Jason Hansen first came to Resurrection Life Church because he had to.
He was sentenced to serve community service time with the church maintenance crew. He wasn’t looking forward to serving time at the church and he didn’t expect a warm welcome because he wasn’t a Christian and didn’t plan to change that.
“When I started in community service here I wasn’t going to try acting like a Christian. I wasn’t one,” he said. “I didn’t expect to be received or accepted well.”
To his surprise, Jason found he was welcomed on the work team Christian or not.
“The warm reception that I received; the love that everyone showed me was just amazing,” he said. “(It) really opened my eyes and made me think ‘What is going on here?'”
Intrigued by how the staff befriended him, Jason decided he’d give the Sunday morning crowd a try. Again, he was welcomed and kept coming back.
On his third visit to Sunday service, Jason felt something tugging at his heart and he went forward to make Christ the Lord of his life.
“When I got saved, I just felt in my heart…God had a better life for me,” he said. “I knew…giving my life over to him was the right thing to do and I had to do it.”
After making this commitment, everything changed for Jason.
“Before that, I was doing all sorts of things,” he said. “I was living a whole different lifestyle: partying, drugs, alcohol all that kind of stuff. Walking with God is a whole different lifestyle.”
Jason found a new group of friends through Access—ResLife’s ministry for18-24 year olds. Over the next several years Jason continued finding ways to live out his faith. From volunteering on outreaches to helping in the youth ministry, Jason has taken his newfound faith beyond Sunday mornings and let God make all the difference in his life.
“I had never imagined that I would be where I am today when I started working at the church doing community service,” he said.
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Editors note: Since this was originally written, Jason has been actively involved as a volunteer at ResLife until he recently joined the U.S. Army.