Attending LCU changed my life. Before LCU I followed Jesus but I didn’t have a clear sense of purpose.
I graduated high school and went to LCU thinking I would attend for one year to learn more about the Bible and my faith and then I would transfer to a university closer to home in Milwaukee, WI. That was my plan but God had a purpose for me that he began to unfold at LCC.
Right away as a freshmen LCU made a huge impact in my life. The classes impacted my thinking and faith and vision for the future. I loved how the teachers didn’t just give us all the answers, they trained us on how study and learn and pursue what Jesus calls us to do. I loved the emphasis on the vision and mission of Jesus in the world: locally, regionally, and globally.
God also changed my life through the relationships I developed at LCU. The first weekend I met Marnie Norton, LCC ’87, who became my wife a few years later. I remember another friend asking me a question that I had never thought about before. He asked me, “What is your dream?” I didn’t know how to answer because I didn’t have a dream. He went on to tell me about his dream to plant a new church. It sounded exciting. We talked more about it. I remember thinking to myself, “I wonder if that is something I could do someday?” God started capturing my heart with that idea.
About ten years later I drove up from Kentucky to meet a professor for lunch in the cafeteria at LCU. I told him that I was thinking about starting a new church, but I kept putting it off because I wasn’t sure if I wanted to leave my current ministry. I remember exactly what he said, “Ben if God is calling you to plant a church in Milwaukee, you’re not doing anybody any favors by putting it off.” That was the moment when it clicked for me, and I decided to go “all in” planting a new church. Fast forward about 25 years and today I’m sitting in my office at RiverGlen Christian Church located in Waukesha, WI about a half an hour west of Milwaukee. Today we have multiple campuses. We have baptized hundreds of people. We have helped start 10 more new churches. I can’t say it’s been easy, and we have lots more work to do, but God has blessed far more than I imagined. I thank God for using LCU as a launching pad in my life. I would not have my wife and family and church without the training and relationships I found at LCU.