5206 N Midland Drive

Midland, Texas 79707

(432) 699-6068

Email: fccmidland@sbcglobal.net

FCC Home
About Us
Activities
AWANA Clubs

C&MA Website

Southwestern District Website

Our Senior Pastor and Family

Larry Long was born and raised in Cheyenne, Wyoming. He was taken to church at a very young age and prayed to receive Christ when he was seven years old. Two years later he followed the Lord in baptism. Even in those early years, Larry sensed the call of God upon his life to full-time ministry.

It was during the summer between his 9th and 10th grade years that Larry first surrendered to the call to full-time ministry and the filling of the Holy Spirit. This took place in St. Louis, Missouri, where Larry was attending a denomination-wide youth conference called L.I.F.E., which is sponsored every three years by the C&MA. Though he never announced this decision to his home church, the call was confirmed by them during his high school years when many within the church—some of whom had known Larry all his life—informed him that they believed God was calling him into full-time ministry.

Upon graduating from high school in 1979, Larry enrolled at Crown College (formerly St. Paul Bible College), which is located in Minnesota near the Twin Cities. Larry’s four years at Crown were years of growth both spiritually and intellectually. In 1983 he graduated with a pre-seminary degree in History (BA), and a minor in Bible and NT Greek. While in college, Larry fell in love with Melissa Winters, who came to the college from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

Melissa was born in Seoul, Korea, to a Korean mother and Anglo father. Being of mixed race— and because the Korean culture at that time despised such people—Melissa was given up for adoption when she was three years old. She was brought to the states by her adoptive parents and grew up in Oklahoma City, with no memory of her life in Korea. Sensing the call of God upon her life for ministry, Melissa entered Crown College in the fall of 1980. She attended for two years, earning her Bible certificate.

Larry and Melissa dated for two years, but at the end of Larry’s Junior year and Melissa’s Sophomore year, Melissa decided not to return. They broke up and went their separate ways: Melissa back to Oklahoma City, and Larry back to his senior year and then on to Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, Kentucky.

During Larry’s second year of seminary, through events the couple believes were orchestrated through divine providence, Larry and Melissa were reunited. They became engaged in the summer of 1985 and married in the summer of 1986 in Oklahoma City, after Larry had finished his classroom work at Asbury Seminary. Melissa then worked fulltime while Larry worked part-time to finished the last three credit hours of his Master of Divinity degree via correspondence with Asbury Seminary. Larry received the M.Div. degree in 1987, with an emphasis in Inductive Bible Study.

Believing it best to establish their own marriage before “marrying” the church, the couple decided to work at secular jobs for a few years. Melissa worked as a Division Order Analyst for Mid-Plains Petroleum (later bought out by Total Petroleum), while Larry worked odd jobs as a substitute teacher, church janitor, baker, and then as an administrative assistant for an architectural and engineering consulting firm called C.H. Guernsey and Company. During this time they also served as active laymen in their local Alliance church in Oklahoma City.

Licensed for ministry in 1989, Larry began preaching part-time in a small, country church near Tecumseh, Oklahoma. A year later he was led to South Louisiana to a full-time ministry among the people of Calvary Bible Church (the oldest, and for many years only, C&MA work in Louisiana). This church is located in Centerville, Louisiana, which is about 20 miles from the Gulf of Mexico in the heart of Cajun country. Larry was ordained while pastoring in Centerville.

Several years before moving to South Louisiana, the Longs tried to start a family. Eventually they sought medical help and discovered that it was unlikely that either of them would be able to have children. Both underwent surgeries to correct known problems, while taking prescribed medications under the care of specialists in Oklahoma City.

Showing no signs of ever being able to conceive, however, and knowing that it would be very difficult to find the help of specialists in the rural communities of South Louisiana, the Longs surrendered the matter to the Lord and resolved to live without children, if that was his will. They moved to Centerville in the summer of 1990.

Much to the couple’s delight, Melissa soon discovered she was pregnant. Nine months and two weeks later, on October 13, 1991, Jozlyn was born. About a year after the birth of Jozlyn, not knowing if they would be able to have any more children, the couple was thrilled to learn that Melissa was again pregnant. Morgan was born on August 20, 1993.

In many ways the Longs have seen and felt God’s hand upon their lives. After 10½ of ministry at Calvary Bible Church, they discerned that God was leading them to Midland to give pastoral leadership to Fellowship Community Church. Arriving a few days after Christmas, their first official Sunday was January 1, 2001. The Longs have ministered at Fellowship Community Church for nearly 10 years, and they look forward to as many more years of ministry here as the Lord wills.

COPYRIGHT © 2008 FELLOWSHIP COMMUNITY CHURCH - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED