Who are we? We are a simple community of Christ-followers who gather for worship in Carlsbad, California in a Garden Chapel at the home of Don and Janie Seltzer. We are interdenominational, trinitarian, and Word-centered. We affirm the historic Nicene Creed totally and completely.
We would love for you to listen LIVE at 8:00am PT every Sunday on Youtube @janiepoet. Because of the association with the Zig Ziglar Facebook page, we are honored to reach a global audience with the good news of Christ Jesus and the truth and power of His Word. Be sure to subscribe and receive reminders! If you would like to be added to our weekly community updates, contact me with your email.
We are a ministry focused on helping others find their “real life hidden with Christ in God ” (Colossians 3:3). We believe that the spiritual journey to the heart and home of Abba, Father–the holy center of our deepest desires– is best navigated by the Good Shepherd, Jesus, the Only Son of God, who proved His love for us by His sacrificial death on the Cross.
God’s love is lavished upon all who turn their hearts to Christ and receive His forgiveness. By the generous outpouring of the Holy Spirit, we are empowered to live into the reality of life with God. This rich, inner life of the soul is the abundant life promised by Christ (John 10:10; Ephesians 1:7). It is a life of deepening trust and spiritual growth that is based on the promises of God in His Word. It is a life of becoming more and more transformed into His very own image–as the Father created us to be (II Corinthians 3:17).
The chief servants of this ministry are Don and Janie Seltzer. Don and Janie answered “yes” to the invitation to follow the Good Shepherd when they were active in a high school Christian ministry of Young Life in Charlotte, North Carolina. They have continued to say YES through more than 50 years of marriage and ministry.
Don Seltzer, M.Div., Westminster Seminary, PA, 1977, is an ordained minister who organized and founded two churches for the Presbyterian Church in America (P.C.A.).
Janie Seltzer, M.A., Pastoral Theology, Loyola Marymount, 2014, is the spiritual director for the Zig Ziglar community, an author and poet of the spiritual life. The Seltzers have always been a team in ministry and marriage.
Don and Janie are the parents of two grown sons, Luke and John Mark. Luke is married and the Seltzers are happy to have a grandson. The family has three golden retriever mixes–Baby Cakes, Rudy, and Sweden (the Queen!).
After “planting” and leading two churches for the Presbyterian Church in America (one in South Florida and one in Southern California), the Seltzers founded this third and current ministry, to help others, as to they have been helped, to go deeper in their faith. The truth is that Christ-followers experience more and more of the living, loving presence of God as they continue to continue . . . and as they learn to quiet their souls so that the Word of God can soak down from the head to the heart and more fully into life.
The Seltzers transformed their backyard into a Sacred Garden, and a home for the heart for the Hidden Life Community. As Saint Irenaeus, early Church father, wrote in the second century: “The glory of God is man fully alive.” Hidden Life Ministries says “yes, yes, yes” to that!