LOCATED IN POTTERSVILLE, NY
NY CAMPUS LOCATION
Located in the heart of the Adirondacks our “home” campus boasts the best adventure sports around.
Climb high peaks such as Mt. Severance, discover natural bridges and caves, and experience amazing winter sports.
Our NY campus is some of God’s most beautiful handiwork on display. During the summer experience water sports as the campus located on the far end of Schroon Lake.
CAMPUS ACTIVITIES
Without a doubt, we know how to have fun. Some of the activities that we offer on campus include talent shows (who sang it better?!), bonfires with plenty of s’mores, concerts and so much more! Plus, because our campus is located in the beautiful Adirondack Mountains, you can walk out the front door and have your own adventure any day of the year!
Our campus activities include all of the following and more:
Improv Night
Copy of Adventure Race
Spirit Week
Dorm Dinner Devotions
Brother/Sister Dorm Challenges
Bonfires
Concerts
Talent Show
Movie Nights
End of the Year Banquet
Intramural Sports
Bowling
Coffee Houses
Holiday Parties
EVENTS
No events, check back soon.
Justin Cousins
Drew Burtis
Julia Lough
Karen Smith
Where you are from: Pennsylvania
The year you trusted Christ: My mother led me to the Lord when I was 7. She said that there was a big change in my life! It was at WOL camp that I dedicated my life to whatever God had for me.
Favorite verse: “This has carried me through so much!” ~Isaiah 26:3-4.
How you came to the Bible Institute: I had been a camper for years (Ranch, Ranger Camp & Island). I knew I wanted to study the Bible and serve a camp. I was so excited that graduated high school a year early.
Drew Deshetsky
International Admissions Counselor & DSO
Gaby Hackett
Kairo Oliveira
Dean of Enrollment & PDSO
Brian Tanedo
I grew up in a broken home. My parents were divorced and not living for God and my childhood was full of difficulties. But, when I was 7, both of my biological parents came to know the Lord as their Savior! After that, I was constantly in church and started hearing the Gospel, or the good news. It wasn’t until I was in junior high when my Fellowship of Christian Athletes group at my public school took me to see a play called Heaven’s Gates and Hell’s Flames that I understood I had sin in my life.
I was angry at my parents for divorcing and bitter toward my dad and step-dad for their mistakes. I was lustful and jealous of others. God showed me that night that my sin would keep me from His presence in heaven and that I needed saving from His wrath for sin. I knew that I would be separate from God forever if I died right then! But God, graciously showed me as well that there is hope and I could have salvation that meant my sins were forgiven and my relationship with Him restored if I turned from my sin, put my faith in His Son Jesus Christ, and believed that God raised him from the dead.
I prayed that night to turn from my sin to Christ! It was the best decision I have ever made. After I graduated high school, I started attending a public community college, but through some terrible decisions, God showed me he had a different plan for my life. I attended the Word of Life Bible Institute in 2008-2009 and God radically changed my life! I knew that I had forgiveness, but it wasn’t until I was at the Bible Institute that I realized that I needed, and wanted, to give God my whole life, not just trust Him with my eternal security.
I ended up staying with Word of Life as an intern, I met my wife here and we eventually left to start a family. After serving several years in Admissions at WOLBI, I received a job at Cedarville University in their Admissions Department. A couple of years, and kids later, my wife and I accepted Word of Life’s offer to come back and lead the Admissions Department. I am so blessed to serve at the college that God used to change my life and my mission is to see every Christian find that deeper walk with God and I believe the best place to do that is at the Word of Life Bible Institute!
I think what makes Word of Life different is that the students are immediately putting their faith and learning into action through ministry. Every student is required to be in ministry and you learn very early on that ministry doesn’t mean just preaching. Anything in life that we do can be a ministry and can point people to God. I have been on platform ministries and behind the scenes ministries, and it all brings glory and honor to Him with equal opportunity to show people Jesus.
Bible Department Chair and Distinguished Professor
Tom Davis
Where you are from: Phoenixville, PA
The year you trusted Christ: August of 1960. My grandfather came to know the Lord in his 50s. He began to share the gospel with my Mom & Dad. They resisted. My grandparents gave us a free vacation at Word of Life Inn in Schroon Lake, NY. I was seven and my parents were 30 when we came to Christ that summer.
Favorite verse: “Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.” ~Ephesians 3:20 & 21
How you came to the Bible Institute: I thought that one year of Bible would be a good foundation before going to engineering school. During the course of the year at WOLBI (1971-72) I went from wanting to be an engineer, to wanting to be a missionary pilot, to wanting to be a missionary to Israel, to not knowing what I wanted to be but wanting to study the Bible more.
Todd Steltz
NEW YORK
Word of Life Bible Institute
4230 Glendale Rd
Pottersville, NY 12860
FLORIDA
Word of Life Bible Institute
13247 Word of Life Dr
Hudson, FL 34669
CANADA – ONTARIO
Word of Life Bible Institute
617796 Grey Road 18
Owen Sound, ON N4K 5W4
Canada
CANADA – QUEBEC
Parole de Vie Québec – Registraire
1175 Ch. Thomas-Woodward
Sherbrooke QC J1M 0B4
Canada
SOUTH KOREA
Word of Life Bible Institute
622 Gwangsang-Ro Aewol-Eup
Jeju City, South Korea
63037
BRAZIL – ATIBAIA
Curso de Liderança e Discipulado
Alameda Periquito, 98
Condomínio Recanto Tranquilo
Atibaia – SP
CEP 12949-155 Brazil
BRAZIL – RECIFE
Br 408 Km 81 Zona Rural
Paudalho – PE
CEP: 55.825-000 Brazil
HUNGARY
Word of Life Bible Institute
2252 Tóalmás
Kókai 2
Hungary
UGANDA
Word of Life Africa Bible Institute
P.O Box 29899
Kampala, Uganda
East Africa
MEXICO
Instituto Bíblico
Camino Nacional No. 11
Colonia Punta de la Loma, km. 58.
C.P. 76680
Bernal, Ezequiel Montes, Querétaro
Copyright © 2023 Word of Life Fellowship All Rights Reserved
The Word of Life Christian Church was examined on People Magazine Investigates: Cults, steaming on Investigation Discovery
Updated on December 1, 2022 08:01 AM
Residents of Chadwicks, N.Y., had long thought there might be something wrong with the Word of Life Christian Church. Those suspicions were confirmed on the night of Oct. 11, 2015, when two teenage brothers were savagely beaten for a dozen hours inside the church’s sanctuary room after trying to defect.
The vicious attack — at times carried out by the boys’ parents — left Lucas Leonard dead and his then-17-year-old brother, Christopher, severely injured.
Soon pulled under the harsh scrutiny of a police investigation, the little-known religious sect was revealed as a dangerous cult.
Word of Life is no more, having been dismantled following what happened to the Leonard brothers. Christopher, though, survived his injuries and graduated from high school.
All told, nine people were sent to prison for their involvement in Lucas’ death — among them, the church’s pastor, Tiffanie Irwin, who inherited the group from her father before bending it even further to her will.
Many who’ve followed the case still wonder how Bruce and Deborah Leonard could have been compelled to kick, punch, strike and whip their two sons over 12 torturous hours. The case and the church itself was featured in a season 1 episode of People Magazine Investigates: Cults, which can be streamed on Investigation Discovery.
As Bruce later said in court, the attack began following a Sunday service when Irwin called his family together and confronted the teenage brothers with allegations of child abuse and witchcraft.
Bruce told a judge the beatings started with a punch and a slap and quickly progressed to electrical cord whippings. The point, he said, was so his sons «would understand the hurt that they caused» and to discipline and punish them.
Though the question of child sex abuse came up in court, with Christopher testifying he and Lucas molested the children of several Word of Life Church congregants, investigators have always insisted there was no evidence to indicate they ever harmed any children.
According to cult expert Rick Ross, the Leonard parents had been brainwashed over time and would have followed any instruction from Irwin, who claimed to be their only reliable path toward salvation.
«As with most cults, they manipulated people like pawns,» Ross previously told PEOPLE. «Some cults are more destructive than others, but from what I have observed and read the destruction wrought by the Irwin family caused families to be disrupted and estranged.»
The Word of Life Christian Church, which operated out of a run-down brick building that once housed a school, was founded in 1987 by Tiffanie Irwin’s late father, Jerry Irwin. The isolated group lost touch with reality not long after Tiffanie assumed control in 2012, when her dad died.
RELATED VIDEO: PMI Cults: Word of Life Opening Sequence
As the group’s membership dwindled before the cult was ultimately shut down, the Leonard brothers announced their plans to defect, according to Ross. That’s when Tiffanie accused them of sexually abusing their younger cousins.
«Church leaders believed that the boys leaving would cause others to leave — maybe even their parents, who were pivotal members of the group,» Ross explained. «What happened here had everything to do with the retention of members and the maintenance of control.»
Those that left, Ross posited, «were considered damned. There was no place else to go. The Irwin family wanted people to feel like there was no alternative … that they were the one and only true church in the world.»
After Lucas bled to death inside a nearby hospital, his parents were charged with his killing. Also arrested were Tiffanie, her brothers, Joseph and Daniel, and her mother, Traci.
Prosecutors offered plea deals to Bruce, who was sentenced to 10 years on two counts of assault, and Deborah, who was sentenced to five years on the same charges as well as a charge of manslaughter. Bruce is up for parole in 2024, while Deborah was released from prison in January 2020.
Nearly all of the other suspects admitted some responsibility in the attack.
Tiffanie avoided a murder charge by pleading guilty to manslaughter and assault and was sentenced to 12 years. Brother Joseph also pleaded guilty to first-degree gang assault and second-degree assault and was sentenced to eight years in prison. Joseph was released in September 2022 after serving seven years.
Church member David Morey and his mother, Linda, both pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree assault and were sentenced to five years and released in 2020.
Tiffanie’s mother, Traci, and her son, Daniel, pled guilty to unlawful imprisonment and were both sentenced to two years. They were released from jail in March 2017.
* Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Click here to get breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases in the True Crime Newsletter.
Sarah Ferguson, the Leonard brothers’ half-sister, was the only defendant involved in the attack to decline a plea deal. In July 2016, she was convicted by a jury of manslaughter and assault — but was cleared of murder. She was sentenced to 25 years in prison.
In the years since the excruciating assault, Christopher still grapples with his wounds from that day. Though he is «well» and has many friends, «Recovery is not even in the cards for a very long time for any of us,» sister Kristel Leonard told PEOPLE three years after the incident.
«And it really is not about the parents,» she said. «It is because of the cult experience.»
Christopher’s contact with the adult members of the church «has been very minimal to none,» Kristel revealed.
«I think he has made a conscious choice to close that horrid chapter,» she said, «and move on.»
We would love for you to join us as we gather to follow Jesus and grow in life together onsite & online!
NEW PRAGUE
SUNDAY MORNINGS: 9:00 AM
LE SUEUR & ONLINE
SUNDAY MORNINGS: 10:30 AM
Staff
Pastor Jason Lang
Jason is the Lead Pastor of Word of Life. He grew up in New York and New Jersey and has lived all across the U.S since then. He and his wife Heidi have been married for over 20 years and reside in Henderson, MN. They have 4 kids that were born in 4 different states. They love to travel.
He has degrees from Philadelphia Biblical University and Lutheran Brethren Seminary. He speaks at youth camps and conferences around the U.S. because he loves connecting with people and sharing God’s message of salvation through Jesus Christ. When Pastor J isn’t drinking coffee and talking with someone, he can be found riding a bike, fly-fishing, skiing, hiking, or cooking for his friends and family.
Contact at pastorj@wordoflifemn.com
Pastor Nick Olson
Nick is the Campus Pastor for Word of Life — New Prague. He originally hails from Minot, ND and won’t hesitate to talk your ear off about what he considers “God’s Country.” Having spent over a decade in vocational youth ministry, Nick has a heart to connect teenagers and their families with the Good News of the Grace of God.
Nick has had opportunities to study in a number of settings including Briercrest Bible College in Caronport, SK, Free Lutheran Bible College in Plymouth, MN and has a B.S. in Psychology — Marriage & Family Counseling from University of Northwestern in St. Paul, MN. He is currently pursuing a Masters of Divinity through Lutheran Brethren Seminary in Fergus Falls, MN.
Nick and Brittany have been married for over 9 years and reside in New Prague, MN. They have 3 wildly energetic kids: Teddy, Tommy, and Ellie. When there is some free time, he enjoys perfecting his barbecue skills, cheering on the Vikings and Twins, fly-fishing the waters of southern MN, pheasant hunting in Western ND, and watching movies from the 1970’s.
Contact at nick@wordoflifemn.com
RENAE KRAUSE
Renae is the Director of Building Blocks Christian Learning Center, a Christian-based daycare program for families in the Le Sueur / Henderson area. Building Blocks provides a nurturing, safe, and educational environment, and helps guide children into making the best choices for themselves, while helping them learn to share, communicate, and interact with others. Renae is married to Chad and they have 2 incredible daughters, Lauren and Maura and reside in Le Sueur.
Contact at renae@wordoflifemn.com
Sue Schwartz
Sue is the smiling voice you hear when calling Word of Life Church. She is the person who helps people get connected and generally helps us stay organized. Sue loves God and loves people and that’s why she loves ministry with Word of Life. She grew up in the area and now lives just outside of Le Sueur with her husband, Brian.
Sue enjoys walking, swimming, biking, spending time at the lake, hanging out with their 5 kids, and riding with her husband, Brian, in the truck or tractor. She loves being part of the Word of Life family and feels blessed to share in spreading the gospel message.
Contact at sue@wordoflifemn.com
BEKA NADGWICK
Beka is the Youth & Worship Director of Word of Life. She grew up in ministry and must really like it, pursuing it vocationally after attending Bethel University for a BA in Music and interning in a local church. Laughing with the youth group and worshiping with others lights her up like a Christmas tree. After volunteering in youth ministry throughout her worship career, Rebekah has a passion for mentoring young musicians and creating safe spaces for young people in the community.
Beka met her husband Isaac at Inspiration Point. They got married in early 2020, brought home a Great Pyrenees puppy that summer, naming her Reid, and proceeded to treat her like a child. Some of her favorite things to do include checking out local coffee shops, writing music, taking her dog everywhere she goes, reading, tending to house plants, and playing video games with her husband.
Contact at beka@wordoflifemn.com
Values
We gather together to live life and live faith together.
We are Missional.
God’s mission was to save His people from themselves and the sin that infects them, so He sent His Son Jesus to save us by living a perfect life and giving His life in our place so that we may be forgiven.
We are Relational.
God created us to be in relationship with Him and each other. Our first relationship is with God, He loves us and gets to know us through Jesus. God moves us into relationship with the people we run into every day. Word of life is a bunch of people who Iive their life and faith together.
We are Intentional.
Life and faith don’t happen by accident, we value doing things intentionally. Friends don’t invite themselves over to our houses, we do. Conversations don’t happen unless we open up. We are living our faith on purpose.
We are Sacrificial.
This is hard, but it’s true, Jesus gave his life for us and calls us to live lives that give to others too. Everything we have is a gift from God and He gives us these gifts to share with the people around us. We share our time, talents and resources.
We value Law & Gospel.
God expresses Himself in both Law and Gospel. The Law is any time God says, «Do this, don’t do that.» The Gospel is «What God has done for us.» We do not shy away from sharing God’s Law that shows us our sin and guides our lives. And we love sharing the Gospel that proclaims God’s love and forgiveness for us when our lives fall short of God’s Law.
We are a part of a Global Church.
Word of Life Church is a member of the Church of the Lutheran Brethren Church, a network of churches around the world. Learn more at clba.org.
Word of Life Fellowshiphttps://www.wol.org/You search, Microsoft Bing donatesSupport this cause just by searching on Microsoft BingWith Microsoft Rewards, you’ll earn points that turn into real donations to WORD OF LIFE FELLOWSHIP INC. It’s easy and it’s free!Learn moreMicrosoft Rewards impact$13M+total donationsJoin nowWhen you join, you will receive emails about Microsoft Rewards, which include offers about Microsoft and partner products. Terms PrivacyNonprofit ratingScore (out of 100) · Data from Charity Navigator94.36Financial89Accountability & transparencyA score of 90 or more is considered exceptional. 55-70 is considered poor. Learn more about ratingsNew York wordoflife.edu — Word of Life Bible Institute
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Court Decision Invalidating F.D.A. Approval of — New York Times
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