My Story

Thanks for stopping by!  Take a moment to encourage others and share your story of what God is up to in your life.  Tell us how you came to GLC and how God has used our community to impact your life.

Cindee

My husband and I have been married for 14 years. Have they all been great? No. My husband is however and always has been my rock. My husband found a new job after, about 8 years of marriage, that paid more and was an hour and a half commute one way. We decided to sell our home and move somewhere closer to his new job. To do this, we decided to split up our family temporarily and I moved our two children myself and my sister north to live with my parents while he moved himself south to live with his parents and closer to work. This was supposed to be a temporary situation and we didn’t expect the rocky road that took us on. The decision to live 3 hours apart, almost ended our marriage. We had always had a marriage that I thought was strong and could make it through anything. One day my husband called me and said that he wanted a divorce. I didn’t always treat him with the respect that I should have. I belittled him in front of others by making jokes at his expense without even realizing what I was doing. I had also brought a lot of baggage from my childhood into our marriage that he thought he could help me with. When he would talk to me, I wouldn’t really hear what he was telling me, so I never changed the way that I acted toward him. The time alone had given him a chance to reflect on the past years and he decided that there was no way he could go on like that. I don’t blame him for coming to that decision, but at the time I told him no. I begged him to try again, to go to counseling, to start over. We were still living 3 hours apart and although he agreed to give it another try, our relationship continued to deteriorate. One weekend I visited a friend in Kenosha and she told me about this church that she had just started going to and how when you go, you don’t feel like you are in church. I went with her and cried through the entire service; I felt that Dave was speaking right to me and somehow knew the problems that we were going through. After a year and a half of living apart, my husband lost his job and even though our relationship wasn’t doing well, we decided to move back into the house that we still had not sold to try to make it work. I never had a personal relationship with the Lord and that affected my marriage. My husband used to tell me that I needed to give my worries to the Lord, but I never understood what that meant until I started to attend GLC. Since we started attending GLC in 2009, I have found the love that the Lord can provide and through that love my husband and I have worked through some of our problems. He tells me that I am a different person since I have found this peace; stronger and more at peace. There are few Sundays that I miss going to church and when I do miss my week doesn’t feel complete.

Emily

The first time I went to GLC, I had just gotten pregnant with my daughter. I was eighteen and totally lost. What a coincidence that I came for the sex series! I squirmed in my seat for that entire month, but God spoke to me so much through that series. Those messages gave me peace and security in God and assured me over and over again that God would always want me back - no matter what stupid things I have done or will continue to do! What an amazing feeling! The volunteers at GLC were amazingly accepting of us. My boyfriend and I both started attending GLC in 2009 and God has brought us through some rocky times. We just got married this summer and we tell each other all the time that if God hadn't reached out to us through GLC we would never be where we are today. We are both volunteers now in the Kid's Ministries. Our daughter just turned two and one of her favorite things is going to church. My husband and I look forward to the community and the chance to worship in a setting where we are accepted for who we are - children of God!!

Jason & Becky

I (Becky) saw GLC advertised on Facebook and thought it was a joke. Who advertises Church on Facebook?? After seeing the advertisement several times I was intrigued and clicked on the link. I watched the "Pastor's Welcome" and I was interested in checking out GLC. We were not looking for a Church to attend and didn't belong to one either. I had Jason check out the site and he said it looked like a cult and he wouldn't go with me and also said I couldn't take the kids. I went the following Sunday (January 2009) and loved it. Jason only agreed to check it out the next week because I kept bothering him about it. He said he would go one time and I couldn't bring it up again. We both ended up loving it and have been going ever since. We also volunteer with the 3rd-5th graders. Our kids love going and we can't imagine not being there. We both know more about the love of Jesus in the 3 years of being at GLC than we ever knew growing up in "traditional" Church. We don't have to pretend we are someone that we are not and we can even wear jeans :)

Joey

The earlier stages of my life were trying times. Dealing with watching my mother be abused everyday and my sister being raped by my mom's abuser. These times were very trying and more or less started off my life denying there was a God. My thought was, "how could he let this happen if he was real?" I started to seem to be finding my faith when I went into the military, but was soon challenged once again. I had unexpected circumstances that cause me to be medically discharged due to supposed asthma. The military was a true desire of mine and to once again be denied of what I wanted and felt I needed was another set back and red flag on religion for me. When I got back to my civilian life I started a vicious cycle of alcohol and drug abuse. Church was DEFINITELY NOT on my mind nor did I believe in anything they stood for. I finally settled down when I met my soul mate and soon after we were married. She was always asking me and begging me to go to church and as expected I denied her. We ended up moving up here from FL and had a REALLY rough start up here. Our close friends invited us to GLC in which I declined, but my wife accepted the invitation. When Sunday came around my wife told me she was leaving for church and I asked her to hold on so I could come with her. I wanted to go to make her happy since I knew she wanted me to go. This was during the "Sex Talk". We pulled up to Tinseltown and I remember thinking how crazy it was going to a movie theater for church! Then when I found out what the talk was about and listening to Dave talk on the same level as everyone else just made me want to come back. I am now coming up on my 2 year anniversary of my baptism in March and couldn't imagine my life without GLC and God being a part of it! I now am one of the leaders of the Usher Team and love serving God and our amazing church! Thank you GLC and the people who made the ultimate sacrifice to risk it all by coming to Kenosha, WI to bring us all a place of worship!

Anthony

Never Was a Christian. Thought God Was a Joke. Wanted to be a gangster and live a life of money, power, and drugs. Outa no where God comes into my life. LITERALLY I had an almost outa this world experience that words can not explain(NO IM NOT CRAZY). I gave up my old life picked up a bible and began my journey. Months into my journey I decided to look for a church with my fiance. A customer of my business hands another customer a Great Lakes Business Card. The kid throws it away. For some reason I kept it. Checked out the church, fell in love with the church, and have been on one AMAZING journey ever since. Within 2 months of attending Great Lakes I finally honored God and married my wife. Immediately we got plugged into growth groups where I met the most amazing people, some of which are now my best friends. I also jumped into serving with kids which has changed my life entirely. I now lead the high school growth group and have found my gift from God. Never have I felt more in the right place than right now! EVERYDAY I GROW AND IT'S AMAZING TO HAVE A COMMUNITY AND CHURCH FAMILY THERE FOR SUPPORT!

Doree

I had grown up in a home with alcoholism, violence, and the meaning of church to me was for my brother and I to be picked up by the church bus on Sunday mornings, "To pray for my parents." When my mom told me this, I was probrably in 4th grade and told them I no longer wanted to go. We never went again. My brother and I were pretty confused with life and the whole "god" thing. Our dad had committed suicide in 2002, which had left us even further away from any type of religion as I had lost all faith in pretty much everything here on this earth. I myself was in an 8 year domestic and verbally abusive relationship in 2002, went through severe depression, post traumatic stress disorder, anxiety...now divorced, thankfully safe and alive with my three sons in 2006, but was unsure why? From 2007 to about mid 2009, I had hid from what was going on around me and inside my head by drinking almost 4-5 days a week. I had received a mailer from GLC, and put it on the fridge, not really sure why at the time, but I did, but was too ashamed to even step foot in a church, knowing that I was probrably not living the way that the church thought I should be. My best friend had given me a a mirror with the footprints saying on it during this difficult time, I had read it before but it had never struck me the way it did that day, as I read the very last part about the one set of footprints and "it was then that I carried you." I cannot describe the feeling, but I honestly felt like that was had been happening all of these years. At this time of my life I had gone through another devestation as I had been removed from the area that I had been working in for the past 7 years, with the only people that I trusted, to another area of the hospital. I fought it.. kicked, cried, and begged for my position back, I tried everything possible, with no success. In the new area that I had been placed in, I sat with a co- worker with whom I had never met, in this little corner that her and I were stuck in 8-12 hours a day. This woman was amazingly involved at another church, she was so free, had such a calmness, such a peace, that she had passed onto me at a time when it is probrably the only thing that I needed at that time in my life. She had told me, there are some things you just cannot control, and to let HIM guide me, she never lectured me, she never preached to me, I could SEE the presence of god working in her every single day without effort - and would have never seen this if I did not let everything go and allow god to work in the way that he wanted...by placing me right next to her :) I told her about the things I was doing, opened up to her, told her that I did not feel worthy to attend church. When I went home that night I had looked at the flyer on the refridgerator and the pictures and the come as you are statements really appealed to me. I went alone for the first time and have been going ever since! Dave has truly inspired me and has helped me to know what it means to have a spiritual relationship with god and to know who god is and where he should stand in my life. Without GLC, I probrably would not be here today...I know that with god all things are possible... my mom even attends almost every sunday that she can :).. she loves it, my kids love it, especially my 15 yr old, he really gets it, and Dave makes that happen. Since then I've had nothing but a new life of peace, undying love, grace and mercy... I returned to school and am starting my 3rd semester nursing clinicals next week. I am truly blessed and am grateful for GLC and what it has brought my life!!!! Thanks for listening!!

Karli

Honestly, I couldnt say much. I've been with Great Lakes for about 2 years now and not much has changed. Although, since I'm a high schooler its great to go to a church I actually understand. Dave is a great speaker and he makes it so us teenagers find it exciting. I also love the high schoool growth groups. I have made a lot of new friends and have some pretty awesome Growth Group Leaders like Anthony, Brian, and Danielle! Thanks for everything guys, I wish Great Lakes the best of luck!

Jonathan

Growing up in a Baptist home, I know all about the traditional service and dress codes that have bogged down the church for a long time. I met Dave when he was an assistant pastor at Eastlake Church in San Diego, CA., but immediately he helped launch Eastlake Church up in Bothell, WA. I got orders to transfer to Recruit Training Command, Great Lakes, and I immediately was drawn to the Kenosha area for buying a house. I called upon Dave for some inside info, and he promptly told me that he hadn't been in Kenosha for longer than a week or so in about 14 years, but during this conversation, he confided in me that he was thinking of coming back home to start up a church in Kenosha. I immediately started doing a happy dance in my car, as the church opportunities in the area were very slim. Through the story that Dave has shared about the loss of his brother, Ricky, he did eventually come and start up GLC, and I thank God that he did. He asked me to help out right from the get-go and be a part of the launch team, and I told him that I would do whatever he asked of me and that our family would be "all-in" to ensure that GLC became a success. I can honestly say that helping to start up GLC is one of the more proud and profound things that I have accomplished in my life, and even though we have since transferred to Norfolk, VA., my family and I are still very much a part of GLC, and can't wait until the day when we can return to see all that God has done for Kenosha! Thanks for checking out my story, and once again, THANK YOU Dave for taking that leap of faith in coming home to Kenosha!

Roger

"Really? You meet in a theater? Alright..." When I received a call from a member of the music team to help out one Sunday on drums, I was a bit hesitant because I was going through a divorce at the time. Traditional, fundamental teachings led me to believe a person in such a situation was not "clean" and therefore not qualified. The pastors at Great Lakes assured me that grace meant grace. I've said it before...I'll say it again: that phone call changed my life. I'm now an active member of the GLC music team and to add more blessing, I was asked to audition to sing. Wow! God is so good!! When I thought I would never play drums again, I not only am playing, but singing on the music team! Awesome!! Most importantly, God's word, through Pastor Dave, has changed how I think about myself and others. The Bible instructs us to think higher of others than we do ourselves. With solid instruction, it not such a daunting task! I hope this encouraged you and points you toward God! Blessings!

Jason

I grew up in a great church-going Christian home. I was really involved with my high school youth group and even went to a Christian college. That's where it all went bad for me and I began to see Christians as a group of mean and judgmental people that would allow anyone to be a real person. It seemed like only "perfect" people were acceptable. After that experience, I didn't want to go to church and be around people like that. So I didn't, for over 10 years! My wife and I found Great Lakes Church through an advertisement on Facebook. We attended the very first weekly service and have been on board ever since. These people are real, they're screwed up and flawed just like me...AND it's OK! You can come as you are, and that's not just lip service and something nice for a church to say. Jesus accepted people at whatever point they were in their lives throughout the Bible, and that's the starting point at Great Lakes. My wife and kids love it. Even as much as I thought I was doing just fine on my own all those years outside of an organized church, I'm growing and learning more and more all the time, even if it's only at my own pace. Great Lakes Church is a great place for anyone to start or re-start their "Spiritual Journey". Thanks for checking out MY story!

Brian

Great Lakes Church has had a profound impact on my life. I grew up in a strong christian family, however in my college years I began to fall away. It wasn't until we moved to Kenosha 6 years ago that we started looking for a church to attend. We visited several churches, but just never found anything that suited us or met our needs. One Saturday, while sifting through the junk mail pile, we came upon a mailer for the church and decided to give it a shot. We have been attending regularly ever since. We are now very active in the church and I serve as a leader of the High School Group. I have been able to witness how God has worked in my life, as well as my kids' life's. It has been nothing short of AMAZING! I thank God for GLC, as well as the great people we have met through the church!