Our Story
Santa God
I grew up on Long Island in a town called Mastic Beach. I had a pretty great childhood filled with beach days, baseball, Manhunt, Sega, karate, sleepovers, and lots of pizza. God was an occasional part of my life too. Every once in a while we would go to the church up the road on Sundays. But most of my church experience came from religion classes that I had to go to when I was in elementary school. If I’m honest, I didn’t love those classes, but they seemed to be important to my mom and graduating from them got me a huge party.
If you were to ask me back then what God was like I would have told you that He probably looks like Gandalf the wizard and operates like Santa Claus. I imagined Him as an old man in the sky with a huge wizard beard looking down and judging my every decision and thought. He was a list-making score-keeper, giving me points when I did good and taking them away when I was bad. But unlike Santa there were no gifts at the end of the year…
When I was a freshman in high school I did something that I regretted deeply, something that I assumed would put me on God’s bad side forever. If he really was making a list and checking it twice, I assumed my name was sharpied on the naughty side.
Just a few months after making that regretful decision, I went to Missouri to visit family and was invited to church. I really didn’t want to go but reluctantly said yes. And I’m so glad I did. Because it was at this church, a place that was unlike any church I had ever been to before, that I learned God was not the judgmental wizard that I thought He was. I learned that God is everything Jesus is: He is personal, loving, forgiving, gracious, and He is actually for me. That’s when I began to trust in and follow Him. And after 15 years I can honestly say that following Jesus makes your life better, and makes you better at life.
Here’s where I come in…
So now that you know about Michael, let me introduce myself! I’m Emily, the other half of the “we” that is planting this church. Like Mike, I grew up on Long Island. Some of my first and more precious memories of faith are those of praying before bed with my grandma, attending my first youth retreat, and discovering that Jesus is so much more than just the guy who died on the cross.
Michael and I met at our high school youth group and got married after college. Like most high-school sweethearts, there’s a long story there! But throughout our dating relationship, Michael and I dreamed about spending our future life together serving Jesus and making an impact in our world. After getting married, we spent the first 4 years of our marriage working together on cruise ships. These years were vital to our world-view and gave us an opportunity to live and work around people who, in many ways, were very different than us - particularly when it came to spirituality. We discovered that to gain influence and to make a real impact, we needed to get out of our comfort zone, get to know people, and build relationships.
After cruise ships, we moved to Missouri where I landed my “dream job” as a high school history teacher. However, I found myself becoming increasingly involved in the First Impressions Team and youth group at church. So after 3 years of teaching, I took a full time position at our church where Michael and I were able to serve alongside each other day in and day out for 2 years. During this time my passion for relationship, discipleship, and the next generation grew more than I ever expected! For me, the deepest sense of purpose has always been found in pouring myself out to others and leading them to experience Jesus. So, why church planting, and why now? I’ll let Michael explain…
Why start a new church?
If you were to have asked me 10 years ago if I could ever see myself starting a church, I would have laughed, because I was the music guy. I don’t speak, I don’t teach…I play music—that’s what I’m good at. Plus, can you even start a church? Is that allowed? But on June 23rd 2019, I had this subtle encounter with God that changed my life forever. I was sitting in a church in Lake of the Ozarks, Missouri, enjoying all of the things I love about church, when I sensed God asking me a question... “Who’s doing this on Long Island?” Over and over again, this question kept surfacing all throughout that church service. “Who’s doing this on Long Island?”
Being from Long Island, Emily and I knew there are plenty of great churches there. Churches that are making a huge difference. But what this subtle question got me considering wasn’t whether there were any quality churches on LI. There are. It got me realizing that there just weren’t nearly as many as there are in the midwest. I mean, just to get to my midwest church you literally had to pass by 5 other churches on the same street in less than 2.3 miles!
So, over time and through lots of prayer, counsel, and training, our next step became crystal clear - we’re joining in with so many other awesome churches and starting a new church on Long Island called Local Church.
Conclusion
I don’t remember much about the day I chose to follow Jesus. I don’t remember what the pastor said or what scripture he read from. I don’t remember the conversations that I had with him or with anyone else. I don’t remember the songs that we sang or the snacks we had.
I do remember how I felt though. I felt welcomed. I felt wanted. I felt like I genuinely belonged, despite my short-comings. There was something about this accepting culture that opened me up that day to hear the most wonderful news I had ever heard.
Maybe your story is similar to mine. Or maybe you still don’t know what you think about God or church. Perhaps you feel like the church roof would collapse if you walked in the doors. I get that. Either way, we want to invite you to join Local Church. God has a way of using the church to help us develop a clearer picture of who He is, and to change us. You don’t have to be perfect. You don’t have to be religious. You don’t have to know a bunch of Bible stuff. Just come. Who knows what might happen. I’m so thankful for the people who were there at that little Missouri church when I reluctantly accepted their invitation. God used them to change my life. He can use you too.