A letter to you from Jeff Maskevich...

Dear friends,

God loves you and has a difficult plan for your life. Can you relate to this? Carrie and I sure can. We moved to Ames in July of 2007 to do something beyond ourselves - to start a new church from scratch. It is an intense and challenging adventure and we're holding on tight! There is nothing more real than God's love and providence. We are excited to see what God will grow.

I always wanted to be a farmer. I never had the courage to be a Marine. Spiritually speaking I'm now doing both - One, planting a new church, and two, fighting for the name of Jesus and His Gospel.

I have always been an entrepreneur at heart. It is part of my DNA to take risks and to start new things. My journey has been a little out of the ordinary. The risks I have taken have been not for things but for people - for their care and for their souls. This has been is my story up to now:

• music major at ISU
• carpenter
• salesman
• newspaper publisher
• prison chaplain
• pastor
• house dad in a maternity home
• now a church planter

During 10 years of prison ministry I saw firsthand the disastrous failings of men to take responsibility for their choices. In the church ministry I saw the weaknesses of men to lead the church and to stand up for one another. In maternity home ministry I saw the consequences of men who violated women. Men who were unable to control their sexual lust.

Prison ministry, reforming church ministry, and maternity home ministry are all absolutely essential. However, they are all band aids that treat the failings of men after the fact. We must again treat the source of the problem - that is the hearts of men. Men must be reached before their problems devastate more lives.

God's clear call and my gifts have led me to where I am today. To start fresh. To reach men, not with programs and religiosity but with Jesus. My goal is to bring together a church in Ames, Iowa that has the courage, passion, and vision to transform this community starting with the men. Not to enable, but to equip and develop men to follow hard after Jesus. To be Christians that are so unique and dynamic in our culture that other men will stand up and take notice, and then want to follow. My mission is clear - boldly and forcefully reach men. The message is most powerful - Jesus and His Gospel. A new church plant is just the way to git 'r done.

God's love and His plan are being played out before us. We are looking for spiritual sowers, Christian soldiers, and especially skeptics and seekers to be part of His great and loving drama. If you really want to find your self you must be willing to look beyond your self. We welcome you to come and join us. But if you do - be ready to hold on tight.

To His Glory,

Jeff