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Lawrence Powell

Biography

Lawrence Powell

Lawrence (Larry) Powell was raised in Rahway, New Jersey, in a home where church-going was a regular part of life. The experience was more “something you were just expected to do,” as he describes it, until his mid-teens when he found his own, personal relationship with Christ. Powell graduated from Rutgers University in New Jersey in the late ’80s and married not long afterwards. Still up in the air about his future career direction, the Powells decided to move to Phoenix, Arizona, where his wife’s family lived. On the trip to Arizona, the new Mr. and Mrs. Powell made a stop in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where he wanted to visit Oral Roberts University (ORU). What began as a quick tourist stopover soon became a life-defining moment.

“People had told me for a long time that I should go into the ministry,” Powell recalls, “but I struggled with the idea. It wasn’t rebellion, just uncertainty. But when I set foot on the campus at ORU, I just felt a sense of peace telling me this was where I was supposed to be.” He enrolled for two years of seminary studies at ORU the next semester, returning to Rahway upon graduation.

Immediately upon return in 1990, Powell planted a church, which met in his parents’ garage, with a congregation of seven adults and four children. Known briefly as the Love Church, he soon decided on a more fitting name, Agape Family Worship Center, placing a strong emphasis on ministry to families. Steadily increasing growth, which continues to this day, saw Powell and AFWC quickly moving from the garage to a larger building to a church today of 4,000-and-growing.

A-Zamar, the worship ministry of AFWC, recorded and released its first CD independently in 2000. It received a positive, enthused response in and around the New York area and led to ongoing requests for a follow-up. In 2004, pre-production began on what would become Agape Live 2.

From what one would have to call the absolute humblest of beginnings, AFWC has flourished into a multi-faceted ministry that also includes a weekly television broadcast of the church’s worship service, The Good Life, and an Internet ministry, streamed every Sunday from 9 to 11 a.m. and Wednesdays at 7:30 p.m. (found at www.streamingfaith.com, where previous broadcasts are also archived). Powell also has authored and published two books, THE POWER OF THE SEED and IT’S YOUR CALL, the latter of which will be released in November 2008.

As the Lord continues to open new and exciting doors for Powell and AFWC, his personal dreams and “Kingdom vision,” as he puts it, remain simple and clearly focused. “I want us to fulfill God’s purposes, A-to-Z,” he says, “in every aspect of our calling. I want to help people to dream and to think and to take the limits off, to have the faith to pursue everything God has for them,” he concludes. “Jesus came to change the condition of the spirit, the soul, and the body of mankind, and we feel called to do the same.”

Powell has been involved in ministry work in France, Germany, Liberia, and South Africa. A conference speaker and workshop instructor, Powell currently serves on the boards of Gospel Today magazine and Impact 21. He was also a cast voice for THE BIBLE EXPERIENCE (Zondervan Publishers).

The Powells will celebrate twenty years of marriage this year. They have two daughters and a son.

Lawrence Powell