Cultivate Celebration Stories
From Darkness into Community
I have known Christ for most of my life, but when I hit middle school and our family moved, I fell away for about two years. During that stretch, I honestly didn’t want anything to do with God. Every single morning, I woke up with this sinking feeling that there was no hope for me. Life felt like an endless cycle: go to school, deal with drama, come home, and do nothing. Sure, there were occasional happy moments, but deep down, my life felt completely empty.
Then my friend Hannah reached out and said, “I really think you should come to church with me.” I still remember that night clearly. Keegan spoke about what it means to be lost and separated from God. In that exact moment, it hit me—this message was meant specifically for me. Coming back to the Lord brought a sense of wholeness I hadn’t felt in years. God gave me a core group of friends who love Him with all their hearts. Now, instead of dreading each day, I wake up knowing God is with me at all times. I know I am still a work in progress, but I am surrounded by the church, rooted in community, and walking with Jesus.
That is what happens when the church creates space for the next generation. That is why we are here, and that is what the Cultivate initiative is all about.
Making Room for the Next Generation
If you take a walk through what used to be the elementary wing at our Fig Garden campus, you will see a space that has been completely stripped down to the studs. My old classroom was tucked back in the far corner—the room with no walls and no proper infrastructure. But right now, we are recreating and remodeling our entire facility so we can welcome more families from our neighborhood and expand our ministry.
In that open space, we are going to see large group gatherings of students and kids every Sunday morning. We are launching a worship team specifically for our kids, where they will actively lead worship and minister in ways we simply never had the space to support before. Having a dedicated space where our kids can gather, learn, and raise a spiritual ruckus for the kingdom of God is deeply exciting. The kids are thrilled because they are receiving the same gospel truths their parents hear in the main service, reinforced in their own small groups and large group settings.
A few weeks ago, we gave the kids giving jars and water bottles to collect coins, and they have already started bringing them back filled to the brim. My own son has been so energized by this. We have been collecting change in a small plastic container at home so that when we gather at the Red Lot, he can personally bring his Cultivate offering. When you see children digging into their piggy banks to give their nickels, dimes, and quarters because they want to build God’s house, it challenges every single one of us as adults to do the same.
Over the past several years, we have watched more and more children pour into our classrooms until we simply ran out of room. Renovating these spaces opens doors for our kids to invite their friends. We are already seeing more Spanish-speaking families joining our campus, turning our church into a vibrant, multicultural expression of the kingdom. When we talk about investing in the next generation, we are not talking about a distant theory—we are watching it happen right before our eyes. We can look at what is currently construction rubble and tell our children, “This is where you are going to invite your friends, and this is where you will learn what it means to walk with Jesus.”
First Fruits and Loving Our City
When we introduced the First Fruits initiative, people were genuinely stunned. Someone asked, “Are you serious? A church is actually thinking about the wider community before its own building project?” It is innovative, but more importantly, it is deeply biblical. It mirrors the ancient practice where God’s people brought the very first portion of their harvest as an offering of trust and worship.
Proverbs 3:9 (NASB)
Honor the LORD from your wealth And from the first of all your produce;
The First Fruits initiative is radically impacting neighborhoods across Fresno, including the Jackson neighborhood. Right now, there are nearly thirty bank-owned, foreclosed homes sitting vacant on those streets. Rather than letting those properties sit neglected, we asked a fundamental question: Why can’t we buy, renovate, and sell these blighted houses to local families who are on the verge of homeownership but just need a helping hand to get there?
We are not just interested in teaching people how to fish; we want our neighbors to own the pond. As home values and neighborhood equity rise, we want long-time residents to build wealth and stability right where they live, transforming their homes into hubs of gospel hospitality on every single block.
We see that same heart in our partnership with Saint Rest Baptist Church in West Fresno. Since 1944, Saint Rest has served as a lighthouse and the spiritual heartbeat of West Fresno. They love people unconditionally and look for every opportunity to demonstrate the gospel. When we recognized the severe lack of safe green spaces and parks for children on the West Side, Pastor DJ and the leadership at Saint Rest decided not to wait around for someone else to fix the problem—they chose to build a park themselves.
When our leadership approached Pastor DJ and said, “We want to help fund this,” he initially looked at us and said, “Brother, you can’t do that. You are trying to build on your own acreage—invest your resources there!” But that was not what God called us to do. We believe with all our hearts that when West Fresno is blessed, the entire body of Christ is blessed. Terry Broussard, a talented landscaper from our church family, designed an incredible park featuring dedicated play areas for younger and older children, a youth ministry facility, and a walking track for the neighborhood.
This investment sends an unmistakable message: the West Side is valuable, its families are loved, and its children are worth investing in. When kids play on that grass and families gather in that space, they will see the love of Jesus in action. If something as simple as a community park can point someone to Christ, God can take that seed, change their circumstances, and transform their entire eternity.
Equipping the Body for Daily Ministry
If a church invests in significant property and facilities only to use them for two hours on a Sunday morning, that is a poor stewardship of God’s resources. The church is not a weekly event; it is an equipping center designed to mobilize believers into every neighborhood and workplace across our region.
For fifteen years, our Residency program has gathered five mornings a week at 6:00 AM for nine rigorous months of biblical training and theological development. Dozens of men and women pack into classrooms before sunrise to study the Scriptures together. We have Women’s Equipping gatherings with over 400 women diving into the Word, alongside ministries like Re|Engage strengthening marriages and Regeneration walking people through biblical healing and recovery.
Our facilities must expand to keep pace with what God is already doing. On any given Monday night, hundreds of men and women walk through our doors for Regeneration, desperate for hope and freedom from brokenness. A vital part of that ministry requires breaking into small groups of fifteen to twenty people. Right now, on Monday nights, every single square foot of our campus is packed. We have groups meeting in every classroom, every staff office, and every corner of the facility.
We have literally launched groups in storage closets. We looked at the attic until the facilities team told us it was a safety hazard, and we even explored setting up chairs on the roof before realizing that wasn’t viable either! Every single Monday night, God brings seventeen to twenty brand-new people through our doors seeking freedom in Jesus Christ. We refuse to put up a “No Vacancy” sign. We will place seventeen chairs in a circle anywhere we can find floor space, because we are not about to turn away a single soul searching for Jesus.
Beyond the Holy Huddle
Years ago, when our church first faced space constraints, we had to make a defining choice. Do we stay comfortable, protect what we have, and settle into a holy huddle? Or do we take a step of faith and make room for what God wants to do next?
It is so easy for churches to gather on Sundays, call plays in the huddle, and never actually run onto the field. But God has commissioned us to be a church for the city. Operating within the status quo is easy, but the status quo is not God’s best for Fresno and Clovis.
In the twenty-third Psalm, David writes about the overwhelming generosity of God, declaring that his cup overflows.
Psalms 23:5 (NASB)
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You have anointed my head with oil; My cup overflows.
The point of an overflowing cup is not to run out and hoard more cups for yourself. When God causes your cup to run over, it is so the overflow can spill out and bless the thirsty people all around you.
Whether you are a college student giving your hands and feet because you don’t have deep pockets, or a child bringing in a jar of coins, or a family investing sacrificially, we are all part of this mission. We are planting seeds today so that thirty years from now, we can look back and celebrate the countless lives that were rescued, restored, and redeemed.
We are building, renovating, and giving because thousands of our neighbors still need to know the grace of Jesus. When the world looks at our city, may they see a church that loves deeply, gives generously, and points everyone to the savior who changes everything.