A minute-long phone call from an unknown Phoenix number set off a chain of events that brought Garrett Nates back to Colorado to lead a 70-year-old church—and to champion a bold, sustainable plan to plant three new congregations in nine years across Northern Colorado. We open with the story behind that call and zoom out to the forces reshaping Longmont, a city wedged between Boulder and Fort Collins and serving as a gateway to the Rockies, where rapid growth has outpaced the number of healthy, gospel-centered churches.
Garrett walks us through his journey: a childhood conversion, a teenage identity wrapped in soccer, and the pivotal moment when being cut from a college team cleared space for calling. He shares how mission trips that used soccer as a platform led to his first experience leading someone to faith, and how mentors at Biola and Wheaton helped him discover gifts for teaching and shepherding. That path wound through a vibrant season in youth and discipleship ministry, then into a lead role at a church embedded on the campus of Miami University, before years of daily prayer led back home to Colorado.
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