Lifeway Claremore

My name is Nathan Faught and I have the phenomenal pleasure of pastoring Lifeway Claremore. I have written below a short version of the Lifeway story. Before I begin the story I would like to say how much I personally appreciate KXOJ and their ministry in Northeast Oklahoma. Several years ago, when I moved back to Oklahoma I was going through a very rough time in my life. I had just moved back to my hometown of Claremore from an area that did not have a solid Christian radio station. KXOJ was like a breath of fresh air. I found so much encouragement and strength from the music and the fresh, positive attitude of the DJ's. I just wanted to take a moment and say, "Thank you!"

The Lifeway Story

From the time I left seminary in 1994 I have been involved in youth ministry all over the United State s. On January 1, 2003 my wife and I moved our family back to my home town of Claremore so that I could become the youth pastor at what was my home church where I grew up. In October of 2005 we knew that God was calling us to pastoral ministry, more specifically to plant a church.

In the coming months there were several wonderful things, miracles really, that showed us that God indeed was opening the doors for a brand new, wonderful church in Claremore, Oklahoma. We have had three different churches, without ever being asked, who decided to sponsor us financially for our first year. Pastor John Chance from Jonesboro, AR who I went to seminary with called me out-of-the-blue one day and said, "I just bought you a new sound system. I need your address so I can ship it to you." I had never discussed any equipment or financial needs with any of the pastors or churches. They heard that we were planting a church and wanted to be a blessing to us.

On Sunday, March 19, 2006, one day after my 36th birthday Lifeway Claremore held its first service in the conference room of the Days Inn in Claremore. We started with 12 core members including my wife and two sons. Lifeway would be a church without boundaries. If it was possible to take God's word and make it real and relevant for those who walked with Jesus over 2000 years ago, we believed that it was possible in the 21st century. That is what we are passionate about. In His ministry Jesus set no boundaries on who could worship Him, who could follow Him or who could become a disciple. He never set boundaries on how and where worship should be done. This is the essence of Lifeway.

From that very first service Lifeway has grown in so many ways. To the point that in October of 2006 we had outgrown the conference room and moved to our current facility, an older church building, at the corner of 7th & Florence in a historical section of Claremore. Attendance quickly grew past the 20, 25, and 30 marks.

This past March we celebrated our one year anniversary. The past twelve months have been amazing. We have been able to partner with the John 3:16 Mission in Tulsa for canned food drives and we sponsored local families at Christmas time with food and gifts. We are quickly outgrowing our current facility which will only seat 60 people in the sanctuary.

I am so very blessed to be the pastor of such a great group of people who are not interested in building anything for themselves. We are real people who deal with real life. It doesn’t matter to these people what you look like, what your background is, what your education is, or how much money you have in your bank account. In fact, we have a saying, “Give us the people that no one else wants.” Those are the ones that Jesus reached for and those are the ones you will find Lifeway reaching for.

We’re located at 7th and Florence in Claremore, OK. Directions: Travel south on Will Roger's Blvd. (Main Street). Florence is approximately 2 blocks south of the railroad tracks. Turn north (left if coming from Downtown) onto Florence. The church will be three blocks down on the left side of the street (On the corner of 7th & Florence). Parking is located in front of the church.

Church Phone: 918-277-4891