Heart at Home

Welcome to our Circle of Influence article series!

As we recognize LifePoint’s 35th anniversary, we are celebrating the ripple effect of more than three decades of influence in and through the people of LifePoint. We’ve chosen several unique stories to share.

Part 4: Aaron & Lindy Sanner

When Lindy Sanner was growing up in South Africa, she remembers that her mother always got to church hours before service started.  At the time, Lindy didn’t question why her mother took so much time to clean the church, pray over the pastors, and sing in the choir, but now she knows that it was because acts of service was her mother’s love language.  By serving her church, she was showing her love for God.  

Now a mother herself, Lindy is also leading her family in service by way of example. Her husband Aaron admits that while he first began serving in part to support his wife soon he discovered “the joy and contentment that can be found in serving others.”  Aaron uses the word “dragged” to describe how Lindy got him to go to the men’s bible study at LifePoint, but the study and the people who taught had a big impact on Aaron.  He notes his appreciation for men like Mike Hipsley and Dennis Perez who were vulnerable in sharing the ways that God has worked in their lives.  This in turn has impacted in how Aaron shares his faith with others.  He says, “I invited a friend from a previous job and he and his family have been coming on and off [to LifePoint] for about a year.”

Lindy isn’t only influencing the perspective of her spouse – her own perspective has been evolving as well. Originally on staff at LifePoint at the volunteer coordinator, the pandemic caused Lindy to re-evaluate her purpose in that role.  She notes, “While often we are drawn to the more celebrated or ‘showier’ service roles, I learned that I can serve God best by serving my husband and daughter.  Focusing on this has allowed for additional opportunities to take off, such as my baking business, and I feel that God has blessed me for being obedient to where He wants my focus to be.”

Lindy has also found that the visibility or profile of serving doesn’t equate to its purpose or impact.  She’s been able to have profound influence in ways as simple as being open about her experiences.  Lindy recalls a specific conversation with a member of LifePoint staff where she shared her experience as a person of color living in Manchester, a place with a predominantly Caucasian demographic.   Lindy says that the staff member “became aware of microaggressions that she had never noticed before” and she thanked Lindy for broadening her perspective.  Lindy’s willingness to share creates a safe place for people to express and consider opposing viewpoints, and she credits others at LifePoint for developing these skills.  She says that leaders of the women’s ministry “saw a gift of teaching in me and gave me the stage to do it.”  She is grateful for their encouragement to be vulnerable and to take a risk, which has allowed others to do the same. Lindy is now a women’s ministry leader and has encouraged other women to step into leadership.

Just as Lindy’s mother impacted how Lindy serves, she hopes that the work she is doing will create steps towards a place that her daughter Noah-Cate, 2, can thrive.  Says Lindy, “[Aaron and I] can only pray that [Noah-Cate] grows up in a church that knows the true love and grace of God… We’re talking about true love-thy-neighbor love – the hard conversations and the fun. We pray this is a place where people can come regardless of their physical differences and ailments because… they can encounter the One true God in this community.” 

This vision of a church where people can find and follow Jesus, whoever they may be, is a reality at LifePoint because of people like the Sanners who are committed to serving the One true God and leading by example.