About Us

Our Family

On August 22, 2021, Pastor Jacob, Jelsamina, and their five children—Elijah, Isaiah, Matthew, Arrow, and Shiloh—bought a house in Tool, TX. Since then, they have become integrated as regular attendees of Christian Life Center. They recently gave birth to their sixth child, Zara Ember Grotjan, on October 4, 2021. Zara’s arrival was high risk, and unexpected complications arose, but the Lord was faithful in bringing them both home healthy. The Grotjan family is sincerely grateful for the Christ-like friends and family at CLC that stepped in to help them in time of great need.

Background

Pastor Jacob spent over five years in the United States Army as a sergeant in the infantry and as a special duty chaplain assistant from 2010 to 2015. After leaving the Army in 2015, he finished his AA in General Studies from CTC; he then attended SAGU from January 2016 to December 2020, achieving the AA in Bible, BA in Ancient Studies, and Master of Divinity with a concentration in Biblical Languages. Pastor Jacob is a credentialed minister with the Open Bible Churches, and he currently teaches as a professor of Biblical Studies for Harvest Bible College, an affiliate school of the Open Bible Churches. He also teaches faith-based reentry classes to prison inmates.

Vision for CLC and the Universal Church

Pastor Jacob is passionate about training and equipping the next generations of pastors and ministry leaders with a central focus on the study and application of Scripture. Many churches are rapidly falling away from their Christian faith, and Pastor Jacob believes this is largely due to the lack of depth in teaching and discipling believers from Scripture within the local church. The only way to edify the Church universally is to address these issues at the local levels. Subsequently, believers must pursue the deepest understanding of Scripture possible to them, in addition to preparing hearts for the reception of sermons each week, in order to live holy lives as Christ did. This secular world that we live in has stolen our desire to study Scripture and it is hostile to Scripture. This world is temporary in God’s eyes, and the conformity that is seen today is alarming. We, Christians, are all called to know God on the deepest level possible, no matter how long it takes us to reach that point. Christianity requires a life of committed prayer and Scriptural study. But our level of study must go beyond the mere devotional level. Since the Bible is the final authority for our Christian faith, we must exhaust all efforts to study Scripture as we progress further in our walk with Christ. Consequently, after consultation with Pastor Barry, Pastor Jacob is currently developing Christian Life Center School of Ministry (CLCSOM) to train, teach, and encourage future pastors, ministry leaders, and lay people alike, which will open in January 2022. Please pray about attending as a student or donating a scholarship.

Teaching Philosophy

Jesus is the essence of perfect theology, and he is the final revelation of the Father’s will and plan for reestablishing His connection with us. Pastor Jacob is committed to teaching biblical principles that reflect this and are derived from Scripture. The grammatical-historical method of biblical interpretation is taught, consequently. This simply means that God did act in time and space, the way Scripture has recorded those events, especially through the nation of Israel, Jesus, and the early church, and as such, the historical study of Scripture must be a major leg in biblical interpretation. Likewise, Scripture was written in the original languages of Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek, with many literary genres, and with differing contextual overlaps; therefore, our study of Scripture must also address these literary aspects of Scripture. Once the historical and literary aspects of a passage of Scripture are examined, only then can we begin to see the who, what, when, where, why, and how God has and does move in the lives of His created beings. Upon conviction of these biblical principles, we must immediately seek to apply them to our own lives and encourage others to do the same.