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When Casey Page and his wife, Sarah, came to Lord of Life, they felt guarded from past experiences and were skeptical that they could find a place where they felt comfortable. Like many young families, they rediscovered church after becoming parents. Casey and Sarah were looking for a church with a small congregation, a culture that left room for doubt, and an environment where their daughters would grow up as equals in the church. Within only a few weeks, they found what they were looking for at Lord of Life.
On their first visit, they experienced worshiping with a female pastor. They heard from other worshipers about their struggles with faith, and Casey and Sarah felt comfortable sharing their own. Within weeks, they felt that they knew many of the people around them, and that those people knew them too. They discovered that they had found the place that they were unsure even existed.
Casey appreciates that the ministry at Lord of Life is as varied and colorful as our congregation, that new ideas are not only welcomed but encouraged, and that we are intentional about providing equal focus on our members as well as on our local community and beyond. Casey wrote “I feel it speaks volumes that community services like Vacation Bible School are made available to all, and free of charge.”
Like many people raised in the church, generosity was something Casey remembers hearing about “early and often.” His parents prioritized supporting a number of causes, but first among them was their church. However, because of some of Casey’s church experiences, Casey did not readily adopt the habit of generosity when he left his parents’ home, or even as he grew from an individual to the head of a household. Casey says that his experiences at Lord of Life have helped him to see generosity in ways that he had struggled to understand before.
Casey shared “At Lord of Life, we communicate a message of stewardship that focuses on the spiritual growth that comes with a commitment to generosity, rather than a weekly guilt trip. Through this message, I recognized that I could make supporting the church’s work a more central theme in my life. I learned how making a commitment to support something can dramatically change the experience, because commitment inevitably leads to challenging moments, and challenging moments inevitably lead to faith.”
Casey’s hope for Lord of Life is that we never lose sight of our purpose in this life. He says we are called to make room for one another, to help one another, and to love one another. “It’s a mission much easier to speak than to live, but I see our congregation living out this mission every day, and we do so in the face of real challenges.”
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