Pastor Sylvia Ann Boyer was visiting her mother at a care center in Iowa City when she had a vision.

"I felt in my heart a need and capacity for spirituality in this area," she said. "I believed God would send someone to do the work. I didn't realize it would be me."

In 2000, Boyer founded Gospel Explosion Ministry, a rapidly growing non-denominational church in Iowa City.

"The name came in a vision, birthed in my spirit," Boyer said.

The name wasn't necessarily intended to describe the church's rapid growth, she said.

"Gospel means good news. The explosion is the teaching and preaching, lifting people up and encouraging them. With passion and love and conviction, it explodes and makes a difference for people," she said.

The church started small, with services out of a two-bedroom apartment.

"We had three people," Boyer said.

Since then, as the ministry has grown, Boyer moved Bible study and services to several larger venues, such as the Coralville Recreation Center and the Clairon Hotel in Coralville. In October 2004, Boyer and the Gospel Explosion Ministry were able to purchase a permanent location at 1854 Muscatine Ave. in Iowa City.

Boyer views her ministry as something that stretches beyond the walls of the church.

"It's all about reaching out, showing the love we have as Christians. Not by words, but by actions," she said.

One way the church lives up to that goal is by helping feed children in South Africa and Haiti.

"We reach out to Third World countries who don't have the material things we have in the U.S.," Boyer said.

Boyer and the ministry also make a difference by providing spiritual support to people with substance abuse problems.

"It's important to keep people out of the penal system," she said.

Lifting people up is important to Boyer. For this reason, she made The Gospel Explosion Ministry a flexible, non-denominational, "come as you are" ministry.

"We're not under any umbrella," she said. "When it's all said and done, God forbid if I die tomorrow, it's important to me I've made an impact and blessed someone. That's what God is in my life."

- Jason Spangler