ECC and the Brief History of FOL

Fountain of Life Covenant Church in Long Beach was planted in 2007. As the Lord began our multi-ethnic and multi-class church we have been planted in a denomination with a rich and vibrant history. Our roots begin with Martin Luther.

The conversion to Christ of Martin Luther was an act of God. The young and wild-living lawyer in training was struck by lightning. The odds of being struck by lighting are 567,000 to 1. While writhing on the ground in pain, Luther vowed that if God would spare his life he would become a monk. He kept his word and entered the monastery. He was deeply aware of his depravity and was sure he would be sent to hell. His mentor, Johann Von Staupvitz, called for him to love God but Martin was terrified. Martin would confess for six hours a day to his monk and pound his head on the desk. His mentor would call him to read the gospel. One has to wonder if he did this to avoid these six-hour confessionals.

This unexpected act of grace lead to the watershed moment of the reformation, the “Here I Stand” event when Martin Luther posted his 95 Theses at the Castle Church in Wittenberg. The reformation era lasted until 1648. The lasting effects of the Reformation spread dramatically throughout Europe. Luther’s greatest lasting contribution was objective doctrine, liberating the masses with salvation by grace through faith through Christ alone.
It was in the landscape of the Reformation that Philip Jacob Spener emerged. Spener filled out and balanced Luther’s objective doctrine with personal piety and a renewed commitment to sanctification. Spener, a German Christian, is known as the “Father of Pietism”.

He influenced a great many through his writing, most notably in penning a widely influential book, Pia Desideria. In his book he highlighted six specific ideas in order to bring about Biblical renewal to the church. These ideas became the core framework of the Pietist Movement:

1. More extensive use of the Bible throughout the church

2. Greater exercise of the spiritual priesthood of all believers

3. Knowledge of faith is not enough, Christianity consists of practice

4. Lessening of theological disputes and controversy

5. Spiritual formation and scholarship training for pastors

6. Preaching is to produce faith and fruitful living

The symbol of the Pietist movement is the burning heart. Taken from Luke 24 and the disciples on the road to Emmaus, the symbol captured the experience of the heart that is set fire by the Word of God. As the fire burns deeply within the soul, that Holy Spirit inspired life, will bear fruit. The symbol of the burning heart is a counter image to the focus on the mind. Where the scholasticism movement stoked the flames of intellectual pride, the Pietist movement countered with a vision capturing Spirit-empowered disciples bearing deeds of faith.

In the spirit of Luther, the objective theologian, and Spener, the leader of sanctification and personal pietism of the Reformation, FOL was planted. Luther states that “the church is where the Word is preached and the sacraments are ministered.” Here is a small capsule of seven benchmarks in the history of FOL:

1. Power Encounter
Fountain of Life Covenant Church began as a campus minister. Pastors John and Becky Teter planted an InterVarsity chapter at Cal State Dominguez Hills to reach college students from urban poor backgrounds. On the very first day Pastor John stepped onto campus, he encountered a homeless man at the north gate. To this day, ten years later, he never again saw a homeless man at this gate. As he walked by, the man began to manifest demonic possession. He began cursing, and yelling at the top of his lungs, “We don’t want you here!” That first mission team treasured deeply in their hearts that God was going to do a deep work in the city that the enemy does not want to happen

2. The Evangelical Covenant Church
After a four-year cycle of fruitful urban ministry, the campus ministry team realized that the core issues of the campus were tied deeply to the city. The issues of gangs, dysfunctional families, drug addiction, and urban poverty were beyond the scope of campus work. On a Tuesday the team wondered if God were calling them to plant an urban church. The next day, Pastor John met with a Christian businessman. The team did not know that the businessman was also a church planter with the Evangelical Covenant Church. As Pastor John walked into the office, the man opened up the meeting by asking John, “Have you ever thought of planting a church?” Pastor John said, “Yesterday.” This was our Macedonian call (Luke 16.6-9) to the Evangelical Covenant Church.

3. The Sacraments
Two regular highlights of our church life together is the enjoying of the sacraments. The Lord has given us tangible and physical signs of two of his greatest truths. Baptism is the physical symbol that those who die with Christ will be raised with him. Communion is our special moment, twice a month, where we remember the One who’s every promise will come true. The sacraments have given our church great joy!

4. Conversions
In our first four years, the Lord has been so faithful to give new life. It is our mission to seek and save the lost with Jesus of Nazareth. Time would fail us if we were to list all of the Nicodemus’ (religious people) and Women at the Well (non-religious people) who have experienced the New Birth and become disciples through the FOL ministry.

But we would be remiss if we were to neglect the hope of God that we have seen in Chef Mike Martinez, Rudy Jimenez, Pedro Franco, Marc and Francine Salas, Robert Williams, Keva Green, Danielle Tate, Alex Perez, and James Carroll to name a few.

5. Suffering
On January 1, 2008, Mark and Midi Mikasa, two founding members of Fountain of Life Covenant Church were hit by a drunk driver. The Mikasa family was traveling home from their new-years day celebration when their van was violently struck by a speeding truck that ran a red light. Midi Mikasa, age 34, and Nathan Mikasa, age 4, passed into glory. This was a devastating loss for Mark and Lucas, who survived the accident.

Our young and new church suffered deeply with Mark and Lucas. From our communal suffering, we have all emerged with a deeper sobriety towards life, a profound experience of what it means to love one another, and a commitment to never loiter on our heavenly journey.

6. The Family Center
God planted FOL in the Pietist heritage that we might be disciples who live out our faith. Spener’s early ministry was marked by social action and a practical love for the poor. In response to a prophetic Word from God, the Lord led Becky Teter to plant the FOL Family Center. We now have a beacon of light in a dark and under-resourced neighborhood. Under the leadership of Keva Green, FOL serves our local community with excellent educational tutoring, English as second language classes, health and fitness training, Bible study, culinary arts training, and many other evangelistic on-ramps into the church.

7. The West Side
Fall 2010 marked the Holy Spirit leading FOL to move our Sunday service location. The leadership team sought God and concluded that he wanted us to realign and focus the majority of our resources to the Westside of Long Beach. We will now host Sunday worship services at a location that makes it easier for the urban poor around the Family Center to own the work of the church within their own community. While change is always difficult, we feel this pruning at year 3 will produce much fruit that will bring glory to God!