Frontline plants church for the city
November 10, 2010
“Love God. Love people. Push back darkness.”
Frontline Church for the City recently launched their downtown Shawnee campus on Main and Bell.
The project has been over a year in the making, and has confronted several walls in the process.
Staff and elders are overjoyed at God’s answer to their prayers and efforts in opening the church.
The original campus is located in downtown Oklahoma City, and several Oklahoma Baptist University students attended regularly on Sunday mornings.
Senior Communications major Heather Hughes said she was very excited for the unveiling of the Frontline Shawnee campus. She began attending the church in Oklahoma City last September with her roommate Liz Dillon and several other friends.
“I chose to go there because the people are genuine,” Hughes said. “It’s not a legalistic church.
“I was free to be who I am, who God thinks I am and have my own personality.
“I attended on Sundays with my core group of friends, we kind of had our own C group together, but not like officially.”
One aspect of this new ministry in Shawnee are C groups.
These are community groups, or small groups, that meet outside of Sunday mornings.
Junior Aaron Morvan attended Frontline for the first time Sunday.
He heard about the church plant last year through a Facebook page, but said nothing ever happened.
He recently saw the advertisements in the Geiger Center, and decided to try it out.
“I enjoyed the pastor,” Morvan said. “I didn’t mind that it was a video because it was so very engaging. I liked his style and that he gave us a task to do for the week, it was very applicable.
“The campus pastor was also very nice. The only thing I didn’t like about it—the worship seemed a bit manufactured, too practiced. I’m definitely going to give it a second chance, go back and see how it goes. I really like how they seemed to be open to suggestions, and the mission statement, I can totally get behind that.“
Hughes said she is thrilled about the opportunity to get more involved in her church now that it is closer to home.
“I am so excited about it being in Shawnee,” Hughes said. "I love that the church is directed toward the community. They want other people to come to the Lord; it’s their primary focus. Frontline is different from all other churches, it’s new and fresh, which is needed in Shawnee."
Hughes joined the prayer team and said she plans on serving in any way she can.
Once Frontline begins to grow, the church plans on opening up a youth group and several other ministries, and she would love to get involved with the youth.
She is also considering starting a girls’ C group.
If the denominational issue is a concern for students, Hughes said to “experience something new, because if I personally have never experienced the Holy Spirit the way I have through the people at Frontline.
“They say they’re ‘charismatic, not charismatic,’ but I don’t consider them charismatic in the usual sense, to me they are just non-denominational.”
Sunday morning sermons are currently presented through a video telecast from the Oklahoma City campus.
Hughes said the church plans on catering to the specific needs of Shawnee as they become more apparent.
Shawnee is Frontline’s first plant, and they plan to continue seeking God’s direction in building campuses elsewhere.
