Last weekend I had the opportunity to be with Ted and Jana Walker at Christian Life Church in Sherwood, Arkansas. What a wonderful time we had. Ted and Jana, along with their elder team of Gary and Julie, Steve and Jeanie, and Wes and Brenda, are doing a fine job of taking the church to the next level.
After a number of years of trying to discern what the Lord was speaking to them concerning who they are as a church and all that He has called them to be, it became clear that the Lord was really calling them to focus more on their locality in which the Lord planted them.
They have just moved to a new location after a number of years of using another church in the neighborhood, meeting on Friday nights. This is a great building that the Lord provided for them by orchestrating events, including shutting the door at the last minute on another building that they were pursuing. Ted reminded me that a number of years ago, he and I were standing at a gas station and we looked across the street, and I said, “Why not move the meeting to that building?” I declared right there in the parking lot that the building would be theirs. I had forgotten all of this until they reminded me. Through a course of events the Lord opened the door for them to enter into a lease-purchase agreement with the owner providing a release for another entity that was in a current lease-agreement. It was a win-win for all involved.
They have a great congregation of individuals who love Jesus and are excited about the dynamics of using this property to expand the kingdom of God. Ted, Jana, and the elders know the church is not a building; it is the people who meet in small groups in various homes during the week. But they also believe, as I do, that this property can be used to generate finances for the kingdom with some of the ideas that they are looking into as well as a place of gathering the people together on a weekly basis to celebrate Jesus.
Christian Life Church is forging ahead to reach their community with the love of Jesus.