180 Board Member Brent Anderson: Are We Still The Land Of The Free, Home Of The Brave?

For as long as I can remember, I've been compelled by the life of Daniel, recounted in the Old Testament of the Bible. It is one of the clearest personifications of the New Testament challenge in Romans 12:2, to "not be conformed to this world." You may know the story of Daniel's resilience as he worships the God of Israel instead of the self-righteous king Nebuchadnezzar, even if it means being thrown to the lions to be eaten. A little less "popular" story in the book of Daniel is when He is called on to interpret a dream for the extremely wicked king of Babylon, and he, not only interprets the dream but, says to him, “My lord, may the dream be for those who hate you and its interpretation for your enemies!" This seems to be so different from what we experience today as many "Christians" spew hate-filled remarks toward some of our current political leaders. What we clearly see in the life of Daniel is a man who is held in captivity of the Babylonian empire, against his will, all while walking in obedience to God, serving his captors faithfully, and experiencing God's favor during this captivity.


I recently previewed some information about a new food justice film called "Farmageddon," and was reminded of another story in the life of Daniel. You see, at the onset of Daniel's time in Babylonian captivity, king Nebuchadnezzar ordered all the best young Israelite boys to be forcibly assimilated into the king's culture, taught the king's ways, and fed the king's foods. Verse eight of chapter one in Daniel says that he "resolved that he would not defile himself with the king's food, or with the wine that he drank. Therefore he asked the chief of the eunuchs to allow him not to defile himself." I realize that we live in the "land of the free, and the home of the brave," but we seem to be facing a parallel challenge, with the rise of the industrial food system in America.

To a certain extent, we are being held captive in a food system that is "defiling" us in so many ways. Whether it be the government's blatant disregard for the health ramifications of GMO seeds, the bacteria-rich feed lots that the majority of the beef cattle are raised in, or the "SWAT" style raids taking place on small farmers for selling raw milk; the reality is we are in captivity in a broken-down, unsustainable system. Although the outlook seems bleak, there are some practical ways we can "resolve" to not "defile" ourselves. As a believer in Jesus, the first place I go is to ask Him for favor within our current system. Daniel is a great example of how this works; no matter what was going on during his captivity, it seemed really clear that God was with him. For instance, we see in verse 9 of my example it says, "and God gave Daniel favor and compassion in the sight of the chief of the eunuchs." Let's remember that these weren't compliant captors; they were on a hostile take-over mission! But, the favor of God trumps man's agenda. If we follow God, in Jesus Christ, we will have His favor. From this favor foundation, we quite simply, need to just take practical steps to do what we know is right!

Let's look for opportunities to connect with local farms to provide support, let's learn to cultivate the land the way it was intended from the beginning, and let's be proactive with our passion to see things change for the good of our society. Personally, I would like to experience what Daniel did; when God's favor, and his faithfulness to God shone brightly to one of the most wicked kings in history and the result was revealed in Nebuchadnezzar's words, "Truly, your God is God of gods and Lord of kings, and a revealer of mysteries." (Daniel 2:47)

Pastor Brent Anderson

Blog Series: The "Sow Good" Experience with Pastor Brent Anderson.....

I heard recently that a football coach once said, "Football is just life marked off at a hundred yards;" which very well may be true. However, considering my recent experience with organic gardening at the Sow Good Garden, I would venture to say that the lessons of life are far more prevalent in cultivating the soil and growing food.

As a follower of Jesus, I see in his teaching that he had come to the same realization. We observe Jesus teaching the crowds in Matthew 13 about the kingdom of heaven, using the story of a farmer sowing seeds into different types of soil and the various outcomes from the sowing. The story chronicles the different challenges the sower faced, which included the untilled path, the rocky ground, and those evil thorny weeds. In each of these instances the seed did not produce a harvest but the story culminates with a simple gardening lesson and a profound life lesson. Jesus tells us in verse 8 that, "Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty." As a young inexperienced gardener this "good soil" stuff has hit pretty close to home, since Sow Good, unfortunately, started with some of the worst soil around.

Deciphering the soil analysis and understanding the necessary amendments had me scratching my head and checking the balance in the bank account. We didn't have enough time or money to do everything that was recommended for conditioning the soil and our first harvest (or lack thereof) is an indicator of the deficiencies in its health. Although we have had some success in our first season, which includes being able to bless an elderly woman in Senoia and a few families in Newnan with some clean veggies, we are looking forward to the future harvests that will come as our soil grows to be "good."

Jesus, in this parable, is clearly teaching the crowds and, in greater detail, his disciples the fact that the one who receives the message about Christ with a tilled up receptive heart will certainly produce a "harvest" that is well beyond expectation. In addition, I believe, we farmers and gardeners can be reminded of the vital importance of literal seeds being sown into "good soil." In the meantime, I'll be open to learning more life lessons and, for that matter, filing away countless sermon illustrations all while workin' the ground and "sowin' good!"

Pastor Brent Anderson

Pastor and Farmer Brent Anderson Talks About What Led To Sow Good....

A little over a year ago I was spending an early summer day on my lawn mower at Vineyard Community Church in Senoia, Georgia. Looking out over the 15 acre piece of land, feeling somewhat overwhelmed by the amount grass I needed to cut; I said to myself "there has to be more that we can accomplish with what God has given us than merely honing our mowing skills." Instantly, I recalled a conversation that I had with a friend about the potential of planting a garden on the church property. I must confess, considering my very limited understanding of gardening and knowing the challenges of volunteer supported endeavors, I hadn't given the idea much thought. But, in a short period of time, I began to get the sense that God was directing us to this opportunity of stewardship for the sake of our community.

Well, as most people do when they know very little about a subject, I began to research and read about organic gardening. What I found was a plethora of information and a passion to learn all about it! Over the next few months, as I began to speak to different people about this ministry idea, it became more and more clear that we were heading in the right direction. As I researched, I came across another Vineyard church in Idaho that was growing fruits and veggies for their food pantry and had successfully grown around 25,000 pounds of food in a year from one third of an acre. Subsequently, I called the master gardener for the "Garden-O-Feedin" in Boise, Idaho and it was a conversation that turned passion into action. This gentleman gave me several practical gardening tips and then made a statement that was the catalyst to move me forward. He said "start small to keep it manageable, but just DO SOMETHING!" So I did and with a few donations and great volunteer support we started the Sow Good Garden. With little to no effort, I have connected with people who share my passion for growing clean food for the community, like Scott and Nicole Tyson, which have encouraged me tremendously on this journey and have become great friends. God is "Sow Good."

So here we are; the first growing season and loving every minute of it. The area we have set aside for planting used to be a practice softball field, and has its share of soil challenges. But, as I continue to learn about the soil conditioning process and spend a lot of time in prayer, I'm confident we will be able to grow a fruitful garden and bless our community with good clean nutrition. Galatians 6 says, "You will always harvest what you plant...So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up. Therefore, whenever we have the opportunity, we should do good to everyone—especially to those in the family of faith. We truly want to Sow Good to our community!