The Story We Find Ourselves In

Story drives the world we live in. From our favorite television shows to our employment histories to the recently completed school year of our children, stories that reveal the colorful pages of our lives are taking place all around us. Stories shape the way we view, interact with, and contribute to the world around us. Typically, in stories, we ultimately learn about ourselves, because we identify with the plight of a prominent character. As a result, we join with them taking on their experiences as our own. Here's the story of Christ Journey; the story you find yourselves in.

As the summer of 2004 began, Chris Chappotin was less than 3 months into a new job in the IT industry. After spending 7 years in full time church ministry, he had gone from planning high school weekend retreats to planning email migration and system implementation schedules. During this traumatic transition, Chris and his wife, Heidi, began to take notice of four important trends specific to the south Fort Worth area.

First of all, the population in south Fort Worth, Crowley, and Burleson is booming! Through the North Texas Council of Governments, Fort Worth was verified as the #1 growing city in the DFW Metroplex from a ‘residents added per year’ perspective. Furthermore, currently, the population of Burleson standing at roughly 30,000; however, by 2030, Burleson will have grown to more than 65,000. The Crowley Independent School District has over 12,000 students with two 5A high schools, and a commitment to build at least one elementary school per year over the next five years. Needless to say, as people who had grown up in this area and were just now viewing south Fort Worth, Burleson, and Crowley as adults, these numbers were staggering to Chris and Heidi.

Secondly, we began researching the unchurched population in the DFW Metroplex. According to the Barna Research Group, unchurched people range from those who attend church at Christmas and/or Easter to those who have no part in church at all. At latest estimates, 2 out of 3 people in Burleson, Crowley, and /or south Fort Worth fit into this category. Not only are these numbers on the rise, but our experience confirms these statistics. Last Tuesday night, Charles Kiser and Chris Chappotin spent an hour and a half at Warren Park in Burleson handing out free water bottles and Christ Journey Church invite cards. Roughly, they interacted with 25-30 people, and no one refused a card because they were already a part of a church. Although the sample size of this particular event is small, this has been Christ Journey's experience countless times over the past year and a half. With church no longer in the center of our society, people have deemed it irrelevant as shown by their lack of participation.

Third, our imagination began to run wild. We began imaging a church striving to become a holy, faithful, loving community existing for the sake of the world; a church where diversity is celebrated, community is experienced, and people are accepted as they are. Imagine a church that challenges people writhing in sin with spiritual formation at its core; a church where seekers, atheists, alcoholics, drug addicts, sexual addicts, gamblers, emotional and physical abusers, young, old, and somewhere in between can experience the Gospel story and turn from darkness into light; a church that cares for the poor, extends hands to the oppressed, and suffers for the community. Imagine a church that does not do mission, but instead, is mission. These became our prayers, hopes, and aspirations.

Finally, the ultimate piece in all of this began to emerge: God’s calling. This area is home for Chris and Heidi, and God was moving in their spirits to join with His Kingdom work right here. Some are called to other continents. Some are called to other countries. Some are called to other states. Chris and Heidi were called to enter their backyards and proclaim the Kingdom of God, and beginning in January 2005, with enough salary to make it to April 2005, that’s exactly what God empowered them to do.

It’s an amazing feeling to begin viewing home as a mission field, and very quickly, Chris and Heidi realized that all they had to do was wake up, pray, and engage the world. Phone calls, emails, and divine appointments came their way, and God lead them to unbelievers, seekers, and Christians desiring opportunities in God’s mission. As a result, on Sunday, April 14, 2005, the first Christ Journey house church launched. That Sunday, 14 people came together rooted in worship, spiritual formation, mission, and community, and the seeds of Christ Journey were planted.

From there, Christ Journey began to connect with the community through friendship events. On Saturday, May 21, 2005, we hosted a cookout in the Garden Acres neighborhood just west of the I-35W and McAlister intersection. Other friendship events included: a trip to Joe T. Garcia’s Mexican Restaurant, a Texas Rangers baseball game, Kids Camp, and more cookouts. Through these events, Christ Journey developed a wider base of spiritual friendships. One friendship event that stands out the most is a house church gathering/swim party/baptism held at a home in east Burleson where Michael Davis, Tiffany Davis, and Sue Salazar all gave their lives to Jesus Christ. After a house church of worship and conversational teaching about baptism, we went into the backyard for the baptisms, swim party, and cookout. It was awesome!

As the summer progressed, what began as one house church grew large enough to multiply into three house churches the week of August 14, 2005, and finally, on Sunday, September 25, 2005, Christ Journey Church launched publically with a Sunday evening worship gathering of 110 participants.

From September 2005 to July 2006, we continued meeting on Sunday evenings at Deer Creek Elementary School, meeting in weekly house churches, and connecting with new people through friendship events. In July 2006, we moved from Deer Creek to our current storefront location in Burleson. What had once been a hair salon was transformed into a house of worship to the Lord.

Currently, these are exciting times for Christ Journey Church. As a church, we have streamlined our focus into four main areas: worship, spiritual formation, mission, and community. In the area of spiritual formation, through prayer and discernment, we have implemented a process for growing and maturing Christ-formed disciples. As part of that process, we are currently meeting at 10:30am on Sunday mornings at J.J. Mocha's Coffeehouse in Old Town Burleson.