Free Will Baptist North American Ministries (NAM) is dedicated to planting churches across America as well as Canada, Mexico, the Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico. Chaplains minister to thousands of men and women in the Army, Navy, Air Force, National Guard, and Reserve forces. And cross cultural church planting specialists connect with people who have come to America from all over the world. Learn more about our ministry: www.FWBNAM.com.

Four NAM Church Plants Reach Self-Supporting Status

It’s always exciting when a church plant crosses the “finish line” and reaches self-supporting status. It takes less time for some than others, but the important thing is the church is healthy and ready for the next phase of its ministry. Four churches on the North American Ministries (NAM) map have recently become self-supporting and organized as local, autonomous congregations.
Project Utah

Crosspoint Church, Utah

Crosspoint Church near Salt Lake City, Utah, led by Pastor Logan Wolf, became self-supporting January 1, 2022. This was a joint project between NAM and Faith Missions. Tim and Jessica Lewis opened the Utah field in the early 2000s, planting Summit Chapel in Ogden, Utah. Scott Warren and his wife Staci served alongside the Lewis family. Scott and Staci later moved to Salt Lake City, where Randy and LeAnn Ledbetter joined them to plant Crosspoint Church.

Logan Wolf began spending summers in Utah. God was dealing with his heart to move to the Great Salt Lake Valley after learning it had essentially no gospel presence. Logan and his wife Grayson eventually moved into a small third-story condo in Provo in May 2011. They began holding weekly church services in the conference center of a Best Western later that year, starting New Morning Church.

Eventually the Ledbetters and Warrens moved to other ministries, and the decision was made to merge the Taylorsville and Provo works under Logan’s leadership. During a morning service at Crosspoint in 2015, he explained to the full auditorium, “To continue to minister effectively and efficiently in Utah, we are merging CrossPoint and New Morning and adopting a multi-site model.”

Wolf later noted, “We are seeing God do some incredible things in this new phase of ministry: repentance, reconciliation, spiritual growth, and a new generation of disciples. Since summer 2020, we’ve seen 60 people profess faith in Jesus and be baptized.”

During this new phase of ministry, Logan and Grayson Wolf have left the auspices of Faith Missions and North American Ministries. They continue to serve in Utah.

Restore Church, Portsmouth, Virginia

On January 1, 2022, Restore Church went self-supporting. The church was a joint project between NAM and the Home Missions Board of Virginia. Marc and Casie Neppl have been NAM church planters since 2007. They joined the team as associate church planters to help David and Charity Sexton plant CrossPointe Church in Suffolk, Virginia. When CrossPointe went self-supporting in 2014, Marc and Casie moved to Portsmouth and began raising funds to establish a new church.

In 2015, they began gathering a launch team, and on January 31, 2016, Restore launched with 264 people in attendance at a local sports museum. Average attendance never dipped below 130 the first year. With parking difficult and the museum slated to close in two years, pastors Marc and Kevin Bass began hunting for a new location.

In 2017, the church purchased and renovated a commercial warehouse with the help of the Church Extension Loan Fund. This new location also included a commercial space and commercial tenant that helped cover a large portion of the mortgage payments.

On January 28, 2018, the church held a grand opening in the new facility with more than 350 people in attendance. The church grew by close to 100 people over the next few months, and average attendance broke the 200 barrier. As the church grew, they added staff and small group leaders. Restore welcomed more than 2,000 first-time guests during their first four years. Since launching, more than 250 people have given their life to Jesus at Restore.

Kevin and Beth Bass will continue working with NAM for six months to pray and seek the next season of ministry. They want to see another church planted in the Hampton Roads, Virginia, area. While they’re content to stay at Restore, they would also love to be part of a new church plant if the right doors open. Restore has people, financial support, and mobile church equipment ready for the right planter.

When asked about memories over the past few years, Pastor Marc says, “God has blessed me with three moments I’ll never forget. Our grand opening was a wild day, and my faith was confirmed in many ways. I was grateful for His blessing. When we moved into the new facility and saw tremendous growth, I remember a sense of humility as Pastor Kevin and I watched God move. I was grateful for God’s providence. Then, as the world fell apart in 2020, God blessed my wife and I with a pregnancy we had been told would never happen by doctors. I was blessed by God’s goodness and mercy. Serving God has brought us more joy than anything else we could ever do with our lives.”

NAM is proud of the Portsmouth team and looks forward to seeing what God continues to do in the Portsmouth and Hampton Roads area. For more information about the church please visit www.restore.church.

Compassion Church, Gilbert, Arizona

When Myron and Julie Scott felt the call of God from North Carolina to Arizona, nothing could have prepared them for the changes they encountered over the next few years. The Heritage FWB Church was in serious decline, with massive debt and problems. They have experienced many ups and downs during their nine-year ministry in Gilbert, but God has done incredible things.

The church underwent a massive update, remodel, and name change from Heritage to Compassion Church. While the church still has a large debt to manage, they have been able to win new people, make disciples, and take on all their own expenses. With a growing congregation, the group is active in the community and seeing new people saved, baptized, and assimilated into the church continuously.

We are incredibly thankful to God, the Scott family, and all those who have served faithfully at this church and helped it get where it is today. This healthy, growing congregation is in Gilbert, Arizona, today because of faithful workers, supporters, and prayer warriors.

For more information, please visit http://compassionaz.org.

Flagship Church, Erie, Pennsylvania

In 2011, after raising financial and prayer support, the Daryl Grimes family embarked on a journey to plant a church in Erie, Pennsylvania. At the time, Erie was Pennsylvania’s fourth largest city and a place of much spiritual darkness. Erie has one of the highest rates of alcoholism in the state, and much of its population has suffered mentally, physically, and spiritually because of substance abuse.

The church launched Easter 2012. The group had purchased an old church building for $85,000. After only three weeks of meeting in the building, they received a phone call from a church that had closed and committed $100,000 to pay off their building and help with needed repairs.

Although the church knew the building was not a long-term solution, it became their home until the Spring of 2020 when they purchased an office building and remodeled it for their current facility.

Pastor Daryl Grimes writes, “We are so thankful for the impact God has used Free Will Baptists to make in Erie. However, your prayers are needed now more than ever, as we continue to minister in the Flagship City. Although we went “self-supporting” May 1, 2022, we will need to be more dependent upon God, His provisions, and His people’s prayers.

Please pray for God to send more laborers into this needy field. Let’s ask Him to send a great harvest before His return!” For more information about Flagship Church, visit https://flagshipchurch.com.