A lot of meaning can be held in a name.
Life Community Church, located at 804 Eastwood Dr., knows that.
After founding Pastor Jeff Augustine took a teaching assignment in Colorado, the growing congregation was left in transition, not only between the old and the new, but also between a pre-pandemic world and one working through a pandemic.
One thing they knew, though, is that somehow they wanted to bring life to the Mahomet community.
“Part of life vision is within its own name; it’s called Life Community Church,” Lead Pastor Liz Powell said. “We really feel like we want to be a beacon of light and life, and hope to our community.”
Liz, and her husband, Dan, who also is a Lead Pastor to the congregation, took the job at Life Community in September of 2020 after living in Baton Rouge for the last six years.
At that time, Life Community was moving from mostly pre-recorded or virtual services to allowing some of its congregation to come into the Eastwood location for service. The church wanted to continue to be inclusive to all, though, so they encouraged members to socially distance in the parking lot and to join through Facebook Live if they needed additional protections.
“We even encourage people in the parking lot, inside our sanctuary, or at home Facebook Live to comment, kind of like live tweeting,” Liz said. We ask for people to respond to a question or a comment and in the middle of service, we’re all on our phones keeping that community going. That’s one of my favorite things: responding to the service in the moment.
““Part of my hope is that people would have these encounters with God, you know when they come into our doors or listen to our teaching or connect with our people,” she said. “We hope they feel loved in community. Anybody is welcome, you are loved.”
The church has faced its challenges during the pandemic, too, though. With a passion for families and children, the congregation has seen the toll that isolation and lack of programming places on the youth.
“We really believe in the tangible presence of God’ that He is with us and present to us at all times,” Liz said, “o matter what is going on in our life, what burdens we’re carrying. God is a present God and He wants to connect with us.”
Liz said that as mitigations ease they will be able to get back to the full-service programming that the church thrives on.
She also said that as a new member of the Mahomet community, she is excited about seeing how the church can bring life into the events and everyday happenings in the town of nearly 15,000 people.
Life Community Church knows that there are connections to be made and needs to be met outside of Sunday services. They are looking to be present in the community, to show up and meet people where they are.
Of course, that was difficult in 2020. But the congregation came together to host outdoor movie nights during the summer just to add some respite to a difficult year.
“If you’ve ever run a race, a 5K or half marathon, there’s those people every few miles that are like the water station volunteers. We’re all on this journey and race called life; we’re on this journey of life. And it’s like we want to be those people, the volunteers that are handing out the cups of water, saying, ‘Jesus has life for you. He has good things for you. He wants to bring healing, bring freedom in your life. Here’s the water. We have it for you. Let us love you. Let us show you God’s presence.”
Powell’s life journey began in the same way in Elk Grove, Ill.
“Back in high school, I had a youth pastor who was really formative in my development,” she said. “I admired her a lot. We had a small youth group, but she really spent time focusing on what was going on in our lives, our struggles.
“We would have game nights but then she would do spiritual practices with us.”
Liz thought that her pastor had the best job in the world.
“She gets to be cool with us and take us on these awesome adventures, but she also gets to pour into us spiritually,” Liz remembers. “I was already on fire for Jesus in my own heart and so just seeing what she did made me think I want to do something like that.”
Liz chose to attend Trinity International University, majoring in Christian Ministry, then pursued a master degree in Evangelism and Leadership through Wheaton College.
Dan also attended Trinity International University and Wheaton College, studying Biblical Studies and Evangelism and Leadership with a certificate in Outdoor Adventure Leadership.
Dan and Liz have come “as a package” for most of their professional careers. Camp ministry took them to Louisiana, where they also started a family, and became members of a Vineyard Church that advocated for women to be in leadership roles in the church.
As the Youth Pastor, Liz found her love of preaching. Her messages were well received, and Liz was asked to take the responsibility every couple of months.
“I started thinking, I really do want to do more than just being kids pastor,” she said. “I love kids; I have three kids. And I care about their spiritual formation a whole lot ,too. But I really like teaching and spiritual growth a whole lot.”
As the couple started to consider moving back to their home state, the position at Life Community Church was welcoming to the idea of having a husband and wife as co-pastors.
“We’ve always worked alongside each other,” she said.
“We do have our own kind of distinct style and gifts. So I think that’s really helpful because we complement one another.”
According to Liz, Dan is community-oriented, focused on building relationships and trust with those he comes into contact with.
“He puts you at ease,” she said. “You just are like, ‘Okay, this person makes me feel comfortable like I could be your friend.’”
Liz, on the other hand, is more pragmatic.
“I’m a little bit more of a deep thinker,” she said. “I will think about the vision, the future and how to make strategic goals and kind of keep us always moving forward.”
Dan is also interested in the marketing aspects of the church, social media and graphic design, while Liz plans out board meeting agendas and sermon series.
Part of the plan moving forward is to recover from the “spiritual crisis” happening, Liz said.
“There’s been a lot of stress on our lives in the last 10 months to a year.
“People have felt really hopeless at times in the last year, for so many reasons: stress on their home life, their families, their marriages, school, jobs, finances.
“Some people have made it through that, or are recovering from that.
“Crisis is an accelerator of good or bad. I’ve seen lots of things happen throughout this pandemic.
“We’re building and preparing and getting ready. We’re ready for people to come and get that spiritual relief. There’s going to be a time of people needing spiritual repair, needing spiritual connection, needing to be refilled again.
“There is an opportunity coming when people are ready to come back out of their homes a bit more when things feel a little bit open. There will be a moment where it is the right time to really reach people in their situations where they are.”
