Over the past few years, while some churches have traded their metropolitan mega-churches for smaller suburban churches, or have, for a number of reasons, split apart, one church has decided to unite with another and to move to the city of Miami Gardens in hopes of becoming a resource to the community.

Pastor Wayne Lomax founded The Fountain of Pembroke Pines church more than 13 years ago, with its first few services actually being held in his living room. As the church moved from living rooms and school campuses, its congregation grew in size as well, from eight initial members to more than 1,000. In a situation of continual renting, The Fountain was unable to consummate a deal to have its own building. Yet Pastor Lomax always kept his eyes open, knowing that God was working something out.
God’s perfect plan

At the same time that Lomax was trying to find a permanent building, Miami’s International New Life Church was experiencing the opposite problem. Formed in Miami in 1995, New Life Church began in a restaurant but eventually got its own building, at 4601 N.W. 167th St. in Miami Gardens. After their pastor, Bishop Dwight Parreez, passed away, the congregation started to decline, leaving the church with financial difficulties and the decision of whether or not to find a new home.

What initially began as a business deal for both churches, with one looking for a permanent building to own and the other looking for options to help them with financial issues, the perfect scenario seemed to be forming.

“This opportunity started out as a business deal and formed into a kingdom concept, where two churches could unify with one another and become one congregation with a mutual vision that is communicated in scripture,” states Lomax.

After just a few months of finalizing details, The Fountain of New Life Church was formed in Miami Gardens.
The two congregations celebrated their very first service as a new church on Dec. 31, 2009. Pastor Lomax is thrilled that, “Everything is coming together great. The biblical idea of unity became more attractive to us than just the idea of us both going our separate ways, so we combined our resources and brought together two very diverse groups.”

The Fountain of New Life members have committed themselves to using their new building in every way possible to serve their community. “We are planning outreaches, summer programs for the youth, personal development classes for families, finance classes … and we are even going to try different types of classes that will hopefully pique interest,” says Lomax. These classes include one in which teenagers will be used to help adults and seniors who are inexperienced with computers to bridge the technology gap. Teenagers who are computer literate will be teaching and training others in technical areas with which they are unfamiliar. Another class that will also be starting up is an exercise class with a twist: For those who aren’t excited about doing traditional exercise routines, routines in this class will be in the form of dance.

Bringing together two different congregations that were facing very different circumstances, Pastor Lomax sees God’s hand at work in all of it. “I kept telling both congregations, as things kept evolving, that I didn’t know what God was doing but I knew he was up to something BIG. I know that if we are truly faithful as a church in how we serve other people, what we have begun here is just the tip of the iceberg.”

The Fountain of New Life Church currently has three services on two campuses. The Pembroke Campus is located at 21113 Johnson St. in Pembroke Pines, and starts its Sunday service at 8 a.m. Two other services are held on Sunday at 9:30 and 11:20 a.m. in Miami Gardens, located at 4601 N.W. 167th St. in Miami Gardens.

For more information, please call 954-447-6858 or visit, www.FountainMinistries.net.
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