Kent Jacobs, Lead Pastor
Lunch

Epic Church began over a bowl of pasta at a little Italian place in the city on March 3, 2007. After a long and unsuccessful morning of purse shopping (don't ask me why I went along) my wife, Tiffany, a friend of ours, Joanne, and I stopped to have lunch. At that time I had been on staff at a great church in the burbs for six years but was beginning to feel God "nudging" us on to something else. The problem was that I had no clue what that "something else" would be. Little did I know that the conversation we were about to have would change our lives forever.

It started out like any other conversation we’d had in the past. Joanne shared about what was going on in her life and we did the same, being sure to include that we were sensing God might be calling us to something different. Joanne suggested that maybe we should consider starting a church. Start a church! Was she crazy?! By that time I had been in ministry long enough to know that starting a church usually wasn't a very smart career move; but somehow the idea didn’t repulse me. In fact, when she suggested it, something inside me began to stir. With excitement we started to dream about how the church could make a difference in the city and in the lives of the people that would come. We left that lunch with full stomachs and fuller hearts and decided to commit to pray for the next few months about the decision. I'll never forget that week…. God was working and I knew it! I had never felt so gripped by something in my entire life.

I wish I could say that from that day forward I never doubted whether or not God was calling us to start the church, but if I were honest, I'd have to admit that there were times that I felt overwhelmed and wondered if God really was calling us to do this. And if he was calling us, how in the world was he going to make all this happen? Something you need to know about starting a church from scratch is that it's expensive….VERY expensive. It's hard work and takes a committed team of people that just won't quit to pull it off. On top of all of that it would require me to quit my job (which I loved) and leave some of our closest friends (which I loved even more). My mind was plagued with questions. Where are we going to get the money to start? Where is this "dream team" going to come from? How in the world am I going to leave my position and the people I've led and done life with for the past six years? Sweet Jesus! What am I thinking? This is crazy! What is scary is that I was right—it really is crazy—but through it all I keep hearing the quiet whisper of God say, "Just trust me and keep walking in the direction I've told you to go."

Give It Away

"The single most significant thing that you can do with your one and only life is give it away."

I've taught that for years but never have I felt the challenge and weight of those words until we had to actually do it. On March 31, 2008, our then 9-week-old daughter, Kayleigh, my wife Tiffany, and I left our church family in the burbs to begin working to establish Epic Church. By this point we had the beginnings of what was a pretty amazing team that even most established churches don't have. It still chokes me up a bit when I think about these people who were willing to give so much of their time, money, and energy to make this thing happen.

We had also decided on a meeting location that we were very excited about… a United Artists movie theater! Why?... the location is familiar, the seats are comfortable, there is plenty of parking (in the city that's an issue), the screen is amazing, and it smells like buttered popcorn. What more could you ask for?!

Most importantly, we had a dream, that we believed was from God, of starting a church that would be a diverse community of people devoted to giving their lives away in love toward God and in love toward others, making a difference in the world around them.

So... we had a team, a location, and a dream, but what we didn't have was money. I'm reminded of a quote from Zig Zigler. He said, "Money isn't everything, but it's right up there with oxygen." Turns out... he's right! You can't start much of a church without any money. Four days after leaving everything to chase this crazy dream, and in a way that only he could, God provided a financial miracle that allowed for us to purchase the equipment and rent the facility for our first service. GOD IS AMAZING.

Where do we go from here?