Pastor Bob Novak

Pastor Bob Novak is the pastor of a church, Life Christian Fellowship, in Springfield, Pa. Originally from Nebraska and ended up in Pa from a call of God and recalls God had to do some "mystical things" to get him to Pa. Prompted by dreams given by God. His direction was to go to a metropolitan area. After reading mail that he almost threw out, his wife and him felt a prompting to plant churches in and around Philadelphia. He planted a church in Springfield, Pa by raising funds and working with many other people. He says the real test is the implimentation of the church plant is what is tough. Everything about it is tough. The area they planted was a very religious area with strong Catholic ties. They brought no launch teams but used Bible Studies and children's programs to help grow. He quotes, "It's amazing what God will do when you don't quit."

"When you plant and have a small core to begin with it is all about building relationships." he says. They met in an elementary school and actually made headlines in the local papers because at first, it was not allow. They did not want to start a fight but met and talked with the school board and the lawyer. With more than half coming from Catholicism.

What are some things that helped to grow the church?

They tried a lot of things. Their greatest success was individuals that come and connect with Jesus in meaningful ways and became great evangelists. Also using servant evangelism or meeting the needs of people. An example, giving windshield washer fluid to people on snowy or rainy days. It is basically meeting the practical needs of the neighborhood. Building friendships and relationships with people is also a must.

Souperbowl of Caring. Which is going out an canvasing the neighborhood to collect canned goods for families in need.

They also have a preschool on site. Pastor Novak states that it is a lot of work but it has been a good place to help pray and meet the needs of others through it.

Many from Africa live in Philadelphia, especially from areas of civil war. Found that many African immigrants were coming to a church they started in Darby. It is an African church with many different nationalities and a vibrant youth. Their culture is different than ours, specifically church culture.

"It is amazing what God has put inside of you. The potential that is in you is amazing."- Pastor Bob Novak

Internships

In their internship, they pour into their life and require them complete a project that requires vision. They pour into them with leadership, personalities, and much more. The project is something that comes from the intern themselves. They try to expose them to the family life of the church. They are a paid internship: approximatally $300 a week and a roof over their head.

Discipleship

They use Chip Ingram's "R12" based on Romans 12. It is a DVD curriculum with discussion. Their needs to be dialogue and reaction but their needs to be relationships and engagement from those that have been believers for a while.

"Most exhilarating thing about planting churches is hearing the stories of whose lives were changed because of the plant."

Exist to serve the families of delaware county. Connect with God, connect with community and connect with families.

Pastor Bob is a very knowledgeable man. I really enjoyed hearing what he had to say about a bunch of topics. Most importantly I loved how he is very much into relating and forming relationships with people. Serving people is also a very important part, it seems, in his ministry. I also particularly love this because I feel the church today can sometimes look more at numbers as a show of success. Jesus was a very relational person and I feel we need to be relational as well. Jesus genuinely cares for people and He cares about their life. We need to care, genuinely, about what goes on in their life in order to have an impact.

Great man of God and great things to say!