Midtown Christ Community Church lead pastor Corey Smith discussed his calling.

"I became a Christian my freshman year of college and that set me on a trajectory of spiritual growth. I had a passion for people to know Christ personally and really to experience what I experienced not being a Christian and knowing that Christ is more fulfilling and satisfying than things in the world that I thought were. I took Bible studies in my dorm and fraternity in college. I enjoyed that and saw that it had an impact on people. After graduation, I went on staff with a ministry called Campus Outreach and started one at Arkansas State University. That experience gave me more vision for ministry and tested my gifts, talking to and reaching more people in going from Non-Christian to Christian and reaching them spiritually. It was affirming, that became a path in that I had gifts, calling to the pastoral ministry. I never wanted to be a pastor or evangelize when I became a Christian at 19. Growing in my faith personally and getting to know of Jesus Christ and the mission, I just wanted people to know the liberating and satisfying message of Christianity," he explained.

As he responded to that call, it led him down a path. "My experience at Arkansas State led me to Indiana where I started (in 2003) a Campus Outreach at Indiana State University. It was another reaffirmation. At ISU, my burden began to grow and I saw a need for a gospel-centered church and gospel-centered preaching whose mission is evangelization discipleship. After ISU, I went to Convent Seminary in St. Louis. When I was on staff at Campus Outreach at ISU, I was employed by a church in Carmel called Christ Community Church (4770 E. Main Street) and there was my authority that connected me to Indianapolis. I built a relationship with Tim Kirk, their pastor, when I went to ministry. We began to dream and think for the future as we saw a need and planted a church here (at 5610 Broadway) in August of 2010. (Their Sunday services are at 10:30 a.m.) The Campus Outreach ministry at IUPUI was growing and flourishing and many students went traveling from downtown to Carmel. We met for about a year in Carmel as a separate service preparing to launch down here as an incubating period," Smith mentioned.

"Our mission statement is 'Building a gospel-centered movement through missional discipleship resulting in personal conversion, authentic community and cultural renewal which reminds me of living in community and doing life together, sharing our lives, victories and challenges, walking together as a family.' We talk about that quite a bit. Our church is a family like a body of Christ. We share each other's pains and victories in seeing people live that out which is one of the implications of the gospel. It compels you to walk with people to share in their joys and struggles. To see people flourishing in that way is rewarding. To that community point, Acts 2:42-47, being constructed by the word of God and living life together is pretty rewarding," he noted.

Smith reflected on the rewarding aspects of his vocation: "One is seeing conversion to Christianity and just seeing people who are searching for an answer. They see voids in their lives and turn to many things, but are left wanting. Here, Christ can see their needs and their lives change and they experience a deeper peace and more fulfillment in finding a deeper purpose in life that is especially gratifying. The second thing is not just seeing Christians walk with God, but continuing to make steps in deepening their faith. It's gratifying to see people continuing to walk with God. It's not a one-time event, but throughout years of experiences and challenges, they see what John 10:10 said, 'The thief comes only to steal, kill and destroy', but Jesus said, 'I have come that they may have life.' "

He witnessed a miracle firsthand. "The first year (in 2010) that we planted the church, we had a young couple who had twin girls and a few months later, one of them developed brain cancer. As a young church, we didn't know how to do suffering or what to say or do, but we did our best. We met together to pray and had a 24-hour prayer chain. Some of the single women in our church were at their house constantly and helped the mom take care of her kids. They kind of stayed with them and lived with them. The child survived the cancer. The church was critical. God really provided for our church in that time," he recalled.

"A majority of our church members are in their 20s. We have a lot of college students, but we also have parishioners in their 30s, 40s, 50s and 60s. Most of our church is made up of people who did not grow up in a Christian home and who converted later in life as teenagers and young adults. That makes for an interesting culture. We aren't dealing, for the most part, with church people. I grew up going to church, but not really in church. I didn't go to vacation Bible school. It wasn't a huge part of my life. It was something that I did on Sunday for a few hours, but it didn't have a lot of impact. There is a zeal from our people who want to know the Lord and study his word and seek our leadership and fellowship. There is a unique energy that comes with a young faith in knowing the Lord and making an impact in our city and in our world," Smith emphasized.

Midtown Christ Community Church teachings and influence extend beyond our local community. "We have young missionaries that we support in South Africa and China that is part of the gospel, building a mission-centered movement. We're not just focused on our church duty, but want to make an impact in the city and world and support missionaries for those in their 20s. We partner with Dream Alive. It's an organization that helps inner-city kids with urban needs. We partner with them because we want to be part of the social renewal within our city. We have a large portion of our church who are invested. We want to contribute people resources. Our ministry philosophy is built on relationships. The point we're trying to make is to have an impact on a life-on-life relationship connection to people. The people come to Christ in our church. We rely on relationships and build friendships with people, like in 2 Thessalonians 7-8 where Paul said, 'We're being desirous in sharing the gospel with you. Love God and love people,' " Smith concluded.

Future events on their church calendar include Good Friday and Easter services. More information is available at their website, www.cccmidtown.org.

If you're seeking new hope and new faith this Lenten season, lead pastor Corey Smith can help you walk that path he has taken at Midtown Christ Community Church on any given Sunday.