The Beginning of Something Beautiful
An Unforeseen Kindness
“We’d like for your church to meet here for free”. These were words that I had been praying to hear as my wife and I began this church planting journey. I had been challenged to ask God for God sized things and so I asked God if He would give our church a place to meet for free. Every time I told people I was praying for that, they chuckled. I understand. It’s a crazy thing to ask for! Who just gives a church a building to meet…for free?! But there I was, in the middle of a 4Rivers sitting in the middle of the unforeseen kindness of God.
To give context to this, in the church planting world, there are three major focuses for a church planter: gather a people, fundraise for the church, and find a place to meet. The focus is usually in that order as well. Why? Well, finding a place to meet usually is dictated by how many people you’re gathering and how much money is available to fit the number of people you have. And here we are, with a building to meet and with no rent payment in sight. Not only has God given us a space to meet, but our first local mission’s partner as well. 4 Roots seeks to address the food scarcity issue in Orlando and this partnership allows us a practical way to meet the needs of our local community. God has a funny way of orchestrating things, but if there’s anything I’ve learned this far in the journey is that God often defies human expectation.
As we’ve prayed about what God has done we’ve gotten the sense that God is reminding us that this church will only succeed if He’s in the midst of it and let me tell you, His fingerprints are all over it. Fingerprints of God’s unforeseen kindness towards King’s Cross Church. If you ever want to hear the longer and detailed story of how we ended up in our current venue space please let me know! I can’t promise I won’t cry, but I know you’ll walk away encouraged.
Creating Community
As we approach our February 2025 launch, our team has tried to figure out ways to build community in Downtown Orlando. We've begun to do so mainly in two ways: Prayer and Worship Nights along with Community Groups. Over the Fall, we’ve done a monthly Prayer and Worship night in the venue space that God has given to us. Those times have been sweet and refreshing as we gather to make much of Jesus but also asking the Holy Spirit to move in our church and move in our city. We will continue to do these monthly until Launch Sunday and then we will find a way to integrate Prayer and Worship Nights into the life of the church.
In October, we launched our first community group! We meet every Thursday in our home and it’s been amazing to see God draw people from all walks of life and start to make a family. Thursday’s have easily become my favorite day of the week.
Help Us Reach Orlando
The city of Orlando has changed dramatically over the last 10 years. We’re the 2nd fastest growing city in America and that has resulted than just a change in population size. The spiritual landscape of the city has changed as well. Orlando is the 6th most dechurched city in America and we’re on track to be the #1 most dechurched city by 2030. We’re also in the top 10 most unchurched cities in America alongside cities like Seattle, San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Portland, and Boston. While the stats seem daunting, we believe God is doing a work in this city and He’s called us to join Him on His story of redemption.
It takes a village to plant a church so if you’re interested in joining King’s Cross Church or know people who are looking for a church in the Downtown Orlando area, please reach out to me at (email). If you’re not able to join, but still feel led to partner with us, would you consider partnering with us financially at (give link)
Pray for Us
Pray that God would provide us with people to help us with worship and with kids ministry
Pray that God would give us wisdom on how to reach the people of Downtown Orlando
Pray that God would create a sense of unity and safety among the people of King’s Cross Church
Connect with Us
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Grace and Peace,
Cesar Contreras
Lead Pastor
