Home Page
|
|
About us
Opportunities
Newsletter Testimonies |
|
David and Lana Sovereign |
David and Lana Sovereign - both active members of the International Baptist Church in Boston.
|
David and Lana Sovereign |
David Sovereign grew up in Iowa City and accepted Christ as his Savior at a young age. He was raised going to Faith Baptist Church in Iowa City under Pastor John Saucer's teaching. He attended the University of Iowa which is where he first got involved with CBF. He was President of the U of I CBF organization, working closely with Tom Miller and Elva Craig, helping with fellowship functions, out reach programs, and dorm calls.
"I really consider Tom a mentor, not just because of his teaching in CBF, but because of the way he lived his life. Every minute of every day he spent spreading God's Word and offering an invitation to CBF."David was at the other end of Tom's CBF invitations many times. The year before David first attended.
"I went to a Community College in 1993/94 before going to the University and at that point I started walking between sin and saint. I didn't want to be as worldly as my friends but I didn't want them to reject me either ... or should I say I didn't want to be godly either. I realized sitting in a bar that God had so much more intended for people's lives and that sitting there was empty and meaningless."The year before David moved to Boston (July 1999) he broke his neck in a diving accident in Lake Michigan. Although it was painful and even though he was in a neck brace for six months, he considered it a good experience because it was a reminder of how much more the internal (spiritual) things matter because the external things in life can be snatched away in an instant.
David moved to Boston after graduating with a BSE in Electrical Engineering in 2000. With some advice from Elva and Tom he was told of a family in Boston, the Edmondson's, who were trying to start a church. Without prior contact with the Edmondson's, David found an apartment in a southern suburb, Norwood. Only explained by God's orchestration, the apartment complex was the exact one the Edmondson's were living in. The very first day in the Boston area David set out with the Edmondson's and a group of kids from a church in Concord, NH. That morning he unknowingly met his bride-to-be, Lana Kiefaber.
Lana (Kiefaber) Sovereign was born in Quincy, Illinois, and lived in Palmyra, Missouri, until age eight. Her family then moved to Kalispell, Montana, and lived there for over four years. They lived there during the Gulf War, and
"I (Lana) used to have these nightmares that my family and everyone from my church was taken to Heaven and I was left behind and going to Hell. I realized that I wanted to be sure I was going to Heaven."She was saved and baptized in Montana, and then they moved to Pella, Iowa, where Lana attended Berean Baptist Church. She then moved to Des Moines where she attended a community college, and also started to fall away from God. She lived there for two years, and near the end realized how far away she was from God (even though He was close) and how her life needed to change. God started opening doors for her to move to Boston, Massachusetts, where she would attend the Boston Architectural Center studying Interior Design. Her pastor in Des Moines gave her Bill and Deb Edmondson's contact information (they moved to the area three months before), and she met up with them when she moved to Boston. But there was a problem.
"Right at the time when I wanted to get my life right with God and really become involved in a local church, there wasn't one for me. Even though I was able to spend a lot of time in devotions and examining the things that needed to change (even though they took some time to change), there were no churches in Boston I could attend. I was so disappointed. The Edmondson's saw the situation, and we decided to start praying about and eventually started a church, of which I later received the honor of being allowed to sign the charter membership first. I've been a part of Bible studies, I watched my roommate get saved, I teach Sunday school with my husband, I've been able to be the church musician/flutist, and have experienced God and His sovereignty in such a powerful way that I am very thankful for all He has done for me and for the church He has allowed me to be a part of. It's amazing to watch how God works in our lives and through the church. I now have friends from around the world, and it was the place where I met my husband!"