Today we’d like to introduce you to Ben Ward.
Hi Ben, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
Our story began in Shreveport Louisiana, where we grew up and were called into what we are doing today.
We both grew up in church but neither of us had a real relationship with God. We’re were believers in Jesus but not followers.
As life separated from God would have it we both ended up in unhealthy, dark, and dysfunctional places. Our lives were riddled with broken relationships, addiction, mental and emotional heath issues, and just about every area of our life was in a deficit.
It all changed for us when we walked into the doors of a local church and found what had been missing from our lives. God’s presence! The absence and void of God’s life giving presence allowed all the sin, darkness and dysfunction to overwhelm our lives.
But as soon as we began receiving what we needed from God everything began to change and light began to shine in the darkness of our hearts. Life replaced death, truth replaced lies, purity and righteousness replaced sin and immorality.
Were became new people with new spirits and hearts. The old was gone and a new life was presented to us. God grafted us in to a new faith family that loves us and discipled us. They spoke truth and hope into our lives. They modeled what healthy relationships, marriages and families looked like.
God’s presence transformed us from the inside out and God’s people transformed us from the outside in! Everything we needed we found in that life giving place.
Now it’s our turn to build a church family exactly like that here in Celina!
The Best Is Yet To Come
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
When we moved here in 2015 to McKinney to Start RiverLife Church we didn’t know a single person in the whole city. As we started to build community and launch the church we began to see God leading us in a surprising direction.
He called us to lay down the church we were planting and serve at another church in the area. It was hard and confusing but we knew it was God leading us. So we laid everything down. The dream and calling that had been in our hearts as pastors at that point for over 10 yrs.
Not long after that I was on staff at the church and Covid hits. Needless to say if we would have been a baby church meeting in a school it would have been devastating to us and the church would not have survived. But God in his providence tucked us away in a strong church that easily survived that season.
We built robust community there in Prosper Tx and then in 2023 we started feeling stirrings of the vision God gave us resurfacing. In 2024 it was confirmed we would plant RiverLife Church in the fall of 2025.
We were graciously sent out by Gateway Church Prosper in February of 2025 and began building our team.
Now we’re launching RiverLife in Bothwell Elementary on Sept 21st. All the rough and winding roads and all the struggles only served to strengthen and advance us into the place God wanted us to build all along.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
Pastors of RiverLife Church
Our vision is to be a place where people can build lives and families that flourish and thrive.
So, before we go, how can our readers or others connect or collaborate with you? How can they support you?
Come and see what God is doing at RiverLife Church and how you can experience the same life transformation we did. We have many opportunities to plug people in to be a part of the church from groups to weekend services.
Contact Info:
Image Credits
Samantha Reynolds.
https://www.samanthamarie-photography.com/?fbclid=PAdGRleAMtMBxleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABp_um69_JnLnONg3aTdRJsre9G43FjUoUfJrVTqrcDc47EWzUVN46626m471Y_aem_4bfXWcTCNfIP4qO7fRMwwA
