Stephen Love

Stephen Love was born in South Bend, Indiana, and came to know his Savior Jesus Christ at his father’s South Bend church plant as a young boy. Stephen's wife, Mandy, was born in the Chicagoland area and came to know the Lord at a conference with CRU while in college. Stephen and Mandy have been married since 2010 (they first met in 7th grade) and have been blessed with four beautiful children: Stephen Jedidiah Jr. (b. 2012), Elias Nathanael (b. 2014), Jade Ruth (b. 2015), and Simeon Joseph (b. 2017). Stephen received a B.A. in Pastoral Studies from Moody Bible Institute, a M.A. in Theological Studies from Reformed Theological Seminary, Orlando, and a certificate in history from The University of Oxford, England. He accepted the call to preach the gospel in 2002. From 2010-2019 he faithfully served the body of Christ at New Life Fellowship Church in Waukegan, IL as Assistant Pastor and Elder. While in Illinois, he also worked as the Director of Development at PADS Lake County, the local Homeless Shelter. Mandy received her Bachelor's degree in Social Work from the University of Kansas and has loved serving the body of Christ since meeting her Savior in 2001. She served as the Women's Youth Director at Grace EPC in Lawrence, KS and upon moving back to IL, she worked at North Chicago Community Partners, a non profit organization, where she helped develop and sustain a "community school" model in an under resourced area. Beginning in 2017, Stephen and Mandy began praying about church planting. Simultaneously, unbeknownst to them, the Lord was kindling passions within a few long-time South Bend residents to plant a Christ-centered, disciple-making, community-loving church in South Bend. Understanding the need for another gospel-focused church in the urban context, it became clearer and clearer, by God’s grace, that He was leading Stephen and Mandy to move from the Chicagoland area back to Stephen's hometown. Redemption City Church was launched in September of 2020. Stephen is the self-proclaimed biggest Notre Dame and Denzel Washington fan.