Destin, FL
www.shorelinechurch.net

Shoreline Church launched in February 2005 with 210 people attending our first service. We started off in a conference room at a local hotel. That worked out okay until spring break hit. Tourists filled the parking lot, not our church. By late April, our congregation had shrunk to 35 attendees!

We started looking for a new location and were incredibly blessed to have a movie theater in Destin agree to allow church services in their building. This isn’t just any theater… this is THE theater (Rave Motion Pictures) in THE most popular shopping complex within 30 miles! We’re now known as “Church at the Rave,” a name that has brought many non-church attendees visiting out of curiosity – and staying!

Surprisingly, our one and only service was comparatively early – 9:00 a.m. Despite that fact, we had over 400+ at our Christmas 2006 service and 450+ at our Easter 2007 service. As our monthly average continued to grow, we knew in our hearts that a second, later service was needed. In June 2007, our second service time (10:30 a.m.) officially started and new attendees gradually made their way in.

Now, in September 2007, we’re averaging 350+ people in our Sunday morning services. In addition, we have over 30 life groups per semester with weekly participation averaging about 1/3 of our Sunday morning attendance. Our goal is that by next summer, life group participation will grow from 1/3 to 2/3.

Shoreline Church has hosted other churches that are in the planting process. If you are thinking about planting a church or are already in the process of doing so, we encourage you to visit us. We’d love to meet with you, mentor you, and give you a behind-the-scenes look at how we accomplish what we do. Give us a call at (850) 650-8658.

God is doing amazing things in this beautiful part of the country. Partnering with ARC has helped us accomplish the dream God put in our hearts. We are thrilled to be part of something so much bigger and better than what we imagined!

Albuquerque, NM
www.newlifechurchabq.org

New Life Church began on March 25th, 2007 in a dollar theatre in NW Albuquerque. We had 106 in our first service and 4 salvations. It’s been a wild ride ever since. On Mother’s Day we moved into a permanent facility that was previously owned by a Religious Science church who provided free palm readings on Sundays. We get a steady flow of visitors still! The first service we did in the new building was actually a wedding for a couple who got saved and were living together. Almost all of our people are new believers – and it’s been a blast. We’ve just started our spiritual growth track and we have trained 15 leaders to launch small groups in mid-September. I feel like we’re starting to gain momentum even though it’s summer.

Over the last eight weeks we have devoted much of our time into remodeling the facilities and grounds and we’re almost at a decent level of excellence. New Life has grown throughout the summer and we’re making strides every Sunday. * Six of our new families in July came because they read about New Life from the ARC website!

Actually, I am so thankful for our partnership with the ARC. We moved to Albuquerque with a team of 24 people with a vision and a belief that God was going to use us to make an impact in this city. Our partnership with the ARC is turning that vision and faith into a reality.

Brook and I are doing great and loving Albuquerque. Many of you know that Austin Marc was born on June 2nd. Thanks for all the prayers and encouraging notes. God’s grace has really carried us. We know that our greatest and most fruitful moments in life are just ahead.

The Church at the Gate

Sioux Falls, SC

www.churchatthegate.com

New Campus Launch: April 1, 2007

Pastor Steve’s report on the event:

“We had a great North Campus launch this past weekend – 109 visitors at the North Campus (and, an equal or greater surge here at the West Campus which was an unexpected bonus from the front page news story).  Just short of 50 attended from the West Campus (those we view as “north campus launch team folk” probably number 35, the others just wanted to support the big weekend).  Our seating capacity was 200 and so there were extra seats but the room felt very full.  No technical glitches.  People sang, clapped, laughed – the atmosphere was great.  Pastor Jim was a natural!  What a different crowd though – poor and blue collar – we have to be careful it doesn’t feel upper middle-class suburban.   One guy who showed up was three sheets to the wind… loud, blessin’ God and smelling like booze!  We had salvations, tears, and people promising to come back this week.  I really think it’ll build for this Easter weekend.  Thanks for praying!!!”

The GateWay Church

Spring Hill, TN

www.gwcsh.com

Launched: April 1, 2007

Forty weeks after our first Bible Study/Launch team meeting we launched Gateway Church at Oak View Elementary School in Franklin, TN. For the men reading this, forty weeks is a full pregnancy term. In July of 2006 we had three families committed to the vision, by January 1, 2007 we had fifteen families and had secured our location; no small feat in southern Williamson County. April 1st was the big day and we were not disappointed, 196 people came for launch. Three families indicated on their Connection Cards that they recommitted their lives to Christ! As of this writing, week two of Gateway has come and gone with 120 in attendance and we are told there is a buzz around Spring Hill (one of the three main towns from which we draw) about us. Leading up to launch I was wondering why it was taking so long to get this thing off the ground. After launch I could not believe all that was accomplished in forty weeks! I read the scripture listed below as part of my devotions leading up to launch week. God is not only faithful in providing results; He also does a great job in the encouragement department!

 And may the Lord our God show us his approval and make our efforts successful. Yes, make our efforts successful! Psalm 90:17 (New Living Translation)

Crossroads Northern Range

Commerce City, CO

www.crossroadscn.com

Launched: April 1, 2007

Sunday, April 1st was the Big Night!  And what a night it was.  We started setting up at 2pm and we’re still working some bugs out of our technical systems, mostly sound.  Our worship pastor for Freeport, Illinois, Jason, flew out for the weekend and was a tremendous help in getting things ready for last night – all audio worked very well. We had no idea what to expect in terms of people.  We’re a new church, meeting in a grade school at 6pm Sunday nights.  God is good.  We had a total of just under 200 people including adults and kids.  With 200 chairs set up in the auditorium (also known as the gym), it felt like a full house and the service had a lot of energy.  We were blessed to have somewhere around 25 people from the
Midwest who were out to ‘watch the birth’ and to help, and it was a huge help. Worship was great.  Our worship leader Justin not only did a great job, but people were actually engaged, which is not something we’ve seen much here in CO.  It was exciting to see.  Keith did a great job with the message and again, people responded to his invitation at the end.  Lots of commitments and recommitments!  The café worked very well as people came early and stayed late, connecting with each other.  The demographics were primarily young families, with over 20 kids in car-seats attending.  However, the service attracted a wide variety of ages and the feedback was positive from virtually everyone.   So, overall, a big win.  There are definitely things we need to work on for next week, but I believe we’ve laid a great foundation to move forward from here.  

Thanks so much to you for all your support and especially all the prayers.  God has heard and answered and we are honored to be a part of this whole deal.  I’ll fill in more details as they become available. 

Gateway Church

Tallahassee, FL

Launched: February 25, 2007

After being raised in a non-Christian home and becoming a successful alternative heath care practitioner for over 10 years, an encounter with God dramatically changed his life, altering his direction forever.  Answering a call to ministry, Pastor David engaged in studies at and through Trinity Theological College and Seminary, and was ordained in June of 2002. He served for 2 and half years as a teaching pastor at Agape Life Fellowship before being called to seek the Lord for his next direction. The Lord led Pastor David to start praying for the city in his home.  People started coming to experience the presence of God and hear a relevant word that connected the Old and New Testaments together. This group of believers became the genesis of what would become Gateway Church. In 2006 the Lord placed a burden for those that did not know the joy and adventure of a life committed to God into his heart.  This passion to see a church that is more concerned with relationship with God than big business of the modern American church was the catalyst of the planting of Gateway Church.

Castle Rock, CO
www.summitchurchonline.org

“When Kim and I first started to seek the Lord about what was next for us in ministry, church planting wasn’t even on our radar. We’d been in full time youth ministry for nearly 10 years at Fellowship Church (Grand Junction) and were pastoring hundreds and hundreds of students every week. Our child-rearing years were in full swing; (and that’s the time when most people seek financial security). Slowly we started to meet some very creative and entreprenuerial risk-takers that inspired us to launch new churches in a new way. Over about a 21-month period of time God put the pieces together for us in relationships and training that put us right in the middle of the greatest adventure of our lives.

In the Spring of 2003, after picking up a car that I purchased online in South Denver God began drawing us to one of the most unchurched counties in Colorado and also one of the fastest growing areas in the country. Douglas County and specifically, Castle Rock, CO has been deemed “The Church Planter’s Graveyard”
but we believe that planting Life-Giving churches the “ARC Way” in Colorado could turn that reputation around.

After doing a 3-month internship at Church of the Highlands in Birmingham, AL; God used my ARC brothers to train me, encourage me and give me the confidence to move to a city where we knew no one and plant a church of hundreds and hundreds (if not thousands) of people. Last summer (June 06′) we began launch team meetings in a friends’ condo and we watched God miraculously provide the funding, the sending church and the launch team that we needed to successfully launch Summit Church of Castle Rock, CO.

Being a faithful disciple of Pastor Chris Hodges, of course I wanted to plant Summit Church at Castleview High School…but God had other plans. Over about a 7-month period of time before our Launch date of January 21st, 2007; we watched the door at the school go from a solid “YES” to a “later in the year” to “maybe next year.” I was distraught, where could we have our church now? I began to question the whole thing. “Well God,” I said, “maybe you didn’t call me to Castle Rock, and I only thought you did.” Amazingly the door opened for us to rent a storefront (the Former TRUE VALUE Store in Castle Rock). It was well under the ARC recommended 35% for building costs and God caused ALL of the dominos to fall in our favor. Including passing a Last Minute Safety inspection by the City of Castle Rock (48 Hours before Launch Sunday)!

And then the SNOW hit us! This has been one of the BIGGEST years for Snowfall in Colorado in the last 7 years. Launch Sunday came and we found ourselves in the middle of a Winter Storm Warning (with near WHITE OUT conditions) Southbound I-25 was shutdown…and in spite of all that, 154 people showed up on Launch Sunday and 17 people made commitments to Jesus Christ. Now, several months into the plant, we had 148 at Easter and we’re averaging an attendance in the low 100’s (with a membership of over 220 people). We’ve dipped as low as 89 people on one Sunday, but our offerings have been strong and so far we have not had to dip into ARC support to cover our monthly budget, PRAISE GOD! WE’RE BUILDING A CHURCH, MAN! And God gets ALL the credit. He may have used us and our team. He may have used the ARC to fill in the gaps in our knowledge. He used our Church Planting Brothers to provide the relational support that we were needing so badly; But All of the Honor…ALL of the Glory…ALL of the PRAISE belongs to the Lord Jesus!

The Adventure continues for us…to stay up to date on the Summit Church story SUBSCRIBE to the WayneFeeds podcast at http://pastorwayneh.podomatic.com (You’ll find a 3 minute and 10 minute version of the Summit Launch Documentary at www.MySummitChurch.com). Also, you can find Pastor Wayne’s interviews with other ARC Pastors and Support Staff by visiting the Media Center at www.MySummitChurch.com or the newly launched ARC Video Podcast at http://arcvideo.podomatic.com.

SouthPoint Church

Southaven, MS
Launched: January 21, 2007
www.southpoint.tv

In Proverbs 21 it says, do everything you can, prepare for every bad thing, and then you still have to step back and trust God to bring the victory. Every ‘T’ was crossed, every ‘I’ was dotted, every person had a position, and on January 21, 2007 God brought the victory. After a lifetime of preparation, one year of planning and six months of team building, SouthPoint Church launched in the Desoto Malco Theatre in Southaven, Mississippi with 173 in attendance. With Patti Wendel leading worship and Craig Wendel delivering an inspiring message, to say that God just showed up would be a grand understatement.

SouthPoint’s welcome into the community included, six recommitments to Christ during the launch service, and several other big win stories. One launch day attendee had never stepped inside a church service before. After the service she spoke with Craig and said: “If this is what church and God are all about, count me in!” That is awesome, and so is our God. On Sunday, January 21, 2007 there was a distinct smell in the air, but it wasn’t that of movie popcorn it was the sweet fragrance of God. Thank you to ARC, Tree of Life Church Naples, Mosaic Church Charlotte, and everyone else whom helped make this day possible.

Attendance at the first service: 173
Salvations: 6!