Highlight: The rooted who last

Those who are rooted in the God’s Word and Christ seem to endure through storms and trials. What does it mean to be rooted?

Banning Liebscher has been involved in full-time ministry for over 21 years and understands the importance of being rooted in God’s Word. He says that becoming rooted takes time and it requires patience to see the process through to the end.

“Walking with Jesus myself, and walking with people in their journey, one of the things I realize was that a lot of people get hung up in the process. They just don’t understand or have clarity around it.”

Banning says that a lot of people aren’t willing to buy into the process, they aren’t in it for the long haul.

“The Lord takes him on a mountain and He speaks a word to him. He gives them a vision, he gives them a word, and he gives them a destiny, a passion, a mandate and when that word is planted its seed, but when the seed is planted the next step is not fruit the next step is roots.”

When God plants a seed in our hearts, it doesn’t mean it will start to bear fruit the next day. First, roots must begin to grow.

“We’ve somehow forgotten that little bit. We were so excited about the vision. We’re so excited about the passion of the word God’s given us, we don’t realize that when he plants a seed, he then starts a process. And that process is to grow your internal world, your root system, because your internal world has to be strong and healthy.”

If our internal world is not healthy, we cannot bear fruit. We must be patient and partner with God as we embark on the process of developing the root system of our faith.

“We get frustrated because it’s below the surface, you can’t see it, it’s in hiding, it’s messy, but I would say the most important part of growth in your life is below the surface; it’s the root system.”

We must embrace the process no matter how painstakingly slow it may seem.

“Those that really embrace the process that God has them in, those that allow him to develop their root system, are the ones that bear fruit that remains. The rooted last because they are the ones that have allowed God to develop their internal world so that what’s inside of them is bigger than what’s outside of them, and they’re the ones that really make a lasting impact.”


Banning Liebscher was on staff at Bethel Church in Redding, California for eighteen years and founded the ministry Jesus Culture during that time. Banning and his family, along with the Jesus Culture team, relocated to the capital of California where they started a church, Jesus Culture Sacramento. He and his wife, SeaJay, have three children.

Key Scripture:  Psalm 27:4

Featured Songs: Let it Echo – Jesus Culture; Alive in You – Jesus Culture; In the River – Jesus Culture

Rooted