Personal/Spiritual

Personal:

Terry LeTourneau

487 Sterling St.

Lancaster, MA 01523

DOB – 8/27/74

978.368.8420

My Conversion:

I grew up in a very socially active, theologically liberal Congregational church (U.C.C.) in Lancaster, MA. I had convinced myself that baptism, frequent attendance to church events and my Confirmation had brought me into a right relationship with Jesus Christ. As well, I fully believed that if I had died, I would go to heaven. Externally, I tried to live the Christian life – going to retreats, mission’s trips, church outings, etc. Spiritually, I had no problem waving my fist at God. When I graduated from High School – everything changed. I lived totally for my own pleasure. Everything in life was centered on me. I lived like there was no God. Sadly, the God whom I had created for myself, with my own understanding and wisdom, became the God who served and functioned according to my desires.

I accepted a position as a Camp Director at a Christian Camp in Pennsylvania during the summer of 1992. Prior to that summer, I had been on staff for several years at the same camp but never was asked regarding my faith journey or lack thereof. It was just assumed that somebody coming from a “church” background would be able to fit in. In July of that summer, a friend of mine approached me and our “small-talk” turned into a deep spiritual discussion. It was during that time that I had come to the knowledge of my depravity. It was then that God gave me the faith to believe. It was then that God showed me my horrible hostility towards Him and the only solution to the problem of my sin – Jesus Christ. During this time He opened my eyes, gave me a new heart and adopted me into His family.

I entered college at the end of the summer and began right away noticing a desire forming to be in full-time Christian service. It was during these years that I came to develop essential theological convictions that followed me up until today. Aside from godly professors and pastors, men like Jonathan Edwards, George Whitfield, David Brainerd, Cotton Mather, B.B. Warfield, J. Gresham Machen, R.C. Sproul, D. Martin Lloyd-Jones, John Piper, John MacArthur, Bryan Chappel, Robert Lewis (Fellowship Bible Church – Arkansas), Rick McKinley (Portland), Mark Driscoll (Seattle), etc., began to help define my theology and philosophy of ministry.

One of the many significant events in my life that has forever changed my understanding of local church ministry was when I was 24 yrs. old and called to be the Senior Pastor of a 200+ member congregation in New Jersey (1998). It was also during those years I came convinced of the great need of training men and women for the ministry. It has been my desire to train people for effective ministry in the local church. It was also during these years that I came to see God beginning to develop within me the values that strengthen my ministry for the local church.

Lastly, over the past 12 years the Lord has been stirring a passion in my heart to pastor a fellowship that tells the story of Christ in ways that a post-Christian culture can hear and understand. My passion has been to be part of a fellowship that plants other missional fellowship. I’m fully convinced, that these fellowships will need to, as a vital endeavor, discover the Missio Dei. The word missio is the Medieval Latin word for mission, which means the act of sending. The word dei is the Latin word for God. When the two come together missio dei means the ‘mission of God’. This mission of God or the missio dei, as some theologians call it, is the fundamental belief that God is a missionary God and that He has sent the church into the world to participate with Him in the process of redemption.

Therefore, the sending quality of God needs to be integrated into the DNA of any fellowship, making mission who you are as opposed to something you do. It’s my desire, as well as my families desire, to be part of a fellowship that sends its people into the world to be a redemptive force for God as a way of life. While I do not want to neglect equipping and encouraging, I believe that this cultivating aspect of the Gospel exists for the purpose of being sent to make disciples.