Starting in 2013, God began to place the small town of Deshler Ohio on the heart of Matt Boyers, Senior Pastor of Crossroads Evangelical Church in Wauseon, Ohio. For nearly a year, God led people to visit with Matt leading to conversations regarding connections in the Deshler area.
It soon became apparent that in order to start a ministry presence in Deshler, Crossroads would need to find a leader. As a result of Pastoral connections, Matt spoke with Jay Nickless, the director of church multiplication, in Newton, KS about the possibility of finding someone to lead the initiative. Jay Nickless had established a church-planting residency and forwarded Alex Ruhter as a potential applicant.
Alex and Darla and their 1 month old son visited NW Ohio in May of 2014 and God quickly made it clear that Deshler Ohio was their call to plant a church. Moving temporarily to Wauseon Ohio, Alex and Darla joined the staff at Crossroads Evangelical Church and soon began finding connections in and around the Deshler area that joined the church planting team. The Way Community Church held their first public service on April 5th of 2015 in the gym of the Deshler Elementary School building.
In 2020, God began to initiate a transition of leadership within the church. Alex and Darla felt called to pursue an entrepreneurial venture, while believing that Pastor Justin Deuel was called to lead the church. This transition was finalized at the end of 2020. Pastor Alex is still involved in the church leadership team and meets regularly with the staff.
We want your experience at The Way Community Church to be comfortable, welcoming and hospitable. Whether you grew up in the church or haven’t felt like church is the place for you, you are welcome here. No matter your past, or present, background, struggles or doubts, we care about you—and God cares about you.
We do this because that is exactly how Jesus accepted us. If our relationship with God was based on what we have done in our lives, we would all be in the same position, separated from God. However, “God sent Jesus into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.” We have all been invited to have a relationship with our Heavenly Father, and the local church is a small representation of that. You are welcome in our family and we hope our church is the best environment for you to grow in your relationship with God.
As a church, we are committed to three things. Bringing people into a saving relationship with Jesus. Building them up in their faith. And sending them out to serve in both ministry inside the local church as well as mission to those outside the local church.
