Our Story
During our youth pastor years, we would take our students on stateside mission trips. We used to sit in our room with our students, praying for God to do something amazing in the community we were ministering to. We closed ever prayer time singing, “I’ll say ‘yes, Lord;’ I will go where you want me to go.” During Christmas break, years ago, my wife and I took a group of young people to an event in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, called “The Smokey Mountain Summit.” On that particular New Year’s Eve night, during one of the services, Pastor Ron Luce was talking about impacting our world. Sheila and I both knew that God was asking us to leave our comfort zone. I vividly remember, as we walked to the front, tears were running down our faces. We both said, “Yes, Lord, we will go wherever You call us to, and do whatever You call us to do.” We had no idea what that meant. We always thought that maybe God would lead us to another part of the world some day.
In 2013, after 24 years of ministry, we moved to Pastor Life Church in Rainbow City, Alabama. Life Church was the result of church planting. Shortly after arriving at the church I was asked to serve on a board that oversaw church planting. It was an honor to be asked to be a part of church multiplication in the Alabama District. Our church had been faithful to giving to church planting for years. One of the things that we would do as a committee was talk about places the state of Alabama that needed an Assembly of God church. I remember often saying to myself that we needed a church in Fort Payne, Alabama. I even told Pastor Kevin Lewis that very thing, one day when we had gone to meet with a pastor in Rainsville, Alabama. I never imagined Sheila and I would be the ones to answer this particular call.
One day I was listening to a podcast on church planting and the speaker said something that has resonated in my spirit for the last several months. He said, “there is a Call; there is a Season (timing) and there is a Location.” I believe that what God put in Sheila’s and my heart, many years ago at that youth event in Gatlinburg, was preparing us to say, “yes,” now. Am I scared?! You better believe it. I like to be comfortable, but God wants to move me and Sheila out of our comfort zone because there is a community of over 17,000 people and a county of close to 72,000 people that need to know Jesus. We believe the harvest is ripe and ready and we want to answer the call like we did years ago.
After we made the decision to plant the church, I was riding down the street and praying for Fort Payne. I was asking God to use us in a mighty way. I even told Him all of my fears. I asked Him to send the workers. I asked Him to prepare the location. I asked Him to release the necessary resources to accomplish the mission. I even asked Him what name He wanted the church to be called. I started speaking out several different names. All of a sudden, the word, “VIVE CHURCH” came out of my mouth. I had no clue what the word, “VIVE,” even meant. I looked it up, only to discover that in the Latin, it means “to live.” I immediately began to think of the valley of dry bones, where Ezekiel said, “can these bones live?” The Spirit said, “prophesy to the bones!’” So, I began to prophesy and call Fort Payne to, “Come alive!” Sheila and I believe that the winds are blowing in Fort Payne, Alabama and we are ready to be a small part of it coming alive.