Big. Empty. Weeds in the parking lot. Sunset Point
Plaza was lifeless, until a new church plant voted to lease a 10,000-square-foot
banquet hall in the nearly deserted mini-mall.
Fox Valley Christian
Fellowship held its first service at Maplewood Middle School in
nearby Menasha on Easter in 1997. The first Sunday 170 came. Average
attendance is now 320.
For years, the Wisconsin—Northern Michigan
District leaders saw the need to plant a church in the rapidly growing
Appleton, Wis., area. Steve Nickel, associate pastor to Ron Held, senior
pastor of Racine (Wis.) Assembly of God for more than 6 years, accepted
the challenge. In summer 1996, Nickel and his wife, Jeanne, met with
Arden Adamson (now district superintendent; then, district secretary)
to discuss becoming church planters in the Appleton area.
In November 1996, the district gave approval to
the Nickels to start the process by attending a Church Planting BootCamp
and raising a minimum of 25 percent of their budget.
Nickel says, "BootCamp is where we spent a
week determining who we are, our values and what kind of church we were
going to be. It’s also where we developed our vision, strategy
and time lines."
Nickel placed two ads in the newspaper about an
informational meeting to be held at a hotel for those interested in
a new Assemblies of God church in the south Appleton area. About 90
people came.
On Easter, March 30, 1997, Fox Valley Christian
Fellowship held its first service at Maplewood Middle School in nearby
Menasha. The first Sunday 170 came. "We averaged 116 people for
the first few months," Nickel says.
"Part of the reason we came," says Jake
Van Veen, deacon and missions coordinator, "is that Pastor Nickel’s
ministry is directed more outward than inward."
At the end of seven months, the church was averaging
160 on Sunday mornings. It was time to look for larger facilities.
The congregation spent hundreds of hours renovating
the former banquet hall. When they moved to the new location, average
attendance immediately jumped to 193. As the church grew, they leased
and renovated an additional 4,000 square feet. Average attendance is
now 320.
The mall’s owner was willing to sell all 68,000
square feet and eight acres (which includes a paved and lighted parking
lot) to the church for $1.1 million. The church purchased the property
in September with funding through the Assemblies of God Financial Services
Group. They are now in the process of renovating inside and out.
From the start, Nickel says, "We committed
to tithing from our general fund to missions." A missions convention
is held every six months. This 4-year-old church is giving nearly $100,000
annually to world and home missions. In 1999, eight people flew to Argentina
to help build a church. Last June, 18 people drove to Minneapolis, Minn.,
to help home missionaries Chris and Monica DeLaurentis in a building
project.
In July, the church had an evangelism seminar and
outreach. A weekly visitation ministry – FRIEND: First-timers Receiving
Information, Encouragement, Nurturing and Direction – trains people
in evangelism.
According to Tom and Holly Behm, who have been attending
Fox Valley Christian Fellowship for three months, the focus on ministering
to children and youth caught their attention. Holly says, "If children
don’t have a place to go, why would parents want to bring them
or come themselves?"
"There are at least 20,000 children and youth
in our area," assistant pastor Brian Pingel says. "In our
youth group, which now has up to 50 each week, only 26 percent live
with their mom and dad."
Nickel says, "I use the phrase, ‘Believe
God’s heart; see God’s hand.’ We’ve seen God’s
hand; we’re praying that our community will see God’s hand
as well."
— Dan Van Veen, news and special projects coordinator,
Assemblies of God Office of Public Relations
