Influential Church Planter
CLI Graduate, William Dayton, has President Henry Reyenga excited about his work in ministry. William is always witnessing for God, and he also is an influential church planter starting a new church in Philips, Wisconsin. Philips is a town that William describes as a mini Seattle because there are many different religions and its liberal.
William wasn’t always as on fire for the Lord as he is now. He grew up in a Jewish family. Where he learned how to argue that Jesus isn’t the Messiah.
I came from a Jewish family; they’re not pleased. My wife was a Baptist, so they (my parents) already were upset with me to begin with. I used to have fun with Christians talking them out of believing that Christ was the Messiah. As a Jew, you get pounded on how Jesus isn’t the Messiah. My grandfather was a Jewish priest. I became a Christian in 2005. The very first strike was my Hebrew was great my Greek was shaky. A priest asked me when Jesus was on the water what did he say to his disciples because my argument at the time was God never made a claim to divinity. I said Christ said to his disciples “don’t worry I’m here”. That’s where you’re wrong the priest told me, the original Greek says “Do not fear I am,” which is a claim to divinity. It was the first time I had been shut down, and I started to study more into my Bible. Isaiah 53 was the first strike, and Psalm 22 was the second.
William now is an influential church planter who is determined to bring back those he converted to Judaism. He also witnesses to everyone he meets who will listen to how Jesus is the Messiah.
After I had become a Christian, I thought, “My God, My God, why have I forsaken you?” After I realized the mistake I had made I was trying to go back and re-win everybody for Christ. I started to have Bible studies on why I was wrong. I started helping people come back to God all over the place.
William is involved in many ministries; one is he picks up those people from the bars that are too intoxicated to drive. He witnesses about God as he takes them home. William took the Church Planter class at CLI and has faithfully done all the things the class suggested.
Every time you said to do something in the church planting class I went out and did it. I started in living rooms. I would borrow other churches and sit in basements if I could. I would pick people up from bars.
William being an influential church planter is planting a church called Lakeview. Lakeview hasn’t even started yet but has already more people than space in the church.
There are 11 churches here in Philips. I have the largest parking lot of the churches and the only Saturday night service, as well as Sunday. We’ve already outgrown my church, and we haven’t even had the first service.
CLI has given William the tools and knowledge to be an even more influential church planter as he witnesses for Christ in Philips, Wisconsin.
My name is Christopher (Chris) Steggles, and I live with my wife Sue in Eastleigh, which is a town close to the City of Southampton in the UK. We have been married for 34 years and have three daughters now all living away from home. Professionally I am a retired Information Technology Consultant, a field I went into in 1968.
I had been loosely connected with the Church since I was a child I went to Sunday School and maintained some connections over the years. But I became a Christian in 1970 in the Open Brethren. They gave a solid grounding in Scripture, and I was baptised in 1971. I had some problems with alcohol in the years 1972-1975 but came back to a relationship with Jesus and was an active member of one of the Restoration Churches in London. But my problems with alcohol were not quite over – and my first marriage came apart in 1981. God’s Grace cannot be measured – despite all my problems, He brought Sue and me together, and I started to resolve my alcohol problem. It took some time – and with active participation in both Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) and the Church I finally achieved a measure of sobriety.
With 23 years of sobriety, I have now been very active in AA over the past nine years. I have a clear vision that the level of fellowship achieved in AA is what we so desperately need in the Church. Philip Yancey talks about this in his books – he refers to the Midnight Church as demonstrating the deep commitment of AA members to one another.
I have shared this vision with two of our pastors – I am not sure they fully understand it, but I have their support, and my senior pastor has arranged a suitable mentor for me.
I believe that God has called me to preach the message of real commitment to both Jesus and each other within the Church. A meeting on Sunday and a mid-week home group that does not meet every week are a mere shadow of what I believe God is calling me to. Real revival depends not only on prayer but on Christians living out the Gospel by really demonstrating that they love one another.
For this I do need some formal Bible College training – it’s a missing area for myself, and it will show commitment to my church leadership team. Why CLI? I am retired on a modest pension, and UK Bible College fees are simply unaffordable.
In terms of prayer, please ask God to show clearly to me the path He wants me to take. Step 11 of the AA program states that I should seek through prayer and meditation to improve my conscious contact with God, praying only for knowledge of His will for me and the power to carry that out. That’s what I need!
