Staff Team
Jake Brower: Lead Pastor
To tell you the truth, if you would have told me five years ago that today I would be a lead church planter, planting a new church from the ground up, I would have said you were crazy. God has brought me to this place, in this time, for this work, and I feel so privileged to be a part of what He is doing. I have been involved in ministry inside and outside the church for over ten years, and being a pastor's kid, I have been surrounded by ministry my entire life.
My ministry calling first came to me as a freshmen in high school while leading a group of 6th grade boys at a Young Life camp in Southern California. I spent the weekend feeling completely out of my element. I felt inadequate in just about every way, but it was that weekend that I got my first taste of being used by the Creator to usher another soul into the family of God and I have never looked back.
I spent the next six years of my life working in and for Young Life, and my love for the King and passion for His Kingdom grew.
I moved to Nebraska in the spring of 2002 with my family to continue pursuing my degree at the University of Nebraska-Kearney. It was during the next three years while living in Kearney, that God began creating in me an intense passion for the Church. I worked as a youth pastor there while being given the opportunity to cultivate my skills as a musician and worship leader.
In the winter of 2005, I graduated from UNK with a degree in secondary education. We decided to move to Ashland, NE to be a part of a new church plant called Riverview Community Church.
My call to church planting came in the context of my partnering with my parents at Riverview Community Church where I ministered as the youth pastor and worship pastor for three years. Over those years, I watched the Life-Giving Lifestyle transform me, my family and so many others that God afforded me the opportunity to disciple. It was in this vein that I was called to lead this new work, "Finding Life Church."
I am currently enrolled in seminary and enjoy that while I continue to do ministry in the real world.
Apart from Christ, I am a broken, sinful, worthless human, with very little to offer even from a human standpoint. But in Christ I stand complete and powerful, filled with the Spirit and equal to the task of being a warrior for the kingdom of Jesus Christ. What an amazing reality to live in, huh?
James Bergsten: Student Life Pastor
James, his wife Emily, and their kids Gavin, Chloe and Will, have been on an incredible journey over the past few years. In all they have been through with job changes, relocations and other life events, they have remained committed to the vision of Finding Life Church. They are truly the Lord's, and have proven their undying devotion to the Kingdom over the past few years.
James got his undergrad degree from Nebraska Weslyan in Lincoln. After four years and a business degree, James felt called to youth ministry. James began formal ministry as a youth intern at Trinity Evangelical Free Church in Holdrege, NE. After two awesome years serving there, he felt a pull to increase his knowledge of pastoral ministry and moved to Canada to begin taking seminary classes at Trinity Western. Midway through his degree he met a girl, moved back to Nebraska and began his life as a husband and father.
After marrying and moving to Lincoln, James took a ministry position as the Southwest Area Director for Youth for Christ/Campus Life. In that position he directly oversaw student ministry at Lincoln Southwest and Scott Middle School.
James is an incredible man with an ability for understanding, connecting with, and influencing students. The Lord's working through him has produced incredibe fruit wherever he has gone. Together with his wife Emily, they possess a gift for reaching students right where they are at which will continue to produce fruit long into the future.
Tiffany Murdoch: Kids Life Director
My husband, Nate and I moved to Omaha six years ago from Kearney, Nebraska when Nate was accepted to the University of Nebraska Medical Center. I worked as a paraprofessional in an Omaha elementary school helping with visually impaired children for one year and then taught high school history for three years in Bellevue. I love teaching and being in a school setting. It is truly my passion as a career. Two years ago, God blessed us with a family and I now stay home with our two sons, Bennett and Maxwell.
I became a Christian at the age of five and cannot really remember life without knowing that God was there and that He loves me. Life goes through many different seasons and now being a mom has changed my outlook as a child of God once again. I love my time to worship with Bennett as he is learning more and more about life and I am eager to do the same with Maxwell.
This attitude of worship is why I am passionate about the kids ministry at Finding Life Church. I feel like it is unlike anything I have ever been a part of. I have taught traditional Sunday school and worked in a daycare, but Kids Life is different because the goal is so kingdom focused. First, we believe that “prayer is the work.” That means that each of the teachers and nursery workers are encouraged to pray and watch for each of the kids by name. We know that nothing that we do or say will make a difference in these kids’ lives unless God is working in their hearts at the same time. We also want to focus on teaching kids to live life as walking worshipers, seeing God in even the smallest moments of their day and praising, thanking, and submitting to Him constantly. By teaching lessons through the truths of the Bible, we are able to help kids think about God and worship in every little moment of their day and that is so exciting.
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