I am learning to be obedient and faithful to God’s vision for a scripture based local church, Christian School, and Bible College in Sorrento Valley, California. I petition your prayers or any way you would like to help. Please connect with us on our website, www.svccchurch.org. If you are interested, we encourage you to follow us as we establish His Local Church.
My background and history: I was born February 28th, 1948 at the naval hospital in Inglewood, California. Louise Hennigh birthed a blue eyed baby boy at 7:38 in the morning. My biological father never participated in my life. When I was eight years old my mother married Murray Franke. We resided in Long Beach, California. They both worked for McDonald/Douglas Aircraft. In 1957 Murray was offered a position with General Dynamics. So we moved to San Diego. In 1958 my brother Kent was born and in 1959, my parents started to build our house on Ladybird Lane in the Muirlands, La Jolla. I enjoyed learning how to surf with my neighborhood friends at Crystal Pier, Pacific Beach.
I finished elementary school at Birdrock Elementary School. Then I attended La Jolla Junior and Senior High School from 1960 to 1966. In my Freshman year, I attended the University of California San Diego. After that I tried one more year at Mesa Junior College but drifted away from academics. In 1968 I received my draft notice. Since I took the Franke name upon graduating high school, I enlisted in the Army. Private Franke went to Fort Ord, California for basic training. While I was in basic training, the army offered me the opportunity to attend Officer Candidate School in Fort Sill, Oklahoma. In 1969 I received my orders to go to Vietnam. I served one year as Second Lieutenant in the Artillery on the Ho Che Min trail. I saw quite a bit of combat and lost some of my men, which I personally put in body bags. I am still learning to forgive the people in Washington DC, who lied to me. They said they sent me there to stop communism. So I have killed Vietnamese people and was told it was my duty. I know everyone will stand before God and give an account of our lives. This is my saddest memory, which still affects me to this day.
After getting discharged from the service, I unfortunately started selling narcotics. Living in Anchorage, Alaska at that time, I was busted for narcotics. I went to the C street jail to wait for a trial. While I was in jail, an inmate shared the Gospel and I accepted the Lord Jesus Christ in 1973. I was baptised in the Holy Spirit two days later. After getting out of jail, I attended Abbott Loop Christian Center. That is where I met Amy Fraze. We married in 1975. The results of my trial were the judge sentenced me to no jail time but I was to go to ALCC Bible College. After I graduated Bible College, I was sent out with a team to establish a Local Christian Church in Springfield, Oregon. When I was done with helping to birth that church, I was a Teacher and an Elder. During that time, Amy and I had two incredible children, Jeremy Steven and Jennifer Janet. Apostle Benjamin asked if we would move from Springfield, Oregon to Fort Collins, Colorado and we said yes. We worked alongside Rich and Gail Rhodes to serve as a Teacher/ Elder. They currently live in Hawaii and are still some of my closest friends.
At this point I want to mention a man, Tom Silver, who has probably had the most influence in my daily walk with the Lord. He discipled me to not just know the Bible intellectually but how to walk with the Holy Spirit. He told me one day, “Steve, you need to do more than study, but live the bible.” So in 2015 I recommitted my life to serve our Lord Jesus and allow His word to be written on my heart. (1 John 2:23)
I have endeavored to fit into several local churches in San Diego, but when I would ask how they practice, I was never satisfied with their answers. Most often this was the way our denomination teaches. In 2018 my granddaughter Emma was invited to a church retreat with Beacons Bible Church in Catalina. She gave her heart to the Lord. This piqued my curiosity, so I attended a service there and met Pastor Steve Barke. We bonded immediately and started meeting regularly to discuss discipleship. Only two months later he was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer. He passed away on January 29th 2020. He asked me to stay on and help the board continue the work and take it forward. After a three hour board meeting I could see that this group and myself did not have the same vision. I told them I won’t be back and I felt like I was back to square one.
As I look back, my Heritage in Bible teaching was incredible. I sat under a man, Dick Benjamin, who at that time was just Ordained as an Epshians five fold Apostle. I have always recognized him as my pastor. Because of his standing in the body of Christ, we had incredible teachers that would come. They were men with many years in the word and doctrine. I mentioned them here to give them honor and thank them for the rich blessing of opening the word to me. My pastor, Richard C Benjamin. My teacher/Apostle, Richard Strutz. Robert Wheeler and Kevin Connor, who were recognized as great teachers from New Zealand. Finally, James Durkin, who oversaw the lighthouse temple in Eureka, California.
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