First service at new church on December 9

ROYAL CITY - The New Life Fellowship of Royal City, a new church, will celebrate its first worship service on Sunday, Dec. 9, and anyone who is looking for a faith home is invited.

New Life Fellowship will meet at the Casa Miguel building closest to Lions Park at 10 a.m. The service will be led by Pastor Jeff Smith, who arrived in town two months ago.

According to member Kevin Dorsing, the new church was organized by a group of people that formerly worshiped with the Mennonites.

But, Smith said, the new church was formed not to shun the Mennonites but to embrace a larger group of people.

"We want to reach out to people who don't have a church home," he said. "We have a document stating our theology. It's an orthodox, evangelical statement."

Smith said visitors to the first service will be met with a "warm welcome" and donuts and coffee. Multi-media will be prominent, and there will be lively contemporary music such as that heard on K-Love.

"There will be a 20-minute message related to issues in every day life," Smith said.

Interested persons may learn more about the new church on Facebook by typing in New Life Fellowship of Royal City. A website may be up and running this week.

Smith grew up in Colorado. He attended the Associated Mennonite Bible Seminary at Elkhart, Ind.

Smith met his wife Kathy in college, where they were married. They did missionary work together for four years in Atlanta after graduating from college.

For the last 14 years Smith was a Mennonite minister in northwestern Ohio. He responded to a call from the Royal City group that formed the new church.

Kathy Smith is a keyboardist and vocalist. She will lead the musical portions of services.

The Smiths have three children. London is 21, Therin 14 and Savannah 10.