by John A. Gross
What a thrill to see the overwhelming number of church planters at the Orlando meeting. The energy and fire they brought to the meeting was extremely exciting.
Anthony Milas is our regional leader for the New England area. He has done a fabulous job of planting churches in this region by training and mentoring several young men from his ministry. Here is part of his New England story:
If God has called you to plant a church, then He will give you the ability to do it. The time has never been better to start churches. Whatever corner of the country you live in, there are people who are waiting to come across a church like the one in your heart.
We buried the idea, the concept, and the history of the struggling Granite State Baptist Church. The funeral gave way to the birth of a new church, founded on the conservative doctrine found in the Scriptures.
From the beginning, they knew that the strength of their church wouldn’t be in their seating power, but rather their sending power. So in 2001, with a few people in the pews and even less money in the bank, Granite started Crossroads Church in the small town of Pelham, NH.
In 2003, Granite launched Journey Baptist Church. Today, under the leadership Rob and Krista Willis, Journey is a thriving community looking to start a new location in the future.
In 2007, Granite partnered with their first two plants to birth the Dialogue Church in Manchester, NH, and New Heights Community Church in Haverhill, MA, both led by people from the Granite church staff.
The story continues. In 2011, Granite was faced with the issue of more people than seats, and after holding four services on a Sunday, they embraced the idea of becoming one church in multiple locations. We said, “We won’t allow space or time slots to dictate our ability to reach people with the Gospel. We will meet in movie theaters, schools, hotels — anywhere that gives us the ability to reach people for Jesus.” Since that shift, Granite has launched three additional locations and a church plant in the city of Danvers, MA, under the leadership of Mason and Amber Adair.
For church planters with a dream in your heart, surround yourself with others who believe God isn’t finished starting churches. Today our attendance is 1,600 at Granite Church, 400 at Crossroads (our first plant), 600 at Journey Church, and 400 at Dialogue Church.
We have many other young men who are planting successful churches in our Fellowship and we want to share their testimonies in the future as we continue to make progress with our APEX program.
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Editor’s Note: In this column in the February 2015 issue, Dunnegan Bible Church was mentioned as a BBF Builders project. The actual name of the church is Dunnegan Bible Baptist Church.