What does it really look like to trust God through a long and difficult calling? The story of Word of Life Church in Carlsbad, New Mexico answers that question in a powerful and deeply personal way. Pastor Daniel received a call from the Holy Spirit in 1982 while standing in a driveway in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Nine years passed before the church launched. Those years were not a delay. They were preparation.

When the church finally opened in 1991, the early days were marked by small crowds, financial hardship, and the kind of unglamorous faithfulness that rarely makes it into highlight reels. Pastor Daniel worked three jobs to keep his family afloat, delivering pizzas and newspapers while leading a congregation that sometimes consisted of just his own family. Yet through every hard season, the call remained clear: keep doing what God said to do. ...