Our Heritage
In 1959, a church in Anchorage, Alaska, was founded by a man named Dick Benjamin. It was called Abbott Loop Christian Center. Through the years, that church has planted many other churches all over the world. One of those outreach churches was called C-Street Christian Center, planted in downtown Anchorage. A few years later, a team was sent out from C-Street to start a church in Colorado Springs – Colorado Springs Christian Center. Then still later, a team was sent out from Colorado to plant Alliance Christian Center in Alliance, Ohio. Our church was sent out from Alliance Christian Center in December of 1990. Since then we’ve grown from a small, home-based church with a membership of ten to our present size, a “one-church, three locations” ministry, with churches in Lisbon, Salem, and Wellsville, Ohio.
Pastor Mike Ross, Our Founding Pastor
Mike Ross was saved as a young child. The Lord spoke to him at this time, giving him a calling and vision for his life. Following the murder of his father, and after a time of rebellion and searching, he traveled to Anchorage, Alaska, where he re-committed his life to Jesus Christ and became a passionate disciple, attending Bible College there. Mike met his wife, Karen and they were married in 1980. God moved them to join Alliance Christian Center in Alliance, Ohio. They lived and worked in Alliance for ten years, then Mike was ordained as a pastor. Pastor Mike felt a divine call to the East Liverpool area where he planted Hope Christian Fellowship in 1990. What began as a few believers meeting in a home quickly became a congregation of hundreds and grew into a “one church, three locations” ministry, with churches in Lisbon, Wellsville, and Salem, Ohio. Many lives were marked and forever changed because of Pastor Mike’s obedience and great leap of faith. This bold faith and wholehearted desire to live fully surrendered to God define Pastor Mike’s life and legacy.
Mike went to his heavenly home on February 28, 2023. He will be missed, but we acknowledge the foundation that he laid and the path he encouraged us to follow, simply put, “Pursue God!”