The vision for ONE was born in the heart of our lead pastor, Mark Krenz. His desire was to connect with people disillusioned with Christianity and the church, but not with God and faith. He believes the church has the greatest message of freedom and hope in the world. ONE is setting out to penetrate every corner of our culture with that message. ONE realizes that actions speak louder than words. And so, ONE will relentlessly serve its community.
2006
In February of 2006 Mark and Shannon Krenz moved their family to Arizona to mobilize this dream and start a great new church in Phoenix's fast-growing San Tan area. In the fall and winter of 2006 the foundation of the church was being laid, the dream was shared with the community, and people were invited into the journey to transform the people and the San Tan region.
At the very first outdoor preview service on Nov 12 at San Tan Flat Restaurant/Saloon, fifty-five people attended. Our launch team of 20 people worked hard to pull off this first service. All gave positive feedback and indicated they will return. Several even signed up to volunteer and joined the Launch Team. The second outdoor preview service was Dec 3 and over 140 people attended! Despite the cold wind, dust-storm, and even a stray dog wandering across the stage during the message, the response was excellent. Again several people indicated their desire to make ONE their home church and get involved in helping launch ONE.
On December 21 and 23 ONE's band presented A San Tan Family Christmas for the community on the outdoor stage at San Tan Flat. Kids young and old enjoyed gathering around the fires for a fun evening of singing favorite carols, making "snow" with bubbles, and ringing in the Christmas weekend with a memorable new San Tan tradition. On Christmas Eve morning we were excited as 160 people returned to celebrate the birth of Jesus at our final preview worship service. It was a tremendous week.
2007
On January 21, 2007 ONE Community Church celebrated it's grand opening with about 200 people in attendance! Despite the very cold, dreary, rainy day that saw parts of Phoenix even get snow (not good conditions to launch an outdoor service), it was a wonderful morning. God held off the rain until the last equipment was being put on the trailer after tear-down. The service began with an official ribbon-cutting ceremony with the San Tan Chamber of Commerce. The theme was "Fresh Start," but not only for ONE, for every person in attendance. Response to the worship and the message was very positive with many people indicating they were making a significant change in their lives. The grand opening party following worship had to be scrapped due to the rain and cold, but kids were still able to get a few good jumps and slides in on the inflatable games. We also saw many blue tongues from the blueberry cotton candy that was quickly being munched on as the rain came.
During February and March we continued to meet every week outdoors at San Tan Flat. New people continue to come to our worship services every week and we are seeing many lives being transformed. Families and individuals are calling ONE their home church and finding places to serve from set-up, to kids ministries, to hosting and more. On March 25, with warm temps and a clear blue sky we finished another chapter in our emerging story - our last Sunday outdoors. We thank God for the opportunity he provided to transform this restaurant/saloon into a place where people encountered God and gave their hearts to him. With rising temps and a growing kids ministry, it's time to move indoors. Our next chapter at Mountain Vista School now begins.
On April 1st ONE opened its doors at Mountain Vista to 148 people. The following week the worship space was filled with 216 people coming together to celebrate Easter. Our largest gathering to date. Many people are making ONE their home church, volunteering, and responding to the weekly messages. We love our new home as it is allowing us to expand ONEkids programs, have a great stage for the band and programming, and enjoy air-conditioning!
On Christmas Eve 2007 we held two services for the first time. A record 224 people attended. $2300 was given by ONE during Christmas to support local families at Christmas, Pan De Vida Foundation in Queen Creek, the brand new Gilbert Community Church, and to help replace a Paraguayan missionary's stolen truck.
2008
January 20, 2008 marked our first birthday as a church. We had a great celebration with bounces houses, a rock climbing wall, cake and food, but the highlight was definitely the six people that celebrated their faith in Christ and were baptized - in a makeshift animal trough none-the-less! Being a young church is always an adventure. Year two, here we come.
On Easter Sunday ONE launched a new second service with a unique format: 37-minutes outdoors at the Johnson Ranch Golf Club Terrace Patio. Response on Easter was amazing as 175 packed out the place. Another nearly 200 people came to our Mtn Vista site shattering all previous attendance highs with 368 people combined. Dozens made faith commitments that day. The outdoor worship ran almost 20 weeks (with a break for summer and then again for winter).
At Christmas ONE moved the 3rd Annual San Tan Family Christmas to the Terrace Patio and Lawn. Turn out was awesome in this new setting as kids danced and played and everyone enjoyed singing along to the familiar Christmas classics and new Christmas rock.
2009
ONE Celebrated its second birthday with another party and baptism. In total 27 people were baptized at ONE since our first birthday. On January 25th ONE launched at yet another location - Church at the Bar - The Gym Sports Bar and Grill at the Copper Basin Shops. Church at the Bar opened to a standing room only crowd as 130 packed the place out from wall to wall. The 45-minute gathering was filled with great music and singing, laughter and a challenging message to which many people responded and made life-changing commitments. Church at the Bar continues while our school location also continues to meet and grow. I think God may be up to something here with these multiple unconventional venues. Church for people who don't like church. Where will ONE open next?
We experienced tremendous growth through the spring, especially after we once again held worship outdoors at the Johnson Ranch Golf Club Terrace Patio. For an eight we stretch we were running three worship services each Sunday in three locations. During this time we also had more baptisms, launched a new kids class called "Club 345," ran a skate park for teens for two months, and were involved in numerous community events.
In the fall when football season started ONE was no longer able to meet at the sports bar. And by December with colder temps it was also time to stop the outdoor worship. So, for now we are again enjoying great worship together in ONE location waiting to see what God has planned for us next.
In December we are tackling a global crisis- the lack of clean drinking water for 1/6th of the global population. Our H2O Project is setting out to raise $5000 to dig a well for a village in Ethiopia in 2010. This is an exciting global initiative for ONE as we celebrate bringing Hope 2 Others at Christmas.
What a ride we're on as out of many... we are becoming ONE. Don't miss becoming part of this amazing story yourself - the rest is still unwritten.