Center Pointe (FL) Church of the Nazarene, and his straightforward answer may surprise you. “To put it simply,” he says, “the vision for our church is to make it easy for people to get to God and easy for God to get to people.

But this didn’t happen unintentionally. Mills recalls, “Center Pointe Community Church of the Nazarene was formerly known as Orlando Central Church of the Nazarene, a church located in downtown Orlando. Always very involved in ministry, it was one of the great churches of the south.

“Over the church’s 62 years, the downtown location was becoming a liability to the missional vision of the church, with very limited parking (the church only owned 34 parking spots), the building had all the issues of an aging facility, and limited neighborhood impact aside from its social ministries.

“In August of 2002, the church bought a new piece of property with 38 acres on the east side of Orlando, hired an architect, a builder, and a pastor all in the same month - in preparation for a re-birthing of itself.

“About two and half years later, Central became Center Pointe Church (CPC) and made the move across the city to its new campus. We made the move with about 400 people with us. This last year we averaged over 1,000 people in our weekend worship services. This does not count GoodNews, our service for 200+ homeless people each week. Because we use a facility provided by another church, we allow them to use our numbers in exchange for their space.

“I could not be more proud of our people. Change does not always come easy and it is always uncomfortable. But they have lived out successfully the transition of being a downtown church to becoming a community church with a global mission and global impact, and a desire to continue to become all that Christ wants us to be.”

Visit now on a typical Sunday morning, and you’ l l agree this congregation has worked hard to accomplish their profound mission. Pastor Mills notes, “We look like our community. We are a combination of ethnic and economic groups that have been blended into a unified body of purpose and mutual love and respect.”

Pastor Greg points out “This congregation is very open to everyone who walks through our doors. We have no expectations or concern about where you have come from, but we are concerned about where you are going. We are a redemptive church, a grace-filled church. Some have said we are a prodigal church.

“If you have failure in your past, you can come home again at Center Pointe. Our church has been engaged in social ministries for most of its 65 year existence and that heartbeat continues today.”

In a wide range of ministries targeted for particular felt needs across their community, the Center Pointe congregation has faithfully served others. Mills says, “We have been engaged in a number of ministries that have made a difference in the community as well as Center Pointe.

“The Friday night Celebrate Recovery Service hosts between 250 and 300 people each week. We have a mission called Central Care Mission where we assist 35 men through a long-term care program to rebuild their lives. The mission operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for six months and sometimes up to two years for those enrolled in the program.

“We have a preschool program, that is second to none, that ministers to the families of its students. Every Sunday morning GoodNews Ministry feeds over 200 of Orlando’s homeless and then provides a worship service for them. Many of our men at Central Care came through this ministry. We have to turn down hundreds of requests each month due to resource limitations.

“Center Pointe reaches out through community events, and sports programming like UpWards basketball and cheerleading. We open our facilities to all types of community groups from homeowners associations, business meetings, local school programming, parachurch organizations, jazzercise, etc. Our building is constantly being used as a tool to impact our community.”

And this community impact reaches down to transform individuals. Pastor Greg points out people like “William Andrews who was saved off the streets of Orlando and now is a pastor of one of our churches. Or, a young man named Keith Oldenberg had allowed alcoholism to destroy his life until he found himself homeless on the streets of Orlando. He made his way to a breakfast we were serving, listened to the message, and entered into Central Care Mission. He had been raised in the Catholic Church in Louisiana and had been in the food industry. Keith accepted the gift offered to him by Christ and has become a new man.

“We were able to help Keith enter culinary school and he was hired as our church chef. Afterwards he was offered a job with Marriott and this year he received an award as Employee of the Year from Marriott. Keith is always quick to share his testimony of how God delivered him from alcoholism and his life was changed through Central Care Mission and CPC.”

Honestly, we can give you story after story of God’s redeeming work and each one is exciting. Whether it is about the nine year old who wrote a paper for his public school where he states his love for life because of God’s love at work in his life or the former crack user and all of those who fall somewhere in between. As Jesus said, ‘My father is always at work…’ ”

As usually happens, the challenges to ministry can grow over time as the church grows. Today with the new location and building, the congregation is facing additional concerns. Pastor Greg has noticed, “We have outgrown our building in just three years. We would also like to expand our educational

programming, mission program, and our community impact, so we are constantly reaching out for creative partnerships. We are looking at expanding our ministry to include other campuses. It is a very exciting time at CPC and we have only started to see what all God can do with and in his people.”