Tri Robinson - Small Footprint, Big Handprint: How to Live Simply and Love Extravagantly

by Tri Robinson

Ampelon

PUBLISHING

Boise, ID

Small Footprint, Big Handprint Copyright 2008 by Tri Robinson

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. NIV. Copyright1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.

Scripture verses marked (NASB) taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE, Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

Scripture verses denoted as being taken from The Message, copyright 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.

ISBN: 978-0-9786394-8-8

Paperback copy printed in the United States of America First printing

Ebook ISBN: 9780979810459

Requests for information should be addressed to: Ampelon Publishing
PO Box 140675

Boise, ID 83714

For other Ampelon Publishing products, visit us on the web at: www.ampelonpublishing.com

Cover design: Lisa Dyches cartwheelstudios.com

Table of Contents

To the amazing people who make up the fellowship of the Vineyard of Boise. You have made the past twenty years of my pastorate a rich, joyous and a never-ending adventure.

At the end of 2006 during a time of solitude, I asked the Lord for fresh direction so I might effectively lead our church into a new year. It was then that I received a clear picture of a word in a way that I had never seen it before. The word was adventure with a hyphen separating advent and ure. I had a strong sense that I was to challenge people to pursue the only true adventureliving a life of courageous, radical and daring faith between the first and second advent (or coming) of Jesus. The advent-ure has become for us a call to a different kind of life; a life that can only be manifested after an awakening to the reality that the Kingdom of God has come to earth. In telling this story, I must acknowledge my creative staff, our committed leaders and the many participants at the Vineyard of Boise who are increasingly choosing this unique lifestyle. If not for them, I would have no credence to write this book. Their many stories are the credibility that will back the challenge for anyone who dares to live their life in such a way to make a smaller footprint on this earth in the hopes of making a bigger handprint on humanity.

Perhaps it was because I gave my life to Christ in the heat of the Jesus movement during the 1970s; or maybe it was because as a young Christian I sat under the teaching of men who had a radically different idea about how we were to live our lives as followers of Jesus; or quite possibly it was just the way God wired me from the beginning. Whatever the reason, I have never believed the Christian life was something to be lived out in passivity. I have always considered it to be a verb, something that was meant to show action as a state of being. My wife Nancy and I have always considered the life of faith to be a great adventure, and we have tried to live it and preach it accordingly for over 25 years.

Not long ago, I was having lunch at a favorite little Mexican restaurant here in Boise with a friend, Greg Prosch. Over the past seven years, Greg and his wife Sharon have taken a role of active leadership in our church. They both graduated from an intensive two-year seminary-level training program our church offers. Sharon has served faithfully for years as a youth leader, and Greg has a major leadership responsibility in the training program. Together, they have also overseen our marriage ministries in the church.

Greg and Sharon arent what you would call new kids on the block, or even those who are still considering what to do in the church. They are fully committed to the Christian lifein the saddle, tried and proven. Yet, lately Greg has been restless and unsettled; he has wanted to do more with his life. Through the worlds eyes Greg has it made. He has a wife that is willing to go to the ends of the earth with him. He has a teenage son who he loves very much. He has a successful career, holding a management position at a major computer corporation with a better-than-average salary package. He is very personable, sharp-looking and well-educated. In so many ways, Greg has it made. But that day as we ate lunch together, he talked about craving to do more with his life. Greg had tasted the Kingdom of God, participated in it, and wouldnt settle for anything less.

Around the time I met with Greg I had been teaching a series called The Adventure, challenging people to live an authentic Christian life. The Adventure is a call to a unique and even peculiar lifestyle between the first and second advent of Jesus. It presents a challenge to live a life of radical faith. It illuminates the fact that Gods Kingdom has come to earth even as it is in heaven with the first coming of Jesusand yet, it hasnt come close to the fullness it will be in His second coming. It is the acknowledgement that we live in a very unique time in human history, a time that needs a people who are willing to use their faith to impact a world crying out for help. It is a time that requires a people who have accepted the Gospel and are willing to break status-quo living. Greg and Sharon Prosch took that challenge.

Greg was faced with the huge decision that every Christian who truly desires to break free into a life of effective ministry faces. He and Sharon, like so many others, were at a crossroad. Gregs life had become too complex and encumbered to give him the freedom to do more than he was doing for Christ. He and Sharon owned a wonderful home and had a comfortable lifestyle. Unfortunately, some unwise financial choices and unexpected circumstances in life had them facing a huge debt load that was holding them temporarily captive. Because of this, the majority of Gregs earning power went to cover that debt. I challenged Greg to sit down with Sharon and together develop a seven-year plan that would enable them to downsize their life so that they could upsize their effectiveness in the world they so desired to impact.

Complexity comes in many forms; it can be monetary as in Gregs case, but it can also be emotional, spiritual or relational, all of which can be far more debilitating than having financial struggles. Material possessions, such as the expensive toys that once promised to enrich small footprint, big handprint 13 our lives, have a way of owning us with payments and often even stimulate guilt when they are taking up space in our closets, garages or driveways. Most Americans have too much stuff; stuff that often weighs them down and ultimately keeps them from a more simplified, freeing life.

Years ago as a young man I saw a sign at a trailhead that led into the back country of the Sierra Nevada Mountains in the Inyokern National Forest. It read, Leave only footprintstake only pictures. This statement has been indelible on my mind through the years as I have hiked and horse-packed into the backcountry of the western states. It became vital to me from that day forward that I leave as little evidence as possible when I venture into the majestic mountains and wilderness or the pristine lakes and valleys. On the other hand I realized I could take with me something of great value. I could take with me the rich memories of being with family and friends in places yet unblemished by the lasting imprints of a developing society. This thought began to translate into other parts of my life. It became my goal to leave a smaller footprint with my life and a bigger handprint of God.