The Story of the Birth of Legacy Church (Kendallville, IN)

Awhile back my wife and I saw the movie 'McFarland USA' together. In that move Kevin Costner moves his family to Mcfarland, California into a poverty stricken Latino community as a high-school teacher. His goal is to move his family out of the community as soon as possible once he builds up his credentials. In the end he develops a world class cross country team that brings hope to the community. When it comes time to accept offers from other schools he decides to stay and to raise his family in that community. His cross country teams continued to be the best in the country for years and he learned to love the people in that area.

After watching movies my wife and I like to critique them. I asked my wife what she thought of that particular movie. After hearing her thoughts I said: "I think God is calling us to a needy area. I think He could be calling us back to Kendallville!" My wife exclaimed: I didn't get any of that out of the movie! I love her for her candor.

This brought us to a place of praying, searching, and seeking God's will. After feeling a sense of God calling us to take a step of faith I contacted a number of close friends and mentors to pray with us. I decided to take steps of faith to see if God was calling us back to Kendallville, IN. He has made it CLEAR that He is calling my family back to the area.

First, I contacted three men (all former students in Kendallville, IN) and shared with them my heart of what I thought God was calling us to do. My desire was for us to be a team. Within time all three of them agreed that they felt that God was calling us to do this. All of these men have grown up in Kendallville, IN and have a heart for the people that live there. Two of them moved back into the area. I believe these men to be some of the best leaders that I know. The three men are:

Josh Leonhardt - Worship - Moved from Laporte, IN
Logan Conley - Youth/Children - Move from Philadelphia, PA
Zach McCue - Discipleship

Second, I started praying for God to give us a free building. All we had was a dream. I prayed for a month (telling no one) and received a phone message from a close friend who knew of a storefront that was available. Long story short we are leasing this storefront on Main Street (rent free) and it's a perfect location for offices, meetings, and outreaches to the community.

Third, we knew we needed a place to meet on Sunday Mornings. Through a casual conversation the Kendallville YMCA opened up it's doors for our church to meet there. The YMCA board gave unanimous approval for our group to meet there on Sundays. We will have nursery, children's, and adult worship space!

If that wasn't enough Youth For Christ contacted us as they have a number of middle-schoolers who hang out in the YMCA's youth room. Due to our connections and heart, Logan Conley, has been hired as the Youth For Christ Middle School Director and will run youth ministries out of the YMCA.

Before we knew that we were going to be meeting in the YMCA and Logan was going to be hired at Youth For Christ he purchased a home in Kendallville. You won't believe me but his house is on a street that connects the YMCA to the middle-school! His house is perfectly positioned for his family to make a difference in the lives of teenagers.

As we continued to move forward many people heard of what God was calling us to do. We have an incredible launch team with close to 100 people involved who are passionate about reaching the town of Kendallville, IN for Jesus.

If that wasn't enough Legacy Church saw it's first person come to know Jesus! My wife's step grandfather who is 92 years old has recently accepted the Lord and will be at our first launch service on 9-11 of this year! It'll be one of his first church services he's ever attended since a child. It's a remarkable story of God being gracious for 92 years!

If I had more time I could elaborate on how God is providing for us financially or about countless God conversations with other people. God's providing for us in unimaginable ways.

This chain of events make it super clear that God wants us to launch Legacy Church this Fall. Everything we asked for God gave us even more than we asked or imagined!

Some ways in which I get excited about our church plant is that:

- It started with prayer and seeking God
- The staff leadership team are men that I love, admire, and respect
- We have incredible lay leadership
- We have some incredible buildings in the Kendallville area in which we can be a blessing to the community and hold services
- Our launch team is HUNGRY
- Kendallville is open to the gospel. 70.9% of the people that live in Noble County have no religious affiliation. Our goal is to reach the unreached.
- We desire to be a multiplying church that reproduces
- We have developed a path of discipleship that will effectively help people spiritually grow
- We have a multi-generational launch team with people ranging from 1 years old up to 92 years old

We are excited to hold our first service as a church on 9-11 @ 10 AM at the Kendallville YMCA!

I have NO CLUE what the future holds for Legacy Church. All I know is that God is behind it. If God is behind it than I want to be a part of it. We can't wait to be a church that leaves a positive legacy for generations in the Kendallville, IN area and beyond. We invite you to be a part of it!

Make sure you take time to 'Like' our Legacy Church Kendallville FB Page!

We helped unload Logan & Jessica Conley's stuff a month ago when they moved from Philadelphia, PA. This is our team commissioning them and their home!

A picture of me signing the lease for the YMCA which will be our Sunday Morning home!