Two Sundays and a Wednesday Night on South 40th Street
Life Center Ministries occupies a single, large building at 411 South 40th Street on the eastern edge of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. From this one address, the church runs two Sunday-morning worship services in English at 8:30 and 11:00 in the morning, a Spanish-language service called Life Center en Español at 2:00 in the afternoon, and a Wednesday-evening rhythm that begins with classes at 6:00 and flows into worship from 7:00 to 8:00 in the evening. The Sunday services, the Wednesday gathering, and the children's programs that meet alongside them are also carried online through a livestream, and recorded services stay available on demand.
Founded and shaped around a pursuit of God's presence and the teaching of Scripture, Life Center describes itself as a church that "loves Jesus and wants to be known for God's Presence and His unwavering Love." The senior leadership team's mission statement distills it to one line: "Our ultimate mission is to experience the Love of God, and give it away."
DNA: Devotion to the Word, Unrestrained Worship, Passionate Prayer
The church's own description of its character tells the story of more than three decades of one conviction. Since its earliest beginnings, Life Center says, "we have been marked by a devotion to the Word of God and its creative power. Our deepest longing has been to encounter God through unrestrained worship, passionate prayer, and unwavering obedience." Those three practices - the Bible, worship, and prayer - show up everywhere on the church calendar.
The church's founder, Charles Stock, and his wife Anne encountered God in 1972 during the Jesus Movement and married that same year. They went on to Bethany Bible College, a ministerial internship, street evangelism with the Jesus people, and the pastoring of a community church in Northern California. In 1988 they came to Pennsylvania to take the pastorate of Life Center, and that call has shaped the congregation ever since. The couple is still named as founding pastors on the current team roster, even as leadership has begun passing to the next generation.
What Life Center Believes
Life Center publishes a sixteen-point Statement of Beliefs that defines the church as thoroughly evangelical and openly charismatic. The Bible is received as "100% the Word of God," infallible and inerrant, and as "the sole and final authority for all matters of faith and conduct." God is confessed as one God revealed in three persons or manifestations - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The church affirms the Virgin Birth, the atoning death, the burial, the bodily resurrection, the ascension, and the personal, literal second coming of Jesus Christ.
Salvation is by grace through repentance and faith in the finished work of the cross, and is described as a born-again experience. Water baptism is practiced by immersion in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The church also teaches a distinct charismatic set of convictions: a real, subsequent baptism of the Holy Spirit with the "normal scriptural evidence of speaking in tongues," the present-day operation of the gifts of the Holy Spirit as in the early church, divine healing of the body as part of the atonement, a spirit-filled life of separation and holiness, and the reality of the devil and final judgment. Communion is celebrated as more than a memorial, with a belief that the Lord's presence is released in a unique way when the bread and wine are shared. The final belief anchors everything in ordinary church life: "normal New Testament Christianity involves the regular meeting or assembling of the believers together for the purposes of worship, prayer, instruction in the Word of God, and fellowship."
Wednesday Nights: Equip Classes and a Worship Encounter
The Wednesday rhythm at Life Center is the church's main discipleship engine. Every Wednesday from 6:00 to 7:00 in the evening, an Equip Class meets in one of several rooms in the building; the courses change monthly, and a new sign-up is required for each class. Children's Ministry runs alongside the adults from 6:00 to 8:00, so parents can take a class and still drop their kids off. From 7:00 to 8:00, the entire church gathers for what the schedule calls "an encounter in worship," held in the main sanctuary.
Over the past year the Equip catalog has included A Study Through Ephesians led by Associate Pastor Mike Humphrey; Foundations 106 (Spiritual Gifts) and Foundations 108 (Who You Are in Christ), both taught by Executive Pastor Bryan Leach in the Amazon Room; Foundations 107 (Dreams 101), taught by Anne Stock; Kingdom Family, a four-week track on building biblically rooted families; New Believers Class for those just beginning the journey; and Healing the Heart classes such as The Highly Sensitive Heart: Part 2. Some of these classes reach capacity and a waitlist, which signals how heavily the Wednesday hour is used for formation.
Life Center en Español: A Hispanic Congregation Within the Church
On Sunday afternoons at 2:00, the church's Theater room hosts Life Center en Español, a Spanish-language service pastored by Edgar and Yadira Castañon. The ministry's vision is that "all creation be free through the love of God," and its stated values are joy, honor, and generosity. Its purpose is to awaken hearts to the love of God, and its mission is "experiencing and sharing the love of God."
In its own Spanish description, the ministry traces itself to the same roots as the English church: "From our earliest beginnings, more than thirty years ago, we have been marked by a devotion to the Word of God and its creative power. Our deepest longings have been an encounter with God through unrestrained worship, passionate prayer, and radical obedience." The leadership adds that, as the Hispanic community in the area has grown in recent years, "our desire is to extend this experience in Spanish so that we can all live in the fullness of the love of God." The Spanish ministry also runs its own prayer-request line, online giving portal, Life Groups in formation, volunteer teams, and a women's conference called En Jesús. Its pastors Edgar and Yadira Castañon are also listed as Life Lines missionaries through LifeSeeds International.
Kids: 1st Wave and MiniWave
Children's ministry at Life Center is divided by age into two programs that meet during every Sunday service at 8:30 and 11:00, and during the Wednesday 7:00 service. MiniWave serves infants through five-year-olds, ages six months to five years, with a check-in desk on the first floor and a Nursing Mothers' Room located right beside it for parents who prefer to stay with their babies. MiniWave is pastored by Madeline Frankland, with Ally Moore on staff.
1st Wave is the church's ministry for children in first through fifth grade and meets in the same schedule. A Kidz Kamp is hosted each summer, and a tool called The Cartoon Bible is used as part of the curriculum, with its own mobile app in the Apple and Google stores. Children are also included during the special Good Friday and Easter-week services, with sign-ups opened for those busy nights because space is limited.
Youth: Heirborne
Middle and high school students are reached through Heirborne, Life Center's youth ministry, which meets on its own schedule separate from the adult services. The youth ministry is pastored by Ben Evenson and Katie Anderson, with a wider team that includes Leanna Johnston as executive assistant to the lead pastors and dedicated youth support staff. Once a year the ministry gathers for the Heirborne Conference, drawing students from across the region.
Young Adults: A Thursday-Night Community for 18 to 25
For college students and young professionals between 18 and 25, Life Center runs a separate Young Adults ministry under Online and Young Adults Pastor Matt Leach. The group meets on Thursday evenings at 6:30 in the Youth Room at 411 South 40th Street, and describes itself around four pillars: Presence, Prayer, God's Word, and People. The first three are inward-facing - pursuing God's presence, living from prayer, and spending time in the Bible. The fourth turns outward: "out of the abundance of God's love flowing through us, we serve His people and lay down our lives for others, because He first laid down His life for us."
Life Groups and Church Connect
Life Groups are the church's small-group system and the primary on-ramp into community. The church describes them as "an incredible way to get connected with others," with a stated purpose of finding "close-knit community with one another centered around Jesus." Groups are organized around schedule, interest, and location, and new groups are added regularly. Periodically the church hosts a Church Connect gathering after the second Sunday service - a potluck-style meal where newcomers sign up to bring a dish to serve ten, meet leaders, and find a group to try.
Women at Life: Tuesdays in the Prayer Room
Women's ministry at Life Center meets weekly on Tuesdays from 7:30 to 8:30 in the Prayer Room. The gathering is "an invitation to women of all ages to come together and support what God is doing in our midst," and is anchored in a specific prayer burden: "to see our families flourishing, our businesses thriving, and our communities impacted because we are women whose lives declare, 'How big is our God!'" Each summer the ministry also hosts book reviews, with titles like Risen Motherhood, Fashioned to Reign, and Keep the Blood Warm, recorded and posted as video reviews. The wider women's calendar includes the En Jesús women's conference held each fall.
Healing the Heart
Healing the Heart is a distinct inner-healing and prophetic ministry under Director Cherie Anthony. Its programming includes workshops such as Hearing the Voice of God, a Saturday-morning class that teaches how God speaks and provides activation and practice, and The Highly Sensitive Heart, a two-part series for sensitive people and the parents, spouses, and friends who walk alongside them. Its classes are taught in the same building and feed directly into the Wednesday-night Equip Class track.
Life Lines: Sending Out More Than Sixty Missionaries
Life Center's missions program is built around what the church calls Life Lines - a roster of more than sixty missionaries and ministries supported through prayer and giving. The concept was inspired by a prophetic word given by Kent Henry in 2000. Each Life Line has its own profile and prayer guide on the website, and the congregation receives a dedicated Missions Offering every fall, marked on the calendar as "Offering October 11."
The Life Lines roster reaches across the world. Unreached-people-groups work includes the Every Language initiative, Marcus Young (In-Fire) in Southeast Asia, Leanna Cinquanta (WIN Global) in India, Rolland and Heidi Baker (Iris Global) in Mozambique, Ryan Denlinger (Empowering Japan), Shanti in India, the Fire and Fragrance team in Central Asia, David and Janet Roach in the Philippines and India, and others. South and Central America is served by the Billmans (Shores of Grace, Brazil), the Hirtlers (Brazilian Kids Kare), the Galindos (Proyecto Pan De Vida, Guatemala), and the Sheaffers (Shining His Light, Mexico). European Life Lines include the Melnichuks (Awakened Generation), the Nassanians (Noor Global, Switzerland), and the Crowes (MIR Ministries, Ukraine and Romania). Closer to home, Life Center supports missionaries in Harrisburg, Mechanicsburg, Hanover, Pittsburgh, and across Pennsylvania, as well as nationwide ministries such as God Heals PTSD, Healing to the Nations International, and Global Awakening. A "Local Reformation" tier includes Bethesda Mission, Midwest Food Bank PA, PA Family Council, Champions Youth Mentoring, and other Harrisburg-area works. Some profiles are intentionally kept vague to protect workers in closed nations.
Life Center Worship and the Podcast
Worship is led by the in-house team Life Center Worship, with Tiffany Aitken serving as Associate Worship Director. The team maintains its own YouTube channel for new music, posted under the Life Center Worship brand, and feeds the recordings into the church's main livestream and on-demand library. A separate Life Center Podcast on Libsyn carries both Sunday-morning and Wednesday-night messages.
Family Life, Hospitality, and Serving Teams
Pastoral care for marriages, parenting, and generational transitions is carried by Family Life Pastors Travis and Leanna Johnston. Hospitality falls to Hospitality Pastor Marcy Evenson, who oversees the church's welcoming environment. Serving is built into a wide menu of volunteer teams - Tech (audio, video, lighting, projection), Coffee Bar, Greeting, Host, Safety, Parking, Youth, and Kids - each of which meets on Sundays and Wednesdays. The Safety Team specifically invites those with medical experience to join, and the Parking Team coordinates "all of our parking locations," suggesting a campus with more than one lot.
Sequoia Christian School
The church's homepage highlights Sequoia Christian School, a Pre-K3 through fourth-grade program in Harrisburg. The school's mission is to provide a biblically based curriculum that builds godly character, intellectual growth, and spiritual formation. The church actively promotes enrollment and lists current hiring opportunities, treating the school as a key part of its reach into the surrounding community.
Clear River Network and CREN
Beyond its local congregation, Life Center belongs to the Clear River Network and its affiliated CREN (Clear River Equipping Network), a relational network of churches and leaders that the church points visitors toward. The network's annual conferences and equipping events are advertised on the same calendar as Life Center's own programming.
Leadership Across Generations
The pastoral team reflects both the founding generation and the one now taking the helm. David Leach serves as Lead Pastor, with Charles and Anne Stock continuing as Founding Pastors. The executive pastorate is held jointly by John, Patty, Bryan, and Marcey Leach. Mike Humphrey and Dylan Krause serve as associate pastors. The missions director is David Moore, and the family life team is Travis and Leanna Johnston. Youth is Ben Evenson and Katie Anderson. The Spanish ministry is pastored by Edgar and Yadira Castañon. Specialty portfolios are held by Rick Pickens (communications), Curt Nunemaker (multimedia), Brent Ulrich (tech), Robbie and Allison Barnett (production team), and Matt Leach (online and young adults). Cherie Anthony directs Healing the Heart, and Madeline Frankland pastors the MiniWave children's wing. On April 19, 2026, the church publicly passed the mantle of senior leadership from Charles and Anne Stock to David and Johannah Leach in a Sunday commissioning service, with a follow-up celebration held in June.
What to Expect on a First Visit
Visitors arriving for the 8:30 or 11:00 Sunday service, or the Wednesday 7:00 worship, can park in one of the church's parking areas and be greeted by the Greeting and Parking teams. A Coffee Bar runs on both Sundays and Wednesdays. Children's check-in for MiniWave (six months through five years) and 1st Wave (first through fifth grade) sits on the first floor, with a Nursing Mothers' Room nearby. Life Center en Español meets in the Theater room on Sunday afternoons at 2:00.
Those who want to keep going can join a Life Group through the church's online directory, sign up for the next Equip Class on the church calendar, attend Women's Prayer on Tuesday evenings in the Prayer Room, or step into Young Adults on Thursday nights at 6:30 in the Youth Room. The recommended-reading library, organized into devotional, theology, marriage, prayer and intercession, parenting, kids, and identity sections, is another on-ramp and includes Charles Stock's own pick, A. W. Tozer's The Pursuit of God. Giving is accepted online through Pushpay, by check mailed to the church address, or in person at the First Fruits Sunday services each February and at the fall Missions Offering in October. Water baptism is offered to anyone interested, by sign-up on the website.