The Vision
by Pastor Rick Shelton

In 1979, the Lord gave me a vision.

I saw a sea of humanity. I was standing in front of them teaching them the Word of God. They were all holding Bibles, notebooks, and pencils.  They were taking notes about what was being taught. Between the masses of people were aisles filled with hurting, sick people in wheelchairs and stretchers. I saw the people get out of their seats and begin to minister healing to the sick ones. The Lord said, "Rick, If you will be faithful and obedient, what you see will take place in St. Louis, Missouri."

First of all, at the time of this vision, I was pastoring a small church In South Carolina. I had no plans to come back to St Louis where I had been raised. I never would have conceived such a large dream In my own mind.

When I saw In this vision, Instantly there was put in my heart a passion to see the masses of lost and hurting people come to Jesus. Since that time, evangelism has been a driving force in my life. I've been associated with churches and Christians my whole life who were satisfied with a small harvest. The churches were more like social clubs, heaping all the blessings and fruit upon the church rather than seeing the vision God gave to Abraham, "In you all the nations shall be blessed."

What God has blessed us with, I believe, we owe to the billions who are lost without Christ. The church must exist for a cause bigger than Herself, the universal cause of Christ. The church is not a country club where people join to enjoy the programs and facilities, but rather, the church as a base station for reaching the world with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The church is not an organization, but an organism - alive, vibrant, and functioning as the Spirit gives life and power.

The church must function in the power of the Spirit. The Kingdom of God always comes with power, where the true Gospel is preached. It will always be accompanied with supernatural power such as healing, deliverance, divine intervention of God in our life, strong convictions, and the Spirit bearing witness with us. The majority of men and women will never be converted by intellectual argument. What they need is a church or another Christian who confronts them with the supremacy of God.

Men must be made whole and the power of argument will never do the job. Only a divine encounter with God's supernatural power will free men from their bondages and make them whole.

In the vision, I saw all the people living as disciples. "Disciple" is a key word for Life Christian Church. As mere church members, Christians will never make an impact on their world. God's people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge. Every believer must study to show himself approved as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, being able to rightly divide the Word of Truth. Every believer must be committed to their own spiritual growth. I cannot mature for you, but I am deeply committed to the spiritual progress of all disciples at LCC! The messages you hear from the pulpit of LCC are not intended to do the complete job of maturing you as a Christian, but they will help you get started, keep you on the right path, and point out the dangerous curves to you.

We are committed at Life Christian Church to provide a systematic plan that anyone can plug into, at whatever level of spiritual maturity they are on, and be discipled fully into what God wants for their life. It is up to you to plug yourself In. The Lord spoke this word to me many years ago,  "Rick, I have not called you to be a dictator of their faith, but a helper of their joy."  God has given the leadership at LCC the spiritual authority to lead multitudes into the fulfillment of God's plan for their lives, but we believe it is wrong for us as leaders to control or manipulate your destiny. As believers submit themselves to the leadership of Life Christian Church, we want to equip them and empower them to do what God has assigned them to do without being dependent on the leadership in an unnatural way. In other words, we want to disciple you to Jesus, not to ourselves.

I saw in the vision, the multitude in the Body of Believers getting up and ministering to one another. I believe the role of Spiritual leadership is to equip and then to mobilize the believers for the work of the ministry. Life Christian Church is to be equipped and mobilized to take the city with the love of Christ. We believe every Christian has a distinct calling and ministry in the church and in their world.

ln the vision, l saw the primary ministry of LCC (therefore its people) was to minister healing, hope, love and to help-the lost, the hurting, the sick, etc. Those who are well do not need a physician.

Lastly in the vision, the Lord said, "If you will be faithful and obedient, what you see in this vision will come to pass in St Louis, Missouri.  The Lord will not work His plan through a careless, half-hearted people. We must allow Christ to set us apart from this world (which is passing away) and the love of it to live a holy life before Him.