Every year in the United States of America 4,000 new churches are planted or established. That would be great news except that every year in the USA over 7,000 churches close their doors. Christianity is the only major religion in the United States which is on the decline.
Several years ago while serving as missionaries in Germany the Lord began to deal with our hearts about His heart's cry for the United States. It seemed strange to us, but the Lord was calling us from the mission field of Europe, back to the mission field of "home". We didn't quite understand at the time what He was up to ... but He slowly began to reveal His plan. The scripture which gripped our hearts at that time is found in the book of Jeremiah:
"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you," declares the LORD, "and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you," declares the LORD, "and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile." Jeremiah 29:11-14
Although we knew we had not been "exiled" to the mission field, we still knew very clearly what the Lord was saying to us.
We returned to the USA, and after a short period of time the Lord began deal with our hearts once again and said, "It's time". Although we had not yet seen anything come together in the natural, we knew it was time to step out in faith and plant the church that the Lord had dealt with us about ... and that is exactly what we did.
Before we even held our first service, God faithfully sent three precious couples to help us pray, plan and pursue His will in this new church plant. After several weeks of prayer and discussion, we held our first church service on August 11 of 2002. Since that time God has been faithful to the church in every step of the way. Things which normally would have required major human effort have just come together by the leading of the Lord, and we can honestly say, "the Lord built the house".
We are not sure what the future holds for Christian Life Worship Center, but one thing we are sure of; if the Lord does not build the house then we are all laboring in vain ... and God's desire now more than ever is to build a "body" of believers that will reflect His glory.
