Meet The Pastor
Lead Pastors Stephen & Karissa Gantt
We love Jesus and we love people! Stephen and Karissa are passionate about pursuing God and leading people into a relationship with Jesus. They believe in creating authentic relationships and cultivating healthy families. Stephen and Karissa have been married for over 12 years and have two incredible boys; Isaac & Caleb.
Stephen and Karissa have been faithfully serving in pastoral ministries in Salem and the surrounding area for over 15 years.
Stephen is an ordained minister with the Assemblies of God and is committed to a life of learning. Stephen also enjoys reading and learning new perspectives and insight from other pastors and leaders.
Stephen enjoys the outdoors, cycling, and taking his family to the Oregon Coast or Eastern Oregon. His real passion is being a husband, father and friend. Stephen is serious about reaching the lost and believes our responsibility is to share the love and truth of Jesus everyday to those around us.
Karissa loves connecting with people and taking time to truly get to know them. Karissa believes that authentic relationships can begin in the church but are truly built by doing life with people outside the church. Karissa and Stephen want to foster that same authentic community as they serve people and join them on their journeys through life and faith.
Karissa loves to build up new leaders and mentor people as they walk through life and circumstances together. Karissa has a burden to see people walk out their faith and not just settle for the ordinary when Jesus wants to do something extraordinary through all of us.
Together they are committed to follow the call God has on their lives at Community Life Church and sharing the love of Jesus to the community around them.