Last month thousands of Gilroy residents were surprised when they opened their front doors. Hanging on the knobs were placards showing a garlic plant bursting through the soil with text proclaiming: “Coming to the Garlic Capital, 2014.”
This cryptic message referred to a new church coming to town: Community Christian Gilroy. Its first worship service will be held at 10 a.m. Sept. 28 in the auditorium of Luigi Aprea Elementary School, 9225 Calle del Rey. Services will be held there once a month for now, including Oct. 19, Nov. 16, Dec. 21 and Jan. 18, 2015. Beginning in February, services will be held every Sunday.
Campus pastor of the new church is Brad Schroer, a native of south San Jose and graduate of Santa Teresa High School. He entered San Jose State University as an engineering major, but after two years of classes realized that was not where his interest lay.
After deciding he had a calling for serving people, he entered the ROTC program and began preparing to become a military chaplain. When the program was discontinued, he began exploring other ways to share his Christian faith.
Schroer then began studying for the ministry at William Jessup University, now in Rocklin. In 2005, he received bachelor degrees in pastoral ministry and theology.
Serving several congregations in the South Bay, the young pastor has been guided by the thought that “Jesus is the hope of the world; there is no Plan B.” He considers Gilroy a great place to open a new church, explaining that although the population has grown by 10,000 residents in the past decade, the number of evangelical churches has remained constant.
“We have no desire to ‘steal sheep,’” he said. “There are large numbers of unchurched people in this area who need help in finding God.”
Schroer has already been busy in the community connecting with residents. He has met the mayor, attended Rotary Club luncheons and visited Chamber of Commerce leaders.
C.C. Gilroy is the latest campus of a Community Christian, which first started in Morgan Hill. In February 2010, a once-thriving Baptist church on Main Street saw its Sunday service attendance dwindle to a mere four members. They invited Pastor Kyle Windsor to take the helm and revitalize the congregation. The results were phenomenal: by his first anniversary attendance had increased to more than 100.
Plans to launch a second campus began. In April 2012, this was accomplished when Sunday services were held at 10 a.m. in the Campbell Community Center. With attendance now averaging 160 weekly, the Campbell campus may soon introduce a second morning service (as the Morgan Hill campus did last year). This weekend the Morgan Hill campus is adding a third service, with times including 9 a.m., 10:20 a.m. and 11:40 a.m. Plans are being discussed to launch a fourth campus in 2016.
Community Christian exemplifies something of a trend in successful churches now, to have an “umbrella” organization with separate “campus pastors” at individual locations. The umbrella handles things like administration, logistics and provides guidance for a common culture. Campuses share things such as service order, Sunday message and flyers, taking a load off of campus pastors. But they have independence in choosing such things as music, small group topics and outreach opportunities in local communities.
“We are passionate about the Gospel and growth from the outside in,” Windsor said, referring to making Christian followers of those who have no current church home.
For more information about C.C. Morgan Hill, call (408) 779-4914. To contact C.C. Gilroy, visit community-christian.us.
