The Short Story

• Dan & Cheri Finnegan

  

  Pastor Dan and Cheri got married in 1984. Since then, God has blessed them with 6 children: Katie, Stacey, Andy, Zachary, Dana, and Jesse. Dan graduated from CU Boulder with a BS in Architecture and later received his MDiv from Denver Seminary. From 1991 to 1998, Dan and Cheri planted and pastored a church in Riverside, California. In addition to pastoring, Dan works as a consultant in the field of church/ministry architecture. Dan loves to spend time with his family and minister to other families. Cheri stays busy with their beautiful children, being a pastor’s wife, and leading our Women’s Ministry.

• Scott Kewley

  

  Scott Kewley arrived at Springs of Life on the opening day of the church, Easter, 2003, and finally joined the staff team in July 2007. He is responsible for several ministries including outreach, technical ministries, communications, and the Marriage and Family Life Group. He is a licensed minister with Springs of Life pursuing his ordination.

  Prior to joining the SLC staff, Scott worked at Protocol Marketing for seven years. He has a BS in Chemical Engineering from Colorado School of Mines and a MBA from Southern Methodist University.

  Scott has been married to Kathryn Kewley for 13 years and has been blessed with four children: Sean, Timothy, Elizabeth and Anna.

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• Laurel Renger

  

  Laurel graduated from the University of Colorado, Boulder. Immediately following graduation, she flew to Madrid, Spain, to work with Agape, the Spanish branch of Campus Crusade for Christ. While there, God grew her desire to share with others the life and hope that can only be found in Jesus. In Spain, she also became engaged to her now husband, Alex. The Rengers began attending Springs of Life Church in October of 2003 and quickly fell in love with the church. Laurel helps with the Connect and Women’s Ministries. As often as possible, the Rengers backpack, hike, or play games – if interested in joining them, let them know!

• Nathan Farrell

  

  Nathan’s first experience at Springs of Life was playing piano for the Christmas Eve service in 2005. Since then, he has been to China on a summer missions trip, graduated from the New Life School of Worship, and began directing the worship ministry at SLC. He currently works at Focus on the Family as a studio operator. He enjoys reading Christian classics from Watchman Nee and A.W. Tozer (and many others!) and playing ultimate frisbee. Someday, Nathan hopes to achieve a level of awesomeness on the drums. Go Nate, go!

After eight years of ministry with the Navigators and eight years as a pastor in California, Dan Finnegan returned to Colorado to work with New Life Church. In 1999, New Life sent Dan to Mountain Springs Church (MSC) to gain further pastoral experience as their Outreach Pastor.

After two years at MSC, God gave passion and direction to Dan and his wife, Cheri, to start a local church, and in May of 2002, Dan and Cheri began meeting in their basement with a handful of families. That summer, in honor of the two churches (Mountain Springs Church and New Life Church) that helped to launch this new church, Dan and Cheri named the church “Springs of Life.” In September of 2002, Pastor Steve Holt, senior pastor of MSC publicly blessed SLC and sent Dan and Cheri out to begin the church.

Early in 2005, God directed the church body to begin looking for a new location. Since the start of the church, they met first in a middle school and then in the basement of a local ministry. On August 4th, 2005, God entrusted them to be the owners of a property located in central Colorado Springs.

Springs of Life Church is part of the WSMI Network of Ministries.

Thank you for your interest in Springs of Life Church. Our God is a good God; one who has done more than just vocalized His love for you.  He has demonstrated it on the cross! Our vision and values are based on that truth. Let me share them with you.

Our Vision:

“Go, stand in the temple courts,” he said, “and tell the people the full message of this new life” (Acts 5:20). Life is available through Jesus Christ! Not just in the life to come, but here and now. There is no reason to stay “separated from the Life of God” (Ephesians 4:18) when forgiveness of sins is offered freely through faith in Jesus. Even more, as believers, there is no reason to live in defeat or despair without hope or purpose.

Yes, Jesus died on the cross for our sins, but He also rose from the dead so that “we, too, may live a new life” (Romans 6:4). Certainly, those who don’t yet know Christ need to hear that forgiveness of sins is available. But just as important, believers need to be reminded of the promise of an abundant life in Christ, taught how to stay connected to the true source of life, and exhorted to pursue this promised life from God.

Springs of Life Church is dedicated to proclaiming “the full message of this new life.” Receiving life from God happens as we learn to stay intimately connected to God, trust Him fully, walk in authority, understand His plan for our lives and appropriate the power of God available through the Holy Spirit.

Our Values:

An Environment of Grace
Grace is God’s unmerited favor in our lives. His blessing rests fully upon us, though we have done nothing to deserve it. It is completely free, based not on our own desire or efforts, but on the work of Christ on the cross. In our relationship with God, we experience it in three practical ways: unconditional love, acceptance, and forgiveness. As we receive this life-giving, freedom-bringing grace from God, we are increasingly able to pour it out to others. We call this freedom-bringing relational atmosphere a “Grace Environment.”

The Passionate Pursuit of the Living God
Jesus said the greatest commandment is to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all of your mind and with all your strength” (Mark 12:30). Our God is an awesome God. He is the Creator and King of the Universe, the Source of All Life, the Greatest of Treasures and our Truest Friend. He is worthy of our highest praise and our deepest affections. Loving Him is our highest aim. For this reason, we value internal heart issues over the external religious activity. Coming alive to Him and in Him is our primary pursuit.

The Firm Foundation of God’s Word
“Therefore, everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock” (Matthew 7:24-25). God’s infallible Word is the firmest of all foundations for Christian life and service. Pastor Dan’s teaching is primarily expository verse-by-verse teaching, sprinkled with topical studies along the way. We love hearing and obeying God’s word.

The Empowering Ministry of the Holy Spirit
We like to describe ourselves as a “Word & Spirit Church,” solidly evangelical but believing that we need the power of the Holy Spirit to live the victorious Christian life. Prayer, fasting, healing, spiritual gifts and dynamic worship are keys to experiencing the ministry of God’s Spirit in us. It is simply too hard to be a Christian without God’s power.

The Intentional Development of Meaningful Relationships
We believe in the foundational role of meaningful, loving relationships in our lives. “A new command I give you: love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (John 13:34-35). We believe in the practical expression of love toward one another as our primary testimony to the world around us. Deep relationships are developed in the contexts of one-on-one ministry, small groups and ministry teams.

Our Primary Call to Family-Based Ministry
We believe that powerful Christian homes are an essential building block of successful churches, and a powerful witness for Christ in our communities. Families just don’t work without Christ. SLC seeks to serve the family by coaching parents to be influential spiritual leaders, so that their homes are filled with the life of God. This “life-giving home” is a reachable goal for every Christian family.

The Great Commission to Reach Our World for Christ
Without a stated priority of outreach, the Great Commission can easily fade to the great omission. At SLC we desire to reach the lost at any cost. We are committed to missions and the proclamation of the Gospel both in Colorado Springs and around the world.

All Life Is In Him,
Pastor Dan Finnegan

Statement of Faith

• We believe the Bible to be the authoritative and infallible Word of God, supreme for all faith and practice. The Bible alone is the final authority for determining all doctrinal truths (Proverbs 30:5; Romans 16:25, 26; 2 Timothy 3:16; Hebrews 4:12; 2 Peter 1:20, 21)
• We believe in one God, eternally existing in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. These three are coequal and coeternal (Genesis 1:26; Isaiah 9:6; Matthew 3:16, 17; 28:19; Luke 1:35; Hebrews 3:7-11; 1 John 5:7)
• We believe in Jesus Christ, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary. On earth, Jesus Christ was fully man and fully God. He led a sinless life, performed miracles, took on Himself all of our sins, died on the cross and rose again, and is seated at the right hand of the Father as our mediator and advocate. We believe that He will return to the earth in power and glory (Isaiah 9:6; Isaiah 53; Matthew 24; Mark 13; Luke 21; John 1:1, 14; 20:28; Romans 1:16; Philippians 2:5, 6; 1 Timothy 2:5; 3:16; Revelation 20-22)
• We believe that humanity was created good and upright, but by the transgression of Adam, all of humanity fell into sin. Humanity’s only hope for redemption is in Jesus Christ, the Son of God (Genesis 1:26-31; 3:1-7; Matthew 1:18, 23-25; Luke 1:27-35)
• We believe that we are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ; His death, burial, and resurrection. He is the only way to salvation. Salvation is a gift from God, not as a result of our good works or of any human effort (John 14:6; Romans 1:17; 10:9, 10; Acts 16:31; Galatians 2:16; 3:8; Ephesians 2:8, 9; Titus 3:5; Hebrews 9:22)
• We believe that Jesus Christ, through the Holy Spirit, indwells every true believer who has placed his faith in Christ. (John 1:12; 3:16; 14:17, 23; 15:4; Romans 8:11; 10:9, 10; Ephesians 1:13-14; Revelation 3:20)
• We believe that the Holy Spirit manifests Himself through a variety of spiritual gifts to build up and sanctify the Church. All believers are given spiritual gifts and are to desire and grow in their spiritual gifts. The gifts are always to be harmonized with the Bible, righteous living, and church order (Romans 1:11; 12:4-8; 1 Corinthians 12:1-13; 13-14; Ephesians 4:16; 1 Timothy 4:14; 2 Timothy 1:5-16; Hebrews 2:4; 1 Peter 4:10)
• We believe that every believer is commissioned by Christ to be a witness of the Gospel, the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, to the world. (Matthew 28:18-20; Luke 4:18, 19; Acts 1:8)
• We believe that the church has been given two sacraments: 1) Baptism. After placing faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, the new believer is commanded by the Bible to be baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19; Acts 2:38). 2) The Lord’s Supper. All believers in Christ should regularly have a unique time of taking the elements of bread and juice that represent the body and blood of Christ in order to remember Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross for their sins (Matthew 26:26-29; Mark 16:16; Acts 8:12, 36-38; 10:47-48; 1 Cor. 10:16; 11:23-26)