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Religion News / RiverLife Chapel
Putting faith into practice through works of service
By Louise Continelli
NEWS STAFF REPORTER
Published:September 26, 2010
TOWN OF NIAGARA — While he has taken plenty of lessons in his life, golf champion Tiger Woods could have taken some tips from Pastor John Woodhouse of the RiverLife Chapel.
When it comes to relationships, Woodhouse, of Youngstown, says “just say no” to LSD — and the pastor isn’t talking about about hallucinogenics. He’s refering to one of the “seven deadly sins” of the Christian tradition — lust.
LSD, to this 1996 Niagara University graduate, stands for “lust, sin, death.”
“Understand that temptation alone is not sin,” said Woodhouse. “We must accept responsibility for our response to temptation. People blame their circumstances, the way they were raised, the devil, or what others have done to them.
“It could be things like our computer, our TV, friends we associate with, or places we go,” said Woodhouse, “but if you really want to overcome temptation, have you taken drastic action to get rid of those things that keep tempting you?
Woodhouse has spent time in the mission fields of Mexico and Costa Rica, and is currently working on a graduate degree in biblical studies at Regent University School of Divinity. He is unafraid to tackle social problems. His tools are Christian teachings, which he said are “relevant and real.”
Shifting the focus to putting faith into practice, through works of service, helps people focus on the important and meaningful things in life, he said.
As for the church, which opened last year, he said: “We have been preparing to focus more on outreach activities beginning this fall.”
“Our visibility in the community is still growing,” Woodhouse said, “and people are coming mostly through word of mouth.”
The church has about 40 congregants. Sunday worship is at 10 a. m. at the chapel, 1805 Factory Outlet Blvd. in the Elks Lodge, behind Fashion Outlets Mall, Town of Niagara.
Woodhouse’s wife, Aimee, holds an associate’s degree from Niagara County Community College. She works as a local hospital maternity-unit nurse. The couple have three children: Lauren, 11; Hannah, 6; and Ethan, 4.
You have to be “resourceful,” said the pastor, born in Newfane and once a Wilson resident, to juggle a young family and congregation. That even includes one time when he gave a sermon with a child in his arms.
Prior to RiverLife Chapel, John and Aimee served Church of the King at Queensbury, in the foothills of the Adirondack Mountains. They handled various roles of preaching, teaching, and in the music, small-group, trustee and youth ministries.
The chapel is contributing to Sherene’s Hope Ministry initiative, for Sherene Fedor, 15, who has leukemia.
Woodhouse encourages his congregants to live a life of “healthy wholeness,” based on the life of Jesus, who “grew in wisdom and stature. “He was apprenticed in carpentry, but he also learned much about growing wheat, cultivating a vineyard, planting seeds, harvesting crops and bringing in the big catch from the sea.
“Relationships were of utmost importance to Jesus. He continually cared for peoples’ well-being. Jesus was someone that most common people wanted to be with. In the Scriptures, people didn’t often run away from Christ, but they were intensely drawn to the warmth of his light and life. He talked with them, ate with them, worked and worshipped with them. Jesus cared for his social life, growing in favor. Jesus also nurtured his spiritual relationship with his heavenly father.”
And for every repenting Tiger Woods, the pastor has this advice: “The next time you feel an enormous attack on your life, grab hold of your faith. Put trust in God and he’ll bring you through.”
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