Thank you for taking the time to read these updates from our planters. I hope you will take time to pray for their work, their families, and their churches.
“The Lord has done great things for us; we are filled with joy” (Psalm 126:3)
Gratefully.
Drew Bennett | Executive Director
1410 Dundee Road
Winter Haven, FL 33884
(863) 298-9849 - work
(863) 286-2310 - cell
drew@redeemerwinterhaven.org
KISSIMMEE FELLOWSHIP
KISSIMMEE | Heath Zuniga
LAUNCHED: 2023
We’re grateful to share that the Lord has answered a significant prayer for our church. Beginning in July, we will be moving into a new home on the campus of Faith Community Church in Kissimmee. As the only PCA church in Osceola County, we have been praying for a facility that is centrally located, affordable, and available for ministry beyond Sunday mornings. God has graciously provided all three.
This new space will allow us to deepen our presence in the community throughout the week by hosting job fairs, membership classes, pastoral counseling, youth ministry gatherings, staff meetings, and other outreach opportunities. We recently welcomed a new Director of Worship and continue to see encouraging relational growth within our congregation as we seek to make disciples and love our neighbors throughout Osceola County.
Pray with us:
Three families who are preparing to join our church this summer.
Neighbors to connect with and join our new City Groups launching in the coming months.
A smooth transition into our new facility and fruitful opportunities to serve our community through it.
OAK CITY CHURCH
BARTOW | BRIAN MACDONALD
LAUNCHED: 2023
As we complete our fourth year as a mission church, it has been good for us to reflect on God’s faithfulness since those early Bible studies in our home. I often tell people that church planting is the hardest thing I have ever done, yet at the same time one of the most rewarding.
Jesus alludes to this reality of sorrow and joy through the illustration of a mother in labor: “When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world. So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you” (John 16:21–22).
Over the past several weeks, I have sensed a fresh joy and renewal in my soul. Thank you Holy Spirit! And thank you, prayer partners, for your continual intercession for me, my family, and Oak City Church.
Praises:
Church health and unity: We continue to see joy among the body, with most of our members serving in at least two areas and giving faithfully.
A new young adults small group has launched.
Gospel fruit at Bartow High School: Please continue praying for Kirby as he investigates Christianity.
Officer training: Three elder candidates and two deacon candidates are completing our study through the Westminster Confession of Faith.
Favor with the City of Bartow: Our vision at Oak City is not only to grow a healthy church, but also to cultivate a beautiful Bartow. The Lord has opened many doors recently for us to partner with city commissioners and others to foster prayer, collaboration, and flourishing among the city.
Oak City Biblical Counseling continues to grow as our primary outreach ministry: We plan to bring on a fourth biblical counselor in June and open a second office in Lakeland in August.
Pray with us:
Please pray for several new small groups launching this fall, that they would cultivate deep relationships and a growing love for Christ.
Pray for five new converts. We long to see rebels become worshipers through the power of the gospel.
Pray for our goal of particularization in Spring 2027 as we seek to become self-governed and self-funded. We are thankful that many in our church give faithfully, and we are praying the Lord would continue raising up additional giving units so that we can move toward 75–100% internal funding.
Pray for continued growth in Sunday morning attendance, both through new visitors and greater consistency among our regular attenders.
ANCHOR PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
EAST COLLIER | GREG BLOSSER
LAUNCHED: 2025
After a a year and a half into public worship we have tripled the size of our initial launch team in average Sunday attendance during season, showing healthy overall growth.
I have been encouraged by the steady stream of visitors and unchurched people who join us nearly every week. Easter attendance rose 35% over last year, a meaningful sign that the church is reaching new people in our community. On a recent Sunday, nearly a third of those present came through missional and relational outreach, while a significant portion were essentially unchurched before APC. These numbers highlight that relational evangelism is bearing real fruit. We are also seeing unbelievers bringing unbelievers, which is greatly encouraging.
We are excited to have launched youth ministry and added many new volunteers to children’s church, allowing more sustainable serving schedules.
Pray with us:
That we would continue to reach unchurched people
That Anchor Presbyterian would see the consistent involvement and commitment from Christians to take the next steps needed in the organizational development of the church.
NEW RIVER FELLOWSHIP
FT. LAUDERDALE | CHAN KILGORE
LAUNCHED: 2023
We have seen 26 baptisms so far this year and even more salvations. We have five small groups (4–12 members each) that are going strong. God has blessed us with strong leaders over the past year, which has been an answer to prayer. Our volunteer teams that make Sunday mornings possible continue to grow and strengthen. Ownership within these teams is strong, and their commitment and leadership continue to increase.
Pray with us:
Continue to pray that God brings us leaders and lost people.
Pray that we can begin to reach people who can help shoulder the financial needs of the church.
Pray that my wife and I get some rest as we take time off this summer.
LAKESIDE COVENANT
MT. DORA | MATT MATULIA
LAUNCHED: 2024
By God's grace we particularized in January after spending about a year training and preparing our current ruling elders. We have seen consistent attendance growth through the 2025-2026 school year. Many of the families that began visiting this fall have now joined the church and are showing their commitment to Christ and to our body through serving in our ministries and with our "set up" team. We are finding our rhythm as a session and are currently visioning/planning for our future in terms of the possibility of purchasing land in our target area. We are also learning as a session how to shepherd our people well especially as we walk with a family through a difficult time right now.
As we begin summer we are thinking through what our discipleship ministries will look like this fall. We desire to continue what we've been doing with discipleship but also need to see how we can meet the discipleship needs of our church with the newer folks that have been attending and have joined. Because of our current level of growth and attendance we are also discussing the possibility of when and how to hire an assistant or associate pastor. We believe his primary role will be to oversee (plan, lead, prepare) our discipleship ministries as well as normal pastoral duties. We are looking forward to some lake day fellowship and outreach opportunities that we will be holding over the summer.
Pray with us:
Pray for me as the pastor and church planter that I would stay close to Jesus. That I would have a deep love for him, for his glory, kingdom, gospel, and church. That I would listen to his voice above all.
Pray for my wife and I was we are navigating a new parenting season. We now have two teenagers and are navigating how to parent them through these years of change, learning, and growth. We could especially use prayer for how to navigate things with our oldest daughter who is expressing desire to play beach volleyball in college. We just need help navigating how to be supportive and give her opportunities to play while still balancing all our other areas of life. On top of this Lindsey and I are also together trying to love and serve our church family and want to be able to do both well.
Pray for us to assimilate and build genuine gospel community with the many new families that have made Lakeside Covenant their home. Pray that we would be able to connect new people with discipleship groups and community groups this fall.
Pray for us as a session to have wisdom in knowing what to do and when to act in terms of hiring as assistant or associate pastor.
Pray that the love of Christ would be real and rich in the hearts of our people at Lakeside Covenant and would move us all to make Christ known in our community.
CHRIST THE KING CHAPEL
DADE CITY | CHUCK WILLIAMS
LAUNCHED: 2024
MERCY HILL CHURCH
WINTER HAVEN | TONY ELSWICK
LAUNCHED: 2024
We’re grateful for all that God is doing at Mercy Hill this year. The church continues to experience encouraging growth, with new families joining the congregation and a renewed sense of momentum heading into the summer. We recently launched a new discipleship initiative with several groups already meeting, with the goal of multiplying these groups and creating more opportunities for people to grow in their faith and connect to the life of the church. We’re also celebrating a season of growth in our church family, with five babies born over the past eight months, and are looking forward to launching summer men’s and women’s Bible studies in the weeks ahead.
One of the most significant developments this year came in February when a generous family donated nearly six acres of undeveloped land about a mile from our current meeting location. This remarkable gift came from a desire to help secure property while land in the area remains attainable, and we are deeply thankful for their generosity. While we are not yet in a position to begin raising funds for a future building, we are prayerfully dreaming about how God might use this property in the years ahead. Even now, signage on the property has already led to visits from members of the community.
Pray with us:
That God would continue to grow Mercy Hill as a multi-generational church, particularly as we welcome more retirees and families into our congregation.
That our discipleship and assimilation efforts would help people connect deeply to the church and mature in their relationship with Christ.
That God would guide the future development of the land and use it as a place where the lost are reached, believers are discipled, and prayer and worship flourish for generations to come.
COVENANT LIFE COMMUNITY
ORLANDO | MOSES HAN
LAUNCHED: 2024
We are progressing towards particularization, and I am taking this year to prepare on training officers. We are not rushing the entire process, as I'm not entirely sure that folks understand what the officers do in a PCA church. We are also planting the seed of missions into the DNA of our church, as we are sending a short term team to Taiwan this year for a mission trip.
Pray with us:
Please pray that the Spirit will move in the hearts of the core group to step up and be leaders of the church. Currently, we have people who are willing to serve, but may not be willing to be officers.
Please pray that the church will continue to have an outward face for evangelism and missions. As we hit about year 4 of our official plant, it seems that the initial momentum may be slowing down a little.
Please pray for a part time staff that we may be able to hire - either a Children's Director or a Worship Director. We are stretched very thin on these two areas, and I'll be more than glad to have help as we progress.
HOPE FELLOWSHIP
OCALA | JOSH GILMAN
LAUNCHED: 2025
This Spring we have continued to grow together in Christ through corporate worship as we gathered together for corporate worship, small groups, and bible studies around our area. We had our first covenant baptism of a little girl named Camilla McDonald and have continued to grow younger in year 2 with more families visiting and getting involved. We had roughly 115 people join us for Easter services and have been working with more folks from the community in need of marital counseling, encouragement, and care. Entering the summer, we hosted our first men's retreat and began meeting weekly for the Leadership Institute where our leaders in our church will grow in their theological understanding and be equipped for future leadership within Hope Fellowship as we head into the fall. Discover Hope this weekend will host another dozen individuals who have been regularly attending for six months or more to hear more about our church plant and join us in membership should they choose.
Pray with us:
Prayers for me and my family as we continue therapy and recovery after a severe car accident Easter week.
Please pray for my wife who has accepted a teaching position beginning in the fall at Redeemer Christian School 1st grade teacher. Pray for opportunities to minister to and invited unchurched families to join us at Hope Fellowship.
Pray for our children over the summer as they spend time at student camps to grow in their faith and maturity in Christ.
Pray for my opportunities to share Christ with non-Christians over the summer, we’ve become dear friends with some families that we have gotten to know through Travel Baseball.
Pray for Hope Fellowship to continue to reach out into the community and care for those that we have opportunities to meet with.
COASTAL PRESBYTERIAN
JAX BEACH | CHRISTOPHER BROCK
LAUNCHED: 2025
We are excited by the progress our church has made. Over the last three months, we have had regular visitors, both families and individuals, and many of these have chosen to make CPC their home. We've also increased out men's ministry, and we've had a good response to that as well. We've also made adjustments to our budget, which will allow us to both grow and be good stewards of our resources. We have also worked to give our current members more ways to serve the church, and had a positive response to that as well.
Pray with us:
Please pray that we maintain momentum throughout the summer. Many of our core families will be in and out throughout the summer, but we would like to continue to see good progress over the next few months.
Please pray too for our finances, so that we are able to continue our work here in Jax. Beach.
We will soon begin our leadership training, and so please pray for those people who feel called to lead our church.
And finally, please pray for wisdom as we consider what to do with the space we have for worship. Several Sundays in a row we have been nearly full (a wonderful problem for a church plant) and so we may need to look at moving to another service sooner than we had initially anticipated.
TAMPA CITY PRESBYTERIAN
TAMPA | STEPHEN KING
LAUNCHING: 2026
This spring, we have continued meeting on Sunday evenings for Bible study, fellowship, and training as we work toward establishing Tampa City Presbyterian Church. During this season, we transitioned from meeting in the townhome where we first began gathering and started meeting at The Barrymore Hotel in downtown Tampa. We currently have around 40 people connected to the church plant, with approximately 20–30 regularly attending our Sunday evening gatherings. During the spring, we also launched three discipleship groups and have been encouraged to see new people begin engaging with the life and mission of the church. In addition to our weekly gatherings, we have sought to host a monthly social or connection event as an opportunity to invite new people into the life of the church plant and help relationships grow within the community. We have also continued working toward building out our launch team and serve teams in areas such as hospitality, children’s ministry, music, and setup as we prepare for public worship services.
One of the most encouraging moments of the spring was our Maundy Thursday service, which served as both a preview service and an opportunity to invite people into the vision and community of Tampa City Presbyterian. We had close to 60 people in attendance and were thankful for the opportunity to gather for worship during Holy Week while introducing guests to the church plant. As we look ahead, our goal over the summer is to continue gathering and discipling people, strengthening our launch team, and preparing for the launch of public worship services in September.
Pray with us:
Pray that God would continue bringing new people into the life of our church plant this summer.
Pray for wisdom and volunteers as we continue building our launch and serve teams for our September launch.
Pray for deeper community, unity, and spiritual growth within our church family.
NEW CREATION CHURCH
SARASOTA | STEVE JEANTET
LAUNCHED: 2025
The picture I have of our progress is that of the floor rising. There was one Sunday with relatively low attendance and I could feel it. But when I counted, I realized that was actually higher than our average attendance just a few months earlier! That was an exciting realization to see that our growth has been slow but meaningful. In particular, we celebrate out growing connection with Skye Ranch School, the new K-8 school that opened just a mile from where we meet and directly across the street from our core target area. We are partnering with the PTO to offer reading mentors and sponsor special events with the school. One cool story about a guy named Mike. I coached his son in Little League and he reached out to me just before Easter because he was struggling. His wife left him 2 years ago and he is lonely and hurting. Since that day, he has been at worship nearly every Sunday and brings his kids every other weekend when they are with him. His daughter loves coming to church (she told me that this morning) and he is starting to meet with a guy from my leadership team to be discipled. Praise God. This is why we plant churches!
Pray with us:
Summer women’s Bible study just started with 9 women participating.
Considering partnering with Child Evangelism Fellowship to launch a Good News Club at Skye Ranch School this year but need a committed group of volunteers to make it happen.
Planning our discipleship strategy, including receiving our first members over the next few months.
A consistent worship leader. We *may* have an answer here and are praying for clarity.
CHRISTCHURCH MIAMI
MIAMI (KENDALL) | JAMES DRAKE
LAUNCHED: 2025
Christchurch Miami continues to experience steady and encouraging growth across the board. Attendance, giving, baptisms, children’s ministry participation, and community groups are all trending in a healthy direction, and we are grateful for God’s faithfulness. One particularly encouraging story is the recent baptism of a former Muslim (Sam) who came to faith in Christ and is now actively involved in our weekly men’s Bible study. Stories like his remind us that God is still transforming lives through the power of the gospel. In just two weeks, we will host our largest VBS yet with more than 120 children and 50+ volunteers. We are also excited to welcome a mission team from out of town that will help lead VBS, support community outreach efforts, and serve alongside our church family throughout the week. God continues to use Christchurch Miami to reach Miami one home at a time as a faith family on mission, helping people know, love, and serve Jesus.
Pray with us:
Please pray that God would continue drawing people to Himself, strengthening families, and raising up disciples who make disciples throughout South Florida.