About EFN


Be the Best Church For Your Community!


Are you and your church thinking differently about what the church could be–and should be–‘for’ your community? If so, the Externally Focused Network can help you with your next steps no matter if you are just beginning this journey or if you have traveled this path for a while.


Be the Minister That You Have Always Wanted to Be!


I believe I would be hard pressed to find a minister that took a job at a church because of their desire to reside in their office, respond to a daily flood of emails, and sit through a monotonous onslaught of weekly board meetings. Better yet, I can guarantee you it would be nearly impossible to find a church that was founded in hopes of leaving their community no better off than before they began and in keeping Jesus all to themselves.

No, people go into ministry because they want to set the world on fire for Jesus and see revival break out in their communities. Churches begin because people want to make a difference as Christ’s body and share the hope and redemption that only Jesus can provide. They want to serve those in need and love the unloved. They want to share the Truth and pray for the sick. Yes, that’s why people go into ministry and why churches begin.

Unfortunately, many ministers find themselves in positions that don’t seem to align with their original desires and in churches that seem to have fallen into a routine that saps more life than it gives. I’d even go so far as to bet that many of you are in a situation like that right now.


In the end, EFN wants to help leaders …

  • Become the minister they’ve always wanted to be
  • Create a church culture that embraces both doing good deeds while sharing the ‘Good News,’ resulting in transformed communities and changed lives
  • Prayerfully know and act on God’s plan for them, their church, and their community
  • Build community credibility and start community impact ministries
  • Discover practical resources, tools, strategies, systems, and relationships which enable them to engage in ministering to their community
  • Connect with like-minded leaders to share their innovative, externally focused ministry experiences and strategies
  • Train their churches to believe that serving is a normal expression of Christian living and is vital to spiritual formation, to be convinced that good deeds and good news can’t and shouldn’t be separated, and to see themselves as vital to the health and well-being of their communities


We also want to help your church embrace the characteristics of an Externally Focused Church:

  1. Externally focused churches pray…a lot. They pray because they know that God’s ways are higher than our ways, and to rely on our own wisdom and strengths rather than on God is simply foolish. They understand that their goal is never just to do random good works, but to do the good works that God has laid out before them.
  2. Externally focused churches are convinced that good deeds and good news can’t and shouldn’t be separated. Just as it takes two wings to lift an airplane off the ground, so externally focused churches couple good news with good deeds to make an impact in their communities. The good news explains the purpose of the good deeds.
  3. They see themselves as vital to the health and well-being of their communities. They believe that their communities, with all of their aspirations and challenges, cannot be truly healthy without the church’s involvement. It is only when the church is mixed into the very life and conversation of the city that it can be an effective force for change.
  4. They believe that ministering and serving are the normal expressions of Christian living. Even more, they believe that Christians grow best when they are serving and giving themselves away to others. They are convinced that Christians can learn through good instruction, but they really cannot grow if they remain uninvolved in ministry and service.
  5. Externally focused churches are evangelistically effective. People are looking for places of authenticity where the walk matches the talk, where faith is making a difference.


Externally Focused Network Leaders

Brian Mavis
Brian is the Executive Director of the Externally Focused Network, and the Externally Focused Pastor at LifeBridge Christian Church. He has written the curriculum for some high-profile programs including Bono’s “One Sabbath Campaign,” Mel Gibson’s “Passion of the Christ;” World Vision’s “Faith in Action” and “The Hole in Our Gospel.” Brian also helped create and lead SermonCentral.com (the largest sermon resource site in the world) from 2000-2005. Brian has a B.A. in Biblical Literature from Ozark Christian College, and an M.A. in Philosophy and Theology from Lincoln Christian University.

Eric Swanson
Eric is the co-author of “The Externally Focused Church,” “Living a Life on Loan” (re-released in September 2009 as “The Externally Focused Life”), “Becoming an Externally Focused Church,” and “To Transform a City.” In partnership with Leadership Network (www.leadnet.org), Eric serves as a Leadership Community Director for Externally Focused Churches, and Co-director with Reggie McNeal for the Missional Renaissance Leadership Community. He is also Co-founder of GoodCities–a movement focused on community transformation. In June of 2007 he received his Doctor of Ministry degree from Bakke Graduate University (bgu.edu).

Rick Rusaw
Rick has been the Senior Minister at LifeBridge Christian Church in Longmont, Colorado, since 1991. Previously, he was Vice President at Cincinnati Bible College and Seminary, and Associate Minister at First Christian Church in Fort Myers, Florida. Rick is the Co-author of “The Externally Focused Church,” “Living a Life on Loan” (re-released in September 2009 as “The Externally Focused Life”), and “Becoming an Externally Focused Church.” He is a graduate of Cincinnati Bible College (1980) and Seminary (1990). Rick currently serves on the board of directors for Christian Network International and Hope International University.

Andrew Brewer
Andrew joined the Externally Focused Network in June 2011 as the ministry coordinator. Prior to joining the EFN team, Andrew worked with New Heights Church in Fayetteville, AR where he helped launch 3 business as mission startups, including a thrift store and tutoring business that both work to serve at-risk kids and their families. Andrew received a B.S. in Industrial Engineering from the University of Arkansas in 2011. He currently resides in Fayetteville with his wife and soon-to-be-born son.

The Externally Focused Network is a ministry of LifeBridge Christian Church in Longmont, CO.