When David Lee felt called to a further place of service, he figured it was to be an assistant to his pastor. A deacon at Linden Hills Family Fellowship in Show Low, the retiree looked forward to working in another capacity.

But David was surprised: Pastor Ken Elliott asked him to plant a church in nearby Silver Lake Estates, a rural area northeast of Show Low.

“I felt ready for it — my walk with God had been steadily deepening,” he says. David became a church planter, partly supported by the Cooperative

Program, as he took on this new ministry. With the help of a site grant from the Arizona Southern Baptist Convention and its Arizona Mission Offering, Linden Hills Family Fellowship purchased a former store that sat at the entrance of the tiny community and proceeded to renovate it.

“It was a dead building that came alive,” says Nancy, David’s wife. “Residents say they have been praying for years [for a church]. Every time we come here, we feel loved and honored that God has chosen us to do this.”

David praises the partnership of the Cooperative Program, the state convention and numerous individuals and churches that made it possible to renovate the building and provide a home for this new church.

Silver Lake Family Fellowship continues to grow, with regular worship services, Bible study and weekly family activities that include a meal and recreational activities.

“Without the Cooperative Program, there would be no Silver Lake church and we would not be serving,” David says.

David and Nancy Lee are the CP.