ANDERSON — Limping around the Faith Church Assembly of God with a cast surrounding his ankle, Pastor Walt Weaver is used to enduring pain.

He is recovering from his second surgery after violently falling from a ladder four years ago. But that fall holds no comparison to the five-story drop Weaver endured more than 25 years ago.

Weaver served as an iron worker in Missouri for several years, before an unintentional leap of fate forever altered his life. While working construction in St. Louis one August day, he accidentally fell from a structure five stories down to a near-certain death.

He cheated the odds, however, sustaining only moderately serious injuries that kept him out of work. As a result, Weaver used the time off to go back to school before ultimately sealing his future as a patron of the church.

“When you have something I would call miraculous happen in your life — ‘supernatural,’ whatever the term people like to use — I think there is a tendency to kind of assume that God wants you to do something that has a higher calling,” Weaver said. “I didn’t want that pressure.”

Instead, Weaver gradually came into the position he holds today. After earning his associate’s degree in fine arts, he went on to pursue his bachelor’s in biblical studies. This landed Weaver a job as a traveling pastor, which brought him to the Indianapolis area, when he met Anderson native — and his eventual wife — Renee Frazier.

Now with three children ranging from ages 9 to 13, Weaver credits his dramatic experience for changing his perspective on life.

“I think anyone I’ve talked to that has had a dramatic — I call it a near-death experience — you learn to take appreciation for things that other people take for granted, like waking up in the morning and breathing again,” Weaver said. “I appreciate life, and I think I am better as a result.”

Keeping with that same mindset, Weaver has implemented an increasingly relaxed atmosphere at Faith Church by installing a coffee bar and playing upbeat music. He has also openly embraced the Anderson community, assisting in the restoration of more than 30 homes since becoming pastor.

It is the people of this community, Weaver said, and not the ailing auto industry, that is the heart of Anderson. So despite any economic hardships falling upon area residents, Weaver has stressed a religious environment that celebrates life much how he has since his horrific incident.

“Our biggest challenge — I wouldn’t even call it a challenge, I’d call it a goal — is to take the message of Christ and make it relevant to our community,” Weaver said. “We try to find creative methods to reach out to our community in ways people can respond.”