Doing more. It is something Fort Dodge’s Westside Church of Christ subscribes to.

The congregation is standing in the gap — to coin a familiar phrase for those who are the first to protect individuals. Leading that charge is James Rogers, the church’s pulpit minister.

“When I first arrived, the mission component was very small, but it was there,” Rogers said. “They had been volunteering at the hospital with a sewn bears project for the children and their families and providing meals for the Beacon (of Hope) men’s mission.”

Like Rogers’ motto, they knew God was calling them to do more.

They are doing just that. A clothing store for individuals in need at any level, a small food pantry, individual and group Bible studies that are open to all interested, plus the services on Sunday and Wednesday, headline a congregation looking to grow at every step.

“We want the community to know about us,” Rogers said. “We are here. We want to welcome you on a Sunday or Wednesday … even a Bible study. It is true sometimes my schedule can be daunting, but there is such a core here to help lead the way. It is wonderful.”

The church’s story of community volunteer success is much like his own: never stopping — always wanting to do more. His entire life has been centered around that fact. A Marine who served at El Toro Marine Corps Air Station on a flightline, he had to make a quick life transition in the early 1980s when health issues sidelined him.

“A brain tumor made me look at life differently,” he said. “I jumped into the Bible and became enthusiastic about the Word and God.”

The health problems continued to be severe to the point of being inoperable, according to some doctors he visited. Seizures followed.

Six years later, though, all that changed. He had a scan with a neurologist and there was no tumor.

“My doctor said, ‘I have never seen anything like this. … It has gone,'” he said. “The military called it an unexplainable phenomenon.”

“I knew though,” he added. “It was the Lord.”

Rogers decided right there to move full-time to the study of the Word and become a preacher. Although he might have thought that would be the extent of it, it was not.

A move to Texas was in the cards. He had an opportunity to be a men’s worship leader at a church in Oceanside, California, where he was residing, but that thought of wanting to do more would not stop. He landed in Dickens, Texas, a town of less than 300.

“Going from 1.3 million to 287 people was a bit of a culture shock,” he said. “I did not let it stop me, though. I plugged in quickly, becoming an assistant pastor in Dickens. Yes, it was different than where I had been, but, again, the Lord was there telling me he wanted more.”

God’s plan developed a roadmap for his adult life. Right before he moved to west Texas, he began chatting with a woman from that area.

“Tabetha and I chatted online for several months,” Rogers said. “I was not shy in being open with her as I asked her directly, ‘If you do not want to be a preacher’s wife, we should just stop talking.’

“I will tell you there was no sign of angst from her,” he added. “I got to Idalou, and she came to my church with an Assembly of God affiliation on Wednesday in Dickens, and I attended services at the Church of Christ in Idalou on Sundays. The congregation I worked with was initially skeptical about me because of that. They would say, ‘You have a lot to learn about the two churches.'”

Rogers did not back down from that. He enrolled in Sunset International Bible Institute in nearby Lubbock, Texas, and the rest has been history.

“I’ve been in the ministry for seven years now,” he said. “Tabetha has been a blessing in my life. We’ve both had to learn our roles, but it has made our marriage so strong. We are teachers at heart, too, as she is working with children at the consortium school.”

Rogers does not show any signs of stopping, either. He has moved his teachings into the world of social media, with two messages a week on Facebook.

“You have to meet people where they are,” he said. “There’s so much more out there to be done.”