by Rich Birch: Today we’re talking leadership and Biblical hospitality with Jersey’s own Terry A. Smith. God has done some incredible things in Terry’s church over the years. Terry A. Smith is the Lead Pastor of The Life Christian Church (TLCC) in West Orange and Paramus, New Jersey. Over the past 27 years, TLCC has grown from 54 members to a church family approaching 3,000 people. A non-denominational Christian community, TLCC is known for its vibrant diversity and robust leadership culture with people from more than 132 distinct communities in the New York City Metro area who are regularly engaged in the life of the church.
Terry is with us to discuss church diversity, hospitable environments, and what it was like to move from the Midwest to a suburb of the Big Apple.
Diversity among better-life-seekers. Terry came to TLCC from Indiana in the early 90’s and started pastoring what was a small church of immigrants at the time. They welcomed him into their midst and the lessons he learned from them have helped shape TLCC’s culture tremendously. Today TLCC’s congregation continues to be diverse, coming from different communities, political backgrounds and ethnicities, but what ties them together is the common thread of being hungry to get better at life. These folks tend to be leaders and respond to a message of leadership, so Terry and his team have worked to build a culture of leadership within their church.
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Source: Hospitable Leadership at Your Church with Terry A. Smith