Pastor Tim Hughes
Sending a key staff leader, resources and congregation members to start another church may not be the most traditional church growth strategy, yet that is the story of Grace Point and Rooted Community in Topeka, Kansas. At the time, Grace Point Church faced a problem that any pastor would love: they were outgrowing their facility and needed to find a way to expand. Grace Point Lead Pastor Tim Hughes had begun a “Making Room” campaign for campus and facility expansion to host extra services.
After experiencing various roadblocks, Pastor Tim sensed the Lord was leading in a different direction. Pastor Marc Giffin, Grace Point’s worship leader, recognized the same, though he wasn’t looking for a change. “I didn’t want to be the guy who was always waiting for the next position, and I wanted to be fully immersed in whatever role I was in.” However, God was guiding Pastor Marc and his wife to plant a church in Topeka, Rooted Community. He was initially resistant, “I didn’t want to move on, I’m not a new ground taker, I’m a slow adopter, I don’t look for the new thing.” Yet, Pastor Marc and his wife, Tera, knew this was where God was leading.
Pastor Marc Giffin
When Pastor Marc approached Pastor Tim about what he was sensing, Pastor Tim responded, “How can we help?” “The phrase, ‘Building God’s kingdom instead of my own castle’ resonated more and more with me,” said Pastor Tim, demonstrating an expanded kingdom imagination. “Absorbing the loss to Grace Point is one way to describe it, but another way to say it is that this is a worthwhile investment to allow continued health at Grace Point and health from the get-go at Rooted.”
As they moved to launch Rooted Community, Pastors Tim and Marc stood and articulated their vision together. This open-handedness has allowed what Pastor Marc and the now planted Rooted Community recognize as “a luxury that a lot of church plants don’t have, which was a base of people from Grace Point. We had a lot of buy-in from the beginning.”
Pastor Tim knew there would be pain as people departed Grace Point, but he reflected, “It is not my church, it is not about me. I trusted Marc and Tera unreservedly. Being able to work with them over a decade and seeing their heart for people and to care for people, made it relatively pain free to release the people.”
Sending service
Both churches benefited from their leaders’ shared vision and mutual respect. The people who left Grace Point to go to Rooted Community stepped up to lead stronger and become more involved. Additionally, Pastor Marc’s initial two-year goal was to see the number of new, non-Grace Point people match the Grace Point planting team. Having launched in October 2024, Rooted Community is already close to the halfway point in reaching that goal.
Grace Point’s sending of nearly 100 people to Rooted Community allowed new people to begin getting actively involved in Grace Point’s ministry. Grace Point’s culture has shifted to a sending mentality as well. “I have board members asking when we are going to do this again. This move has changed the DNA and culture of Grace Point. No one talks about building bigger anymore,” said Pastor Tim.
Each church’s bottom line was maintained and even grown since the launch! “Grace Point’s giving has gone up since we left. The amount of giving at Rooted has been incredible and generous and steady. The math doesn’t add up,” Pastor Marc marveled. “More people are now immersed in the life of the church and are giving.”
Pastor Tim acknowledged that it was not easy to risk so much, stating, “Risk and faith are synonymous. But if we want our people to step out in faith and go wherever God tells them to go, we need to model that as leaders for our staff and people, and until we do, we do not have any moral authority to tell them otherwise.”
What has been the hardest part of this kingdom-minded movement? Pastor Marc and Pastor Tim miss working together, but they keep the kingdom mindset at the forefront, “Heaven will be more crowded because of it. We have all of eternity to hang out.”
Kansas District Superintendent Nate Rovenstine lent his perspective: “When our largest and most influential church takes the bold step to plant a church, at the risk of losing people and finances, strategy is super-charged. What Grace Point and Rooted Community are doing is not only a huge win for the people that both churches are reaching, but a huge boost to all of Team Kansas to fulfill our mission. Their sacrifice is exemplary and motivating.”
Pastor Tim summarized this expanded kingdom imagination: “From the very beginning, I tried to approach being a lead pastor knowing that I am not the senior pastor, it is Jesus. It is his church, not mine.”
Rev. Jacob Gibson is the senior pastor at LifeSpring Wesleyan Church, Richmond, Indiana, and graduate of Indiana Wesleyan University and Wesley Seminary, Marion, Indiana.
