LifeWater Community Church is a part of the Missionary Church Denomination.

Our Leadership

Reverend Doug Beutler received his Ministry Training and graduated from Fort Wayne Bible College in 1982.  He was ordained by the Missionary Church in 1990. He has planted two churches during his ministry, in 1994 and 2004. He started LifeWater Community Church in 2004 in his living room and it has grown to what it is today. Doug has a passion for church planting and for lost people. His mission is to help each family, find and fully follow Christ.

Our History

In 2002, my wife, Kim and I had a sense we were being called to plant another church. We had a heart for our neighborhood and our kids' school. It wasn't until 2003, that after two separate situations, we knew that planting a new church was the direction God was leading us. 

In 2004, I was coaching softball with another pastor who also had the same call on his heart. On Labor Day weekend, we met for our first service on my boat. We continued to meet in living rooms and called ourselves "House to House Church."  We met from September 2004 to April 2005, but not one family came and joined the church.  In fact, only three families visited.  I realized that having people come to a home for Sunday morning church was very difficult for the families in our community.  Though the church was meeting the needs of our two families, God was calling us to do something more.  So Kim and I prayed about what to do next.

Having already planted a church in the past, I knew I wanted this time to be different. I through out what I knew about planting churches and trusted God to bless this church. Focusing less on production and business models, I started this church to be about the relationships and preaching the Truth. So in May 2005, we moved our little church to a public place and held our first public service, at Keystone School, and people came.  By August the church had a new name, LifeWater Community Church, based on the story of the woman at the well in John 4. The church continued with its mission of helping each family find and fully follow Christ.  People were coming to know the Lord, being baptized, and growing in their faith. God was moving.

The Merger

By November of 2007, LifeWater had outgrown its facility and we decided to look for a different building within a few miles of where we were currently meeting that would work for our growing needs. God was moving. We were not very successful in finding a place to go. One of our board members had an idea to send a letter out to all the churches located in the southwest area to see if any were closing or moving.  How do you write a letter like that?  I couldn't do it.  So I prayed.  God was moving. 

Finally, in February 2008, God gave me the words and I wrote a letter and sent it out to most of the southwest area churches.  I remember standing by the mailbox praying, "God do something with this letter.  Lead us to where we are to go next."  I got a call the very next week from a local church saying that they received our letter and they would help us look. 

A few weeks later, I got a call from an elder of Liberty Hills Baptist Church.  He asked me many questions.  He told me that the church was struggling and they currently had no pastor.  I told him that I would be happy to help them restart their church because I believed in the Kingdom of God and in the church.  God was moving even though at the time I wasn’t sure about which direction He was moving us in.

A couple of weeks after that the elder called me again and asked for a meeting of the elders of the two churches.  We met with their elders and they asked many questions about what we believed and how we did things.  Toward the end of the meeting, they asked if we would consider joining together.  Praise God, prayers were being answered. I later found out that even before Liberty Hills Church received my letter, one of their members had suggested that maybe the church should consider merging with another church.  I was awestruck at how God worked out His plan.  We were able to help a dying church, increase our meeting space, and relocate only 1.3 miles from our current location.  God was moving.

On August 17, 2008, after a summer of learning and growing together, both congregations voted to accept the donation of the church, and to accept the members of Liberty Hills into the fellowship of LifeWater Community Church.  What a miracle!  We couldn’t have dreamed it any better. Now there is no longer a distinction between the two churches. We are simply brothers and sisters in Christ. God continues to bless us as we faithfully serve Him.  We must never forget this awesome miracle by such an awesome God!  We were excited to see what God would have next for us.

Our Growth

The following four years brought increased growth and ministry.  But by 2012, both Kim and I were feeling the pull between the demands of my full-time job, and the growing needs of our church body.  In June, I approached the Board about the church’s need for a full-time minister.  I was willing to either step aside so a full-time pastor could be hired, or leave my regular job and come on board as their full-time minister. 

The Church Board voted to take two motions to the congregation:  The first motion was that we needed a full-time pastor and the second motion was that I was to be that pastor.  The congregation voted unanimously for me to come on full-time. In January 2013, I came on full-time as the pastor of LifeWater Community Church. 

At almost the same time we were stepping out in faith to support a full-time pastor, the Board felt that God was calling LWCC to reach out to the community.  After much prayer by the elders and deacons, the decision was made to approach the church about starting a drop-in daycare.  We would use our facility as a place where parents could drop off their children for anywhere from one to sixty hours a week.  Our hope was and is that God would use this as another way for our church to reach out to the community and support the family, and that in this way we might help them grow spiritually as a family.  In February 2013, the church voted to start a drop-in daycare and Kids Krossing Drop in Daycare opened its doors of May 2013.  God showed his faithfulness and blessed our daycare. It now fully supports itself and draws a profit and is growing every year. 

We now employ a full time pastor and a full daycare staff. Due to the success of Kids Krossing, we have been able to minister to even more families in the community. 

This year 2020, like most every one else, came like a wrecking ball, but God was always in control. Our church has grown closer and God is moving through these circumstances. We are excited to bring on Children’s Pastor, Brian Swanson, who comes to us from Pennsylvania. New and exciting changes are happening at LifeWater with renovations, outdoor services, and livestreaming. God has been with us through every step of the way, and will continue to use our little church to do great things for His Kingdom.

As you can see, all through our history we have tried to keep up with where God is moving.  It is our heart’s desire to listen and obey His calling for our church.  We can’t wait to see what God is going to do next!

                           -Pastor Doug Beutler