I was raised in Littleton, Colorado in the shadow of the Rocky Mountains by two wonderful parents who instilled a love for God and a love for helping others throughout my childhood. 

When I was 18, I came to Lawrence, Kansas to study biology and go on to dental school.  But God has other plans.  At the end of my freshman year in 1996, a young man who lived in the same house as I, and who recently began following Jesus, challenged me and my lifestyle.   A few weeks later, I gave my whole heart and future into the Lord’s hands.  I felt as if everything inside me changed…for the best!

Over the next couple of years, I learned what it meant to be a disciple, I learned to get out of myself and into other people’s lives and I came to understand what the Lord has made me for: training and equipping people to walk and fulfill God’s dream for their lives. 

Upon graduating the University of Kansas in 1999, I moved to Los Angeles to receive formal training in ministry.   I began my studies at Fuller Theological Seminary’s School of World Missions.  It was a tremendous time of growth in my walk with the Lord.  It was also at this training that I met my wife Bekki.  A year later we got married.

We returned to Lawrence, Kansas and helped develop our campus ministry at KU.  Then in 2001, we moved to Manhattan, Kansas to help plant a campus ministry and church.

After the campus ministry and church in Manhattan was firmly established, and after growing a family of our own with three boys, in 2007 we moved to Kansas City to launch City Life Church.

From a living room, to an elementary school and now at our current location at 40th and Wyoming, City Life's journey has been a wild ride!

The vision of City Life has not changed through the years: to help people discover who God is, to grow and develop their love for God and others and to lead out in culture.

Jesus gave us the perfect model of how His bride, the church, was to change the world – develop disciples who in turn help develop other disciples.  We want to build lives that make an impact, and here at City Life that is what we are all about.

I want to personally invite you and your family to join us this weekend for one of our worship services. I believe City Life Church is a place you can call home.

Dave Diefendorf

Lead Pastor