Before I moved to Nampa, I had fallen away from following God's plan for my life. Then I moved to Nampa and found CFC. Ever since the first Sunday at CFC North, God has totally changed the way I think and view everyday things. I have become much more sensitive and aware to spiritual messages. Through CFC North, God has changed my life 100% for the better. [Stephen is the grandson of Pastor Jim Stephens. He came back to Christ about two months ago…radical change!

-Stephen Stearns

I was raised in a Catholic home. During high school, I started to run with the wrong crowd, drinking andpartying. I thought the only way out was to follow in my fathers' and grandfathers' footsteps, so I joined the US Army at age 17. In 1993, we were sent to Somalia, where I had to face the reality of a cruel, hateful world. It made me question my faith and beliefs to the core. How could God allow such inhumanity?

I became part of an operation to locate and grab a cruel warlord responsible for unspeakable torture and murder of his own people in the name of their "religion." During this operation, we lost 19 great men, and numerous men were wounded. The movie Black Hawk Down was later made about that 48 hours . During that mission, I was responsible for ending the lives of many people. I thought, "How could God forgive me, if there even is a God?" That's when I lost my faith. A year later, my best friend died in my arms with a traumatic head injury.

After all of this I started drinking heavily, and after I was discharged, I turned to pot too. I tried to move on with my life the best I could. I had run-ins with the law and a child out of wed lock, got married for the wrong reasons, was doing more drugs and drinking - my life was out of control. I met my wonderful wife in September 2007, moved to Idaho in March 2008, got married in October2008, and had two more beautiful children. I still wasn't happy. In January 2011 my marriage was suffering and divorce seemed imminent. I turned myself into the VA, where I was diagnosed with survivor's guilt, PTSD, and anxiety disorder.

After being on medication for a while, I felt like I was still missing something. I tried to go back to the Catholic church and tried several other churches but still felt like an outsider. My wife met Stacy and Dennis Harvey, who recommended CFC. I hesitated, thinking it would be like all the other churches. I was wrong. We went to CFC on August 14, 2011, and I had found my home. After several weeks of going to services, Pastor Monty baptized me and then dedicated my children. He has earned my trust and became my Spiritual Daddy. I knew about Jesus in my mind, but now I have Jesus in my heart. Thank you CFC.

There is so much to say how much CFC has changed my life, my wife's life, my children's lives. Even as I write this, I am tearing up. I really feel like I was one of those people you (Pastor Monty) were called to Idaho to touch. [Pastor Monty] and Kelli are such blessings. Thank you for everything you have done, whether you knew you were doing it or not. Your church saved me. I never talked publicly about the stuff that happened to me in the Army, and having the opportunity to do so helped me release a lot of the emotions I had tied up inside of me. I have always felt like I was called to do more and look forward to building my relationship with Jesus in the service of our church. God Bless you!

-Reed and Chelsea Pacheco

My life and choices before my reawakening in Christ can be summed up in two words: self-destructive and damaged. The three months since I've opened up my heart to the Lord have been some of the most fulfilling and blessed times in my whole 25 years. Instead of relying on the numbing qualities of drugs and alcohol to overshadow the guilt and shame I constantly tried to hide, I now rely on the will of God to guide my path and believe in the promise of forgiveness He has offered me through the precious sacrifice of His Son. I know that I am undeserving of His love, but He loves me anyway, and because He loves me, I am learning to love myself.

-Hilary Wilson

Tony: Karen and I have been married for 24 years. In those 24 years, we have been in and out of church, but I never really gave my whole life to Christ. After 23, years Karen finally had enough and wanted a divorce. In fact, she had already started the proceedings. Being separated and headed down a lonely road made me realize that I need Christ back into my life. I prayed and asked God to change my heart and put my life back together. Karen: This is true. I left, moved in with my parents, and was done. I told everyone I knew that it was over and there was no way I would ever go back to him. In fact, I think I even said it would have to be a miracle. Our problems were deep. To look from the outside in, you would never have guessed our marriage was in such dire trouble. On the surface we looked happy. We made good money, we pretty much did and had what we wanted - but to me it was much deeper. I was lonely and wanted desperately to have an intimate relationship…to feel loved and beautiful, and I wanted to feel ‘wanted’ by my husband. We got our miracle. Little by little, I started to see the change in Tony as he drew close to God and asked Him to change him and the situation. His Faith was amazing - and little by little God started changing my heart toward him. God is Faithful; God is Just; God can change the impossible. Through God all things are possible!! Tony: Karen and I have never been so close in our relationship; it’s amazing what can be done through prayer. We made CFC our home. We love the way we were accepted and loved. The leadership is so obedient to the Holy Spirit, and each and every service is dynamite! God is doing miraculous things and we want to be in the midst of it!

-Tony & Karen Urich

Amanda and I met when we were freshmen in high school. I came from a single-parent home that had been broken by divorce, and Amanda came from a home that had introduced her to drugs at a young age. We both became heavy drug attics by our freshman year in high school. Within the first year of our addictions, we had destroyed ourselves worse than most do in many years of addictions. By our sophomore year in high school, I was selling drugs, and Amanda was carrying around a bottle of vodka in her purse at all times. There seemed to be nothing but death in our lives – we were trying to kill ourselves with our addictions. By the time we were 18 years old, we were in advanced stages of addiction, having dropped out of school to party and sell drugs. One night Amanda’s father found her driving her car and forcefully took her home. Then after realizing her condition, he made her go to the hospital. She had not slept in days and was not in her right mind. The next night, I was arrested for a drug deal. Before they arrested me, I had ingested large amounts of meth, and I had an overdose while being arrested. Instead of taking me to jail, the police rushed me to the hospital. My heart stopped on the way there. They used life-saving measures to save me, but I was in a coma, and the doctors said that I would not make it out of this with the qualification that if I did, I would not be normal.

However, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ is above all things in life. The Lord gave me life again, and I made a full recovery, as did Amanda. I went to prison where I met the Lord Jesus. Pastor Monty came to see me before I was released from jail, and he told me about CFC. When I was released, I found Amanda and we started attending CFC together. The Lord changed our lives. Together we were born from every addiction. The Lord has provided for us wonderful jobs. We just bought our first home, and it is beautiful. Heeding the Lord’s call to youth ministry, we have finished ministerial school and are campus pastors at CFC North. We love the Lord and we love our home at CFC. We would love to have you be part of our family. Peace in and out…

-Pastors Jordan and Amanda Hodges, CFC North

First, a little bit of background: I've surrendered all to God. So I thought. I asked Him to search and reveal areas I need to release control over. Because He is faithful, He showed me. Apparently, I needed to trust Him with my finances. Tithe. Yikes. Tough area for me. I am determined to be faithful to Him though. I made the decision to give my tithe out of this recent paycheck. Can I afford that? Nope. But, He asked me to trust Him. I will. I do. Giving my tithe meant I had only $18 to my name until the next payday. Still, He asked me to trust Him. I agreed. I couldn't wait until Sunday so I could put my envelope in the offering bucket. Doing this was liberation for me. One more earthly chain would be broken. I was finally being obedient to Him. Oddly enough, I wasn't scared He was going to let me down. He has yet to fail me.

I made a promise to God on Friday that I would give my tithe on Sunday. He was quick to send blessings. Saturday, a random income of $60 came in hand. Wow. Now, I had $78 to last until payday. I hadn't even given my tithe yet! Sunday came and it was all I could do to contain myself until offering was taken. I gave my tithe with the happiest of spirits. I was excited to see how God was going to work things out. A supernatural gas mileage in the car and truck? Maybe another presentation of the bread and fish story? Heavenly manna? Who knew? He is full of surprises though! Monday, while at work, I got a phone call that a man came to the church office with an envelope for me. Hmm. Odd. The office staff claims they didn't know the guy. He just asked that they contact me to pick up this envelope. So strange. I went to the church office, and there was an envelope for me. On the front was my name and the bottom read "May God bless you and your family." WHAT?! Inside, $200 cash. Tithe = peace, joy, freedom, and blessings of which no dollar amount can equate. What's cool about this? I got to tithe $20 on Sunday!!!

-April Orduno

Here is the story of Josh and Torrie Wittchow as told by Rick & Stephanie Stockman, their neighbors and friends of eight years: Pastor Monty baptized Josh recently and baptized Torrie and their son Jordan in the old building. "In the summer of 2003, we both bought houses at the same time and were neighborly for years. We always invited the Wittchows to church, but they never came (we were doing ministry in Boise so that may have been the reason). They were the typical nice couple who loved acid metal music, drinking beer, and smoking a little pot. Torrie ended up having leukemia and asked us to pray for her in the summer of 2007. We told her we would definitely be praying for her. Through the course of treatments over the next year and a half I know that God was working on them more than ever.

On Halloween night of 2008, Torrie and her son Jordan came over to trick or treat and mentioned that the leukemia was gone, and she thanked me for praying. In April 2009, we started attending CFC and felt that God wanted us to begin inviting people from our neighborhood, schools, etc. and do ministry in our home town (first time in 7 years, so we were stoked). We attended CFC for the first three months and invited Josh and Torrie. They came, and one month later Torrie and son Jordan got baptized. I write this because the Wittchows are the perfect picture of true "Transformation." They have been attending CFC for almost two years now and have given up all alcohol, pot, and negative relationships. They have gone through Foundations, Transformations, and are now on the greeting team. They are so excited and on fire with the vision of CFC. It is truly amazing what God is doing. Last neat nugget....The Wittchows had a garage sale recently, and we just happened to pop over to say hello. Torrie had bunch of Halloween decorations for sale. We made a comment about it and Torrie said, "We aren't celebrating it anymore, it is about Harvest and that is it." As for the music, they threw away ALL of their hard metal music because they couldn't stand listening to anyone "speak against their God!" They are growing like crazy and are full of God and will be great leaders soon at CFC. This IS TRUE TRANSFORMATION!!

-Rick & Stephanie Stockman for Josh & Torrie Wittchow

Tina and I have come from broken homes and broken lives. We grew up with unthinkable things done to us. We tried to chase the demons away with drugs or alcohol,but they would only sleep for a short time, then torture would be upon us again. For 26 years, I tried to kill myself, and I would ask God why He would let these things happen to me. I would ask Him to please just let me die. Tina and I found each other in a loud, smoky bar about five years ago. The Lord came to her and through her came to me. About two and a half years ago, after drinking and drugging for 29 hours straight, I believe God came to me and said STOP, then brought us here to our new family (CFC). The Lord saved us and changed us. He opened our eyes and warmed our hearts. We asked Him to forgive us and He did. Then He blessed us with a very special gift only God could give, a baby boy named Christian, blessed by God’s healing hands. Thank you God for your love for us. Thank you CFC for your kind and loving ways toward us. Thank you for our new home.

-Jimmie Westby

Coming to CFC has changed my family's life so much that I could write a book about it. I would like to thank the Lord, Isaiah, and the blessed and anointed Pastoral staff. We were a lost and nonfunctioning family. We knew the Lord but were living a life separated from Him. We had sporadically visited churches around the valley but had not found one that had drawn us in and made us feel like part of the family. I felt a huge difference the first time I walked through the doors at CFC. We were warmly met by more than just greeters.

The way we got here was this: One day my six-year-old grandson, Isaiah, and I were driving down Midland. Isaiah said to me, 'Popo, you and I should start going to church together.' I looked over, and we were in front of CFC; so I said, 'How about this one?' We came the next Sunday and haven't missed one since - ten months later. Soon my granddaughter, Jasmine, asked to join us. She had to see what her little brother was so excited about. They attend the children's church and love it. One Sunday they asked Pastor Kevin to help them accept Jesus as their Savior. I had also been brought back before the Lord and had rededicated my life to Him. Soon after, my wife, Shirley, started attending with us. She had soon rededicated her life to the Lord and started living a Christian life as never before. The four of us were recently baptized. Then, our 30-year-old son, Michael, who had occasionally joined us, gave his life to the Lord and took up his walk. Our prayers were answered, and our family reconciled. Now our family prays together and walks in the Lord's path as a family is supposed to do. Please come in and check out a church where the Lord is at work, the Holy Spirit resides, and the Gospel is delivered. It can change your life. If you want to know more or need a ride to service, call Mike Richardson at 350-9901. JESUS - don't live life without Him!

-Mike Richardson

Christian Faith Center is a place where you can find love, friendship and genuine caring.  Opportunities for growth and ministry are unmatched. Becoming a part of CFC is joining a huge family where anyone who is alone can find friends, brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers, and grandparents ready to love you with God's unfailing love. There is something for everyone...children, teens, college age, young marrieds, or seniors. CFC nourishes and encourages during the storms of life. They know how to pray for the needs of the lost and hurting. An awesome pastoral staff is always available to laugh or even cry along with you and hug you when you need to be hugged. I guess what we are trying to say is: CFC IS USER FRIENDLY!!

-Ruben & Betty George {Reuben went home to be with Jesus in 2010. He is missed but praising with Jesus!}

My parents divorced when I was five, and even at that young age, I became angry. I was 10 when I started self-mutilating, but before long that wasn’t enough. So I started doing marijuana and meth at age 12, moving on to needles when I was 15. I did drugs –as many heavy ones as you could think, even IV drugs for a while –steadily until I was 21. I was depressed, suicidal, and self-mutilating to mask the pain.

When I was 18, someone invited me to a wedding at a Christian church, and I saw the Lord’s love there. I tried on my own strength to get into the Lord and into the Word, but Satan kept me deceived. I even joined the military to get away from it all. But I fell back into drugs, filling my void with all the wrong things.

I felt that there was no way out; I was dug so deep. I was sick of it, but I couldn’t stop by my own strength. I couldn’t stand it, and I wanted to die. But it’s such a lie that you can’t be released. Satan made me think that there was no way out. When you give your life to the world, the truth is far from you.

I have died twice in my life. The first time, I tried to commit suicide, was dead on arrival. The Lord gave me a second chance. The second time I died, I overdosed. A person who was with me performed CPR. Obviously, the Lord has a plan for my life. He has blessed me beyond measure, giving me multiple chances at life.

I begged the Lord for disgust for the drugs, and the Lord gave me not exactly what I thought I had asked for, but definitely what I needed. When I found out I was pregnant, I couldn’t believe I had done these disgusting things to my own flesh and blood inside me. My being pregnant turned out to be my answer to prayer. The Lord delivered me from 10 years of smoking cigarettes and eight years of drugs. He is a mighty Lord and awesome God.

I started coming to CFC almost a year ago. God snapped my chains and released me from the bonds of hell. In August of 2008, Pastor Monty baptized me at Christian Faith Center. I committed my life to Jesus, freed from my sins and Satan’s lies.

I share my testimony so that people who are going through the things I endured will know that God is the way out. I’ve “been there, done that.” Satan tells lies from the pit of Hell that you can’t be released from drugs, from addictions. But there is hope. There IS a way. That hope is the saving power of Jesus Christ. He delivered me from a life-long drug addiction, suicide, and utter hopelessness. He can do the same for you.

-Tera Filan