of those specifics as to why and what to protect my heart from.
What was ONE THING you did well when planting your church that you would highly suggest to other planters?
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Ernest Smith
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
Ernest was on staff at Seacoast Church, in Charleston, SC, for 15 years before launching out to start Front Range in Castle Rock, Colorado. Ernest has been the lead pastor since Front Range’s inception in 2014. In addition to being a lead pastor, Ernest also is a coach with ARC and has helped with church planting assessments for the Send Network. He has been married to Sara for 13 years and they have two amazing kids, Wyatt and Waverly.
