When I began my first Iowa ministry on January 1, 1995, little did I know how our move to Iowa would lead us into a whole new world of ministry. Only a few weeks before moving to Ankeny, we had been making plans to move to Central America to assist with indigenous church planting in a nice, warm, tropical location (unlike that found in Iowa). Yet we followed where God was leading. While serving in Ankeny, we became aware of a need throughout Iowa for new churches with a clear and focused mission: Seek and save the lost while helping others to do the same.

In September of 1995, I began serving as a member of CEM’s Board of Directors. I was so impressed with the men on that board––Godly men with a heart for church planting: Howard Hatelid, Ray Artip, Dennis Dorsheimer, Gregg Johnson, Ken Greeley, and Rod Roberts. Those men had an incredible effect on my life. As a CEM director, I watched these men work with struggling churches, encourage them to maturity and independence, and even handle conflict resolutions within divided congregations. Most of all, they made a commitment to wisely and faithfully utilize resources for planting new, healthy congregations (all lessons for which I am eternally grateful).

Two years later, my family relocated to the Quad Cities under the umbrella and guidance of CEM to establish Adventure Christian Community––a Christian Church with a new look and method. God has truly blessed us since that time. Adventure launched publicly in September 1998. Within two years, we were self-supporting. We saw our baptisms grow each year since our birth with more than 100 each year from 2008 to 2010. We were a portable church for 418 weekends, but in 2006 we finally moved into our own unique building that reflects our personality and expands our ministry further.

A few years after the launch of Adventure, I returned to the CEM board as a director, served several years as President of the Board, and am now partnering with CEM again to plant Adventure Muscatine––CEM’s first church in Muscatine. Though launched only recently on January 15, 2012, the church has averaged more than 100 in weekly attendance (with one week hitting 164). 13 people have been through formal leadership training, and another 30 or so have begun the membership process. It’s an exciting time in Muscatine, and something that would have likely not happened without the help and guidance of CEM.

Mike Knight’s arrival as our new Executive Director has been invaluable to us. As someone who has himself successfully planted two congregations in tough areas, Mike has brought a lot to the table. Mike’s influence and leadership honors not only the CEM tradition of planting healthy churches, but expands it further as we work to plant church-planting churches.