Our History
It all began in the summer of 1980, when a small group of people met for prayer and Bible study. Eventually, the decision was made to form a church.
Pastor Dan Denissen, along with his wife Claudia and five children, accepted the invitation from this Bible Study group to come and be the full-time pastor after completing seminary in Missouri.
On September 7, 1980, thirty people gathered to worship the Lord in the Denissen's farmhouse.
Attendance grew rapidly to sixty-four people within a month. This made it necessary for the congregation to move to the Roberts Park building for the next four years.
Later it was again necessary for the congregation to move to the River Falls High School auditorium.
The church purchased twenty acres of land in River Falls to accommodate the need for a permanent home and room for continued growth.
In the fall of 1982, the church founded Good Shepherd Christian Academy as an independent, non-denominational school to meet the needs of parents who desired a Christian education for their children. The school is open to families regardless of where they go to church and provides quality Christian education for grades K-12. The school has flourished over the past years and today serves close to 70 students.
Abundant Life Church's first phase of building was completed in October of 1986.
On Easter, 1991, the new 700 seat capacity sanctuary was built and held its first service. A new office wing was also constructed. Later that same year Wee Care Christian Day Care was started with Lori Tyler as the administrator and has grown to more than 40 children a day. Theresa Hewitt is the current administrator.
In the spring of 1988, Pastors Dan and Claudia Denissen formed River Valley Christian Church which is located in Lake Elmo, Minnesota. In September of 1992, Pastors Dan and Claudia Denissen went there to pastor full time.
Pastor Kevin Humphrey, the associate pastor for four years, received the senior pastorate of Abundant Life Church. Pastor Kevin and Susan Humphrey both graduated from Rhema Bible Training Center in 1986. Pastor Kevin also graduated from The University of North Carolina at Charlotte with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1984. Pastor Kevin received a Bachelor of Arts in Theology in 2000 and a Master of Arts in Theology in 2001 from Life Christian University. Pastor Kevin and Susan are members of Rhema Ministerial Association International and the Association of Faith Churches and Ministries.
They have two children, Jenessa and Grant.
Rev. Roger and Myrna Eilers after founding, administrating, and teaching at Good Shepherd Christian Academy, were sent out as missionar
ies to Minsk, Belarus in 1992.
With the church's support, a sister church was established. The Eilers also established a Bible school there. At present, the Eilers are being supported by the church as the founders and administrators of Christ for the Nations - Poland.
In the summer of 2000 remodeling was done providing classrooms for what is now the education wing. On September 11, 2005, Abundant Life Church celebrated its 25th Anniversary as a church.