Your name: Jimmy Steele
Your spouse and children’s names: Julie, Payton, Nathan, and Adlai Steele
Name of your church: The Hill Church
Location of church: San Diego, CA
Date church was or will be planted (if you’re church is a plant):
We initiated our first service as a replant—The Hill—January 21st.
What is your website/social media information?
www.thehillsd.org
@thehillsd
www.facebook.com/thehillsd
Name of partnering church(es):
Open Door Baptist Church & Eagles Landing First Baptist
What are the reasons you decided to plant a church in your city (if your church is a plant)?
Three reasons factored into us planting in San Diego. First, San Diego is a city—like many in North America today—with an evangelical population less than 10%. Secondly, San Diego is a culturally rich and ethnically diverse city. The neighborhood we are planting in barely has a majority culture. Thirdly, San Diego is a city of mostly two types of churches—large commuter churches and struggling churches. Before deciding to plant in San Diego, our desire was to be a neighborhood focused, disciple-making church. We seek to embrace a neighborhood missiology and believe the San Diego context to be ripe for this.
What have you seen the Lord do in and through your church/church plant?
We have seen God’s faithfulness on display in so many ways. We really knew no one—outside of our team—before arriving 7 months ago. Last Thanksgiving, we had over 35 people in our home. God continues to show himself faithful as we step out and follow Himthe future?
We hope to see our church become a staple in our community, with a loud, lasting gospel impact for years to come and hopefully plant churches in three distinct bordering areas.
What advice do you have for current or future church planters?
Slower is often times faster. While our call as planters is to be “Strong and Courageous,” we must be careful not to confuse this with impatience and being led by the flesh. Patience and urgency really do go together. I have found that it takes more courage, patience, and faith to go slower than to race forward in my own plans. Be strong. Be courageous. Be urgent. And be patient because God is faithful.
What else would you like to share with the readers of our blog?
One of the aspects about The Pillar Network which sets it apart from others is its emphasis upon ecclesiology in relation to missions and church planting. Far too often, church planters I speak with talk about a desire to be missional and plant churches but have never given much serious thought to ecclesiology. Proper ecclesiology is the foundation upon which missions and healthy church planting thrives. I am grateful for churches within the network who taught and modeled this for me.
What are your 3-4 main prayer requests?
- Pray for continued unity as we move forward through the replanting process.
- Pray for us to get further “embedded” in our community which includes nearly 4,500 students within a stone’s throw of our campus.
- Pray for our patience as we boldly proclaim Christ in our community. We want to know what takes place at The Hill is done by the Spirit, not the workings of the flesh.