Seeds of Faith

A lot of people first hear about Jesus from their friends, family or at a church. Not many people first hear the Gospel at a punk rock concert. But Brian Haney is not most people. Rather he is an unlikely Christian relentlessly pursued by a loving God.

Brian grew up not knowing anything about Jesus, the Bible or the Gospel. Then one day when he was in high school, he went to a punk rock concert hoping to skateboard and hear some good music. One band turned out to be a Christian punk rock group that preached the Gospel in between playing songs. Brian had never heard anything like it. “I saw what these guys were doing and the way that they spoke and the brotherhood they had together. Really for the first time hearing that God loves me,” Brian said. “I learned about Christ in a very unconventional way, I didn’t go to Bible study, I didn’t have a Christian friend that told me about Jesus. I mean none of that happened.”

Brian didn’t accept Jesus that day, but he could never shake the power and the pull of the message on his heart. This experience was the original seed God planted in him which started him on the path toward becoming a Christian. Even after he finished high school and went off to college, what the band said at the concert remained in the back of his mind.

A hugely influential moment in Brian’s faith journey was the radical transformation of Sara, one of his college friends and co-workers, several years later. Sara shocked Brian and their friends when she told them that she had been born again and asked for donations for a mission trip. Brian said that when she became a Christian and everything about her was instantly different. “I had never seen anyone change like that,” Brian said. He confessed he made fun of her at the time because the reality of her new life was too hard to believe.

However, witnessing Sara’s conversion stayed with him long afterwards. It fed into the nagging questions of faith he was already wrestling with and brought him to grips with the existence of true faith and transformation. He describes Sara’s role in his life as someone who nurtured the original seed of faith that he received at the rock concert. “God plants a seed and other people come along and water that seed,” Brian said.

It wasn’t until after graduation, when Brian was working at a rock radio station, that he finally decided to give church a try. A friend who worked with him invited him to Sandals Church in Riverside. There Brian surrendered to the God who never stopped chasing him and finally embraced Jesus as his Savior. “It took a long time and it took a lot of people and it was amazing because I can see God just being there at every moment,” Brian said. In the end, the warm, passionate environment of that church brought him to the crucial turning point. “It just took me finding the right place...that helped bridge that gap for me from like thinking about Jesus to yeah maybe I do believe this, to finally openly surrender,” Brian said.

Immediately after he accepted Jesus, the pastor of the church encouraged Brian to be baptized and to get plugged into a small group. According to Brian, the small group was key to his growth as a new believer. It was there that Brian learned more about God’s Word and received guidance from others. “That’s what kind of really propelled me spiritually and got me off on the right foot right from the get go,” Brian said. This positive experience convinced Brian of the necessity of small groups within a church family. “Without my small group friends over the years, I am not sure I could have stuck with it. Being a Christian Lone Ranger seems impossible to me now,” Brian said.

Five years ago, Brian moved to Rancho Santa Margarita and decided to try Saddleback Church. “It was very different than what I was used to; I was used to a much smaller setting,” Brian said. Despite the difference, Brian made Saddleback his new home church and he sought out a small group to join. In the end, Brian ended up forming his own small group; he had never led a group before and was a little nervous. “I am not a Bible student, I know enough to be dangerous, the important stuff I guess, but I never felt qualified to lead a Bible study,” Brian said.

Brian stepped into his new role and used what God had taught him to help others. A staff person at Saddleback recognized Brian’s efforts and invited him to help recruit people for small groups. Brian said that he has been volunteering on Saturday nights for six months and loves helping people get plugged into a small group community.  “For all of us who are saved we have a responsibility to engage people in our circles of influence and to represent what it means to be a Christian that is sincere and authentic,” Brian said.

It is only natural that small group ministry is where he ended up landing at Saddleback Church since he received so much benefit from it himself as a young Christian. He said that anyone who is not currently involved in a group is missing out and he hopes to encourage more people to get involved.

God never gave up on Brian and now Brian is determined to never give up sharing the power of the Gospel message to others. He knows that God has a purpose for his life and he is committed to living it out every day as best as he can. “We really are called to serve, in whatever shape, form or fashion. That’s abundantly clear,” Brian said. “We’re called to get out there and spread seeds or help water those seeds and then when the time comes maybe even help harvest.”

To learn more about small groups, click HERE.