The vision that God has given us and what we feel called to do, to reach the people of Huntsville with the love of Jesus,
that is too big of a calling, that's too big of a vision that I could ever do on my own.
I was born and raised in Huntsville, Alabama, and then went off to school down in Tuscaloosa,
and then went to seminary down at the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary.
Then I went with some friends to start an epic church in downtown San Francisco.
It was a dream come true as far as church planting.
I got to be part of an amazing team and an amazing ministry.
However, slowly God began to shift my heart back to my hometown of Huntsville.
As we began praying about it, as we began exploring Huntsville, as we began making phone calls to Christians and pastors and friends,
I had this calling, a huge vision, a huge calling to start a church in Huntsville.
Quite frankly, I wasn't really sure where to turn to first,
but I knew the first phone call I needed to make would be to the state board of missions.
I called them, I ended up talking to Lamar Duke all along the way,
even from way before we ever had a name for this, way before we had a location picked out,
just when we knew God was calling us to do something that felt impossible.
Lamar, the Alabama Baptist, and the state board of mission have been there helping us.
Helping us with financing, helped us with training.
I have been able to have been part of church planting prior to Huntsville.
I've been part of many coaching networks.
I've been part of a lot of church planting training.
The church planting coaching offered by the Alabama State Board of Missions has been the best training I have received on church planting.
Everything from the boot camp that really tells you the what and the why of church planting,
everything from the monthly coaching of us talking about,
hey, what are some of the greatest pressure points we're feeling?
What are some of our winning, some of the places where we've been winning?
Where are some things where we've been struggling?
And we just walk through that as a cohort.
It's just been unbelievable. It's been priceless.
February 21st, we've launched weekly services of essential church.
It was amazing as we saw 196 people show up during our big launch.
We've had five people as of right now take their next step by being baptized.
And that was since our launch in February.
We already have a few more who are ready to be baptized.
We're excited to see people take hold of eternal life for the first time.
We've seen a surprising number of people entering into small groups.
We want to be a multi-generational church and I'm very pleased with how that's happening.
But we're also engaging the people who are moving into the downtown parts of Huntsville.
What we're finding is that the people are moving here.
They tend to be younger. They tend to be professional.
They tend to be well-educated.
And they tend to be less likely involved in the church already.
And so it's really been amazing seeing God birth this vision.
It didn't make sense at first.
But as we began doing church here, as we began engaging people,
we really realized, and I do not think this is a stretch,
the people that we are engaging in downtown Huntsville
were the very same type of people we were engaging in downtown San Francisco.
Essential has become a huge part of our lives.
It's brought me back to a point where I'm involved in my Christian walk every day.
It provides a lot of opportunities to do things that are asked of me as a Christian.
And it's made a remarkable change in the way I feel every day
and the way I think about Christ and what I think about the community.
Where do I start with how God has been working through Essential?
It's been incredible.
First of all, seeing people come through these doors who have specifically said,
I don't know about this, but I'm going to come in because so-and-so invited me.
And watching them come to Christ has been really incredible.
In our own lives, just this community has been so supportive and so genuine.
We're trying to move people from not just being a spectator in their faith,
but really being a participant.
And so we're just blown away about how God has blessed us
and how God has been working through us to see people taking next steps in their faith.
