Cliff Lawson was born in Indianapolis, IN, the oldest of 3 children borne to Cliff (Sr.) and Joyce Lawson. On his 7th birthday, he was prophesied over by his church-planting grandfather, Maurice Frye: 

 

Birthday cards are fun to get.

I even like them myself.

But you read them over a few times and maybe lay them on the shelf.

You finally put them in the trash and see them go up in flame.

But here is one for you Grandson Called: Enter into God’s Hall of Fame.

Happy birthday Cliffie Lawson and may you be blessed of God,

That you may walk each day you live where the saints of God have trod.

May your every step take you straight ahead, 

Turn not to left nor right,

But let God’s Word direct your path into eternal life.

And let His love dwell in your heart and you will surely see,

that “The Flames of Wrath” will not destroy this birthday wish throughout eternity

And someday I’d like to see you after you’ve grown to be a man

Standing in a pulpit with a Bible in your hand. 

Preaching to the people “repent of all your sins

And get baptized in Jesus name if you would enter in"

And then to hear you tell them “to get the Holy Ghost

and speak with other tongues like they did at Pentecost"

So you’ll have to be a good boy and trust in Jesus name

And someday God will put you in His blessed “Hall of Fame”

With Love

Grandpaw Frye

 

In November 1989 Cliff and Femie moved from Southern California to the San Francisco Bay Area. Just prior to moving to San Francisco, Cliff had a dream. In his dream he saw him and Femie worshipping in a Filipino church with a lot of other Filipinos; the only problem was that Cliff only knew two Filipinos at the time, his wife and her best friend. When Cliff shared his dream with Femie, he discovered that she had had the same dream on the same night that he had! Obviously, God was up to something!

 

Following their move to the Bay Area Cliff was Christmas shopping that year alone at the Serramonte Mall in Daly City, CA. In the center of the mall there was a fountain with a small stage set up for groups to provide various entertainment activities including Christmas caroling. While Cliff was listening to one of the groups singing there, he noticed they were all Filipinos! He then realized they were a new church plant and then heard the voice of the Lord telling him: “This is the church that I have shown you in your dream and I have brought you here to join them.” Cliff asked the group for more information, took a flyer home with him and, with great excitement, told Femie, “I found the church that God wants us to join and guess what, they’re all Filipinos!” But when Femie asked what the name of the church was, Cliff found that he had misplaced the flyer with the church’s name and address and because it was a new church there wasn’t a listing for it yet in the phone book. But God was up to something!

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In 1990 Cliff began working as the Chief Operator/Telecommunications Manager directing all operations of the 1,200 room Westin St. Francis Hotel PBX Department. He supervised a highly effective 20-member team of telephone operators, shift supervisors and maintenance technicians enabling them to achieve and maintain a 97% Guest Satisfaction rating in areas of courteous and friendly service, the highest rating in the national chain of Westin Hotels & Resorts. He also established and trained various teams in Total Quality techniques as the Team Facilitator.

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In 1991 Cliff was on his way home from his job at the Westin St. Francis Hotel and happened to sat down next to a young woman on BART (the Bay Area Rapid Transit System). God was up to something! Cliff noticed that the woman was reading a Bible translated into Tagalog, a Filipino translation. All of a sudden Cliff found himself asking the woman where she went to church. The woman replied that she did not know the church’s name but she would be happy to take Cliff to the next church service. The next week Cliff met Corazon (Cora) Dandan and she took him to her church in Daly City. When they walked up to the entrance, there was a sign posted on the door that indicated the name of the church was “Jesus Prince of Peace Fellowship,” the same church that Cliff had seen and heard singing Christmas carols at Serramonte Mall in 1989 and God had told him to join! God was indeed up to something! Cliff met Dr. Richard Mirpuri and Pastor Dick became Cliff’s pastor, mentor and friend. Cliff and Femie then joined JPOP and were introduced to the Christian & Missionary Alliance which led to Cliff and Femie meeting Pastor Terrence Nichols. Truly God is actively watching over His Word to fulfill it. (Jeremiah 1:12, Amplified Bible)

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In 2001 Cliff and his wife, Femie, founded a ministry in Vallejo, Wells of Blessing Ministries encouraging people to: “Stay in the Word, stand in prayer, experience the victory!" At the same time, Cliff was working at J. E. Higgins Lumber Company (a $384 million dollar per year, multi-state company) as a PC and Network Support Technician. Believing that God wanted to display His anointing in the workplace, Cliff began praying blessings over the company and miracles began showing up on the job. One such miracle was when the company’s network failed with no apparent reason. Without the network no sales could be made across 4 states, potentially resulting in massive losses of several million dollars. While standing in the main computer room in front of some of the routers, Cliff began praying in the Spirit. All of a sudden he saw, in a vision, two hands appear moving towards one of the routers. The hands gripped two of the Ethernet cords, one in each hand, and switched them. This showed Cliff where the problem was and how to fix it. He just obeyed the heavenly vision, and the network was immediately restored.

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In 2016 Cliff and Femie merged their church, Wells of Blessing Ministries, with New Hope Church Community under the leadership of Pastor Terrence Nichols and began worshipping as a United Fellowship. In 2019 Cliff and Femie returned to Jesus Risen Lord Alliance Fellowship with New Hope Church Community and both churches eventually merged to become One Church. Surely, God is still up to something!

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Cliff and Femie met in 1985 while he was stationed in Wiesbaden, West Germany with the U.S. Air Force in the 1st Combat  Communications Group. For him, it was “love at first sight.” Now married for more than 38 years, they have been blessed with 2 adult children, Abigail and Andrew, and 3 adorable grandchildren.