Meet our Elders

Daniel Sanders, Lead Pastor & Lead Elder/Worship Leader

Daniel Sanders was raised in a Spirit-filled Christian home where the Bible was more than a belief; it was a lived reality. By age three, Daniel was already on-stage quoting Scripture, a sign of the deep spiritual imprint placed on his life early by faithful parents who served both God and people.

Daniel’s parents carried a sincere heart for helping the hurting. They opened their home to those in need, feeding the hungry and welcoming the broken. Their compassion was real but their discernment, at times, was still developing. Combined with difficult peer influences at school, Daniel entered his teen years pulled into destructive patterns. By 16–17, he was living fully for the flesh, yet the conviction of God in his heart never left. Daniel refused to call himself a believer while living a life that contradicted one.

Then God intervened.

At 17, Daniel had an encounter that could have cost him his life; one that stopped him in his tracks, ended his running from God, and turned his heart to finally run TO Him.

A Life Fully Surrendered

Daniel gave his life to Christ early in his adult journey, and for the next four years pursued God with uncommon intensity through prayer, fasting, Scripture study, ministry service, and wholehearted surrender. In 1985, he met and married his wife, and together they built a home centered on loving God, living the Word, and growing in obedience.

By 1990, while serving as an altar counselor and working in prison ministry in the Tulsa, Oklahoma area, Daniel began receiving deeper revelation in Scripture, particularly around the theme of covenant. This launched him into an unexpected but life-changing study of the Torah (the first five books of Moses). His theological upbringing hesitated, but his spirit leapt. Something ancient was calling him deeper.

A Defining Family Shift

In February 1995, after their first Erev Shabbat meal, Daniel and his family stepped forward into a new depth of obedience to God’s covenant ways. The decision was prayer-soaked, intentional, and irreversible. Later, after years of gentle pressure, his family confirmed what Daniel had long sensed; his grandmother’s maiden name, Rosenquist, traced back to Jewish lineage.

What once felt hidden was now illuminated.

A Legacy Still Unfolding

Today, more than 30 years after his covenant awakening began, Daniel and his wife, who have been married over 40 years, parents of 10 children, and grandparents raising families in faithful obedience. They continue loving and serving Yahweh and sharing the Messiah through Scripture, discipleship, and Spirit-led teaching.

Teachings & Ministry Voice

Daniel teaches weekly through:

Living Covenant Fellowship — YouTube

His message carries:

• Deep biblical foundation
• Covenant revelation and relationship
• Spirit-led teaching
• Messiah revealed from Genesis to Revelation
• Faith expressed through obedience

For those new to the ministry, Daniel recommends beginning with teachings from 2020 to the present, where decades of study and revelation converge with spiritual clarity and power.

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Steve Barns (Avi ben Avraham), Elder

Steve Barnes’ journey toward God began at 16, not in a sanctuary, but in a camp kitchen. One summer, he was hired to work in the kitchen at a church camp hosted by the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (RLDS), a non-polygamist Mormon movement that taught church leaders must be descendants of Joseph Smith. What impacted Steve most was not doctrine, but the community’s compassion. Their love for people on the margins and for him personally it drew him in. He was baptized and joined the church, carrying a deep sense of belonging into adulthood.

After graduating high school, Steve joined the U.S. Navy, where youthful pressures and unhealthy influences pulled his spiritual hunger into a season of rebellion. Like many young men, he turned toward gratifying the flesh. He met and married his wife, Pat, and chose to become Catholic like her to bring peace and unity to their family. Harmony mattered but God was preparing him for something deeper: truth.

In 1985, Steve enrolled at Oklahoma State Tech in Okmulgee under the G.I. Bill to study electronics. His first-hour instructor was Alan South, a Pentecostal pastor who invited the class to a revival at his church. Steve attended, initially believing it might earn him favor. Instead, it awakened conviction. On the third night, Steve knelt at the altar and prayed a prayer that would redirect the rest of his life:

“Lord, if You will show me the truth, I will walk in it—no matter what it costs.”

God answered swiftly. Steve received the baptism of the Holy Spirit, with stammering lips that unfolded into tongues; a gift he had never believed in or expected. In that moment of surrender, Steve was born again by faith, conviction, and confession, grafted into the true Body of Christ.

The Cost of Truth

Revival ignited the flame, but Scripture rebuilt the foundation. As Steve studied the Bible, he began to see inconsistencies between what he had been taught and what Scripture revealed. The Holy Spirit led him into divine conversations and appointments that began reshaping his understanding. One of those connections introduced him to the teachings of Messianic teacher Alan Kerby. Through Kerby’s teaching, Scripture began connecting in new and ancient ways, awakening Steve to the reality of covenant throughout the Bible.

Obedience came with a cost. Steve stepped away from former church systems, embraced his identity in Messiah, began honoring the Saturday Sabbath as commanded in Scripture, and removed from his life anything he understood as unclean. The warnings of Yeshua in Matthew 10:36 unfolded personally—“a man’s enemies will be those of his own household.” The greatest resistance came not from strangers, but from those closest to him.

In his zeal, Steve eventually pursued study at a Jewish synagogue, even attempting to fully convert. That decision led him into a 14-year spiritual exile; one driven not by God’s rejection, but by Steve’s own urgency outrunning wisdom. During that season, he felt spiritually dry, like a branch disconnected from the tree.

Mercy Restores the Misled

God used two specific passages—Daniel 9:26 and Isaiah 54—to pierce through the confusion and expose Steve’s error. He repented immediately. Like the father in the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11–31), God did not shame him for wandering; He restored him from it. From that moment forward, Steve returned to the covenant path with renewed clarity, gratitude, and resolve.

Continuing in Covenant and Commission

Today, Steve Barnes serves as an Elder of Living Covenant Fellowship in Choteau, Oklahoma, walking in covenant alongside Daniel Sanders, his mentor, brother in faith, and longtime friend. His children are now Torah-observant adults, carrying forward a legacy not built on perfection, but on persistence, obedience, and devotion to Christ.

Steve still has estranged family members, but hope is alive. A few have softened, and he continues to pray for their awakening; not through pressure, but through conviction and God’s tender restoration.

Steve’s story remains a living witness: If God can rescue a young man from cliffs, rebellion, exile, and error, He can reach anyone.

Through decades of study and Spirit-led revelation, Steve continues growing deeper in Scripture and sharing biblical teaching through the YouTube channel.