Church for the Community Increases Irresistibility Factor

With the announcement of a new addition to their family, New Life Community Church has created quite a lot of excitement among those familiar with their ministry.   

New Life, which is committed to being "a church for the community", is welcoming Scott Jones into the fold as Lead Pastor.  Scott, who has been serving as interim teaching pastor, will partner with current Senior Pastor, Steve Lingenfelter, to form the Senior Leadership team for New Life.  The addition of Pastor Scott enables Steve to move into what he refers to as, his “sweet spot”.  As Executive Pastor, Steve will be using his gifts to serve in areas he truly loves. 

The people of New Life have embraced this adjustment in leadership with great anticipation of what God is going to do in the days ahead.  As Mother Teresa once said:  “What I do, you cannot do; but what you do, I cannot do ……. together we can do something wonderful.”  This could well be the defining statement for the leadership team of Steve Lingenfelter and Scott Jones.  Their God given gifts and shared vision set the example for New Life to continue to grow as a church for the community by living lives of irresistible influence.

Scott and his family; wife, Donita their daughter, Morgan, age 12 and son, Noah, age 9 will be “heading west” from their current home in the east valley. Scott received his Masters in Theology from Dallas Theological Seminary, and in 1991, began his ministry at Pantego Bible Church in Arlington, Texas.  Over a 10 year period, Scott played numerous roles in the development and growth of Pantego Bible Church serving as Singles Pastor, Pastor of Worship Programming, Pastor of Biblical Community, and Teaching/Executive Pastor. One of the highlights was leading in the relocation from their 7-acre Arlington campus to a new 76-acre campus in Fort Worth in 2001.

In May 2001, Scott believed, and Donita confirmed, that God was calling him to be a Lead Pastor. After much prayer and exploration God led Scott and Donita to Grace Community Church in Tempe, Arizona. Over a five year season of ministry Scott led Grace through a change process to position them for a renewed season of outreach, spiritual formation and community. Scott and Donita feel they had a great 5 year journey at Grace. Their faith was stretched beyond belief and their experience with God and his people was inspiring. But they sensed their time at Grace was complete and said goodbye in June of last year.

In December of 2007, God connected Scott and Steve Lingenfelter together through a mutual friend.  Steve invited Scott to serve as Interim Teaching Pastor at New Life while he we was discerning his next permanent role in ministry. Through many conversations and a lot of prayer, Steve and the New Life Elder Team invited Scott to serve as the new Lead Pastor of New Life.  As Scott and Donita continued to seek God’s direction, it was confirmed to them that Lead Pastor of New Life was to be Scott’s next permanent role.

The Senior Leadership Team of Scott Jones and Steve Lingenfelter are the embodiment of God’s call in  1 Peter 4:10:  “Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms.”  Scott and Steve are really excited about the upcoming teaching series planned for this year and look forward to making an impact in people’s lives in the west valley.