A History of Lord of Life

I spent a little time today compiling a history of Lord of Life Church. Here is what I found:

Lord of Life Church was birthed out of a partnership that was formed by St. Mark’s Lutheran in St. Charles, Faith Lutheran in Geneva, and Immanuel Lutheran in Batavia.

A new seminary graduate, the Rev. Scott F. Rische, was called by the Northern Illinois District of Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod to serve as a mission developer in a yet to be determined location. On July 17, 1988 Pastor Rische was commissioned at St. Mark’s Lutheran to begin his work.

The first gathering of Lord of Life took place when 23 children, youth, and adults gathered in the home of Dave and Lynn Kaufmann in a rural community west of St. Charles in early September 1988 for the purpose of beginning a new ministry in this area.

Under the leadership of Pastor Rische, the fellowship gatherings soon grew to more than 50 as these early leaders witnessed to the community through door-to-door visitation, making phone calls, putting up posters around the community, and inviting their friends and family members.

The new church planned for it’s first public worship service to be held at Wasco school on January 15, 1989. It was decided that the format of the church would be a compromise between traditional and contemporary worship. Pastor Rische shared in an interview with a local newspaper that he’d like the church to attract “people who don’t feel they’ve found a church they are comfortable with. Even through their are a lot of churches (in the area) not every one is going to church.”

Providing Sunday worship services at Wasco School appeared, at times, to be truly “servant’s work”! The enormous task of creating a worship center in the gymnasium of Wasco School each and every Sunday for almost five years was challenging but served to bond the committed and faithful servants who unfolded and folded hundreds of chairs, set and unset the altar, disconnected and reconnected the sound system, and carried in and carried out every single item necessary for the administration of Sunday School, Bible classes, nursery care, and worship services. This challenge of recreating God’s house every Sunday was met with enthusiasm and amazing fortitude. The lasting symbol from this era was the “infamous” horse trailer owned by Jim and Barb Krage that would be used to transport all the altar, pulpit, and other supplies for Sunday Services.

Before its one year anniversary Lord of Life was averaging 140 people in worship and 80 in Bible Class. Plans were being made to expand to two worship services and to build a new church building on the corner of LaFox Rd and Route 38.

On October 28, 1990 Lord of Life celebrated “Charter Sunday” when it was officially received as a member of the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod as a church. It had been previously identified as a “mission.”

That same month a building committee was formed, chaired by Bob Kessler. A capital steward program “All Building for One, One Building for All,” (aka: ABOOBA) was kicked off in October 1991 and was met with tremendous enthusiasm and faith. On July 26, 1992 a groundbreaking was celebrated at the site and construction began in September that year. Because their faith in God and belief in His promise to honor their sacrifices, the permanent church home of Lord of Life became a reality when the first worship service was held at the corner of LaFox Rd and Route 38 on November 21, 1993.

In September 1994, Lord of Life Preschool opened its doors for the very first time calling Marliss Laughridge to serve as director. Four teachers and four aides were hired to serve the new preschool with capacity of 141 students. Lord of Life preschool continues still today as an important ministry of Lord of Life.

Lord of Life continued to expand and on April 30, 1995 a second pastor was added to the staff when Pastor Barry Kolb was installed as Associate Pastor. It was not long after when on May 26, 1996 when Pastor Rische said farewell after accepting a new Call to First Lutheran Church in El Cajon, CA.

Under the leadership of Pastor Kolb Lord of Life began a new capital campaign called Extending the Light to retire the debt having been incurred from the previous building campaign and purchase of the property.

In January 2003 another capital campaign was started called “Building God’s Ministries” for the purpose of expanding the original church building. On March 23, 2003 the voter’s approved the construction of a new “Family Life Center” and June 12, 2005 the first worship was held in the new building expansion that had tripled the size of the existing building.

On February 15, 2004 a congregational meeting was held to call Pastor Phil Ressler as Associate Pastor. In March 2008, we said farewell to Pastor Kolb after having received and accepted a call to First Lutheran Church in Texarkana, TX. And in May 2008 Pastor Ressler was installed as Senior Pastor of Lord of Life.

Today, Lord of Life continues to strive to be faithful to the Great Commission and the Great Commandment. We continue to reach out to the unchurched population of our community with the gospel of Jesus.

Our Mission
We are Lord of Life church, people united through faith in Jesus Christ. As God's people, we are committed, as He directed, to growing in faith, fellowship & love for one another. We offer people exciting new challenges and opportunities to become active, vibrant & vital participants in the ministry of this congregation. It is our mission to proclaim the Gospel of salvation, so that all people, everywhere, might find forgiveness, reconciliation & a new life in Christ.