Hear From Isaac, Andy, and John

A Brief History

I was eighteen years old, sitting at Denny’s with my best friends, John Parker and Andy Simonds, as we began to talk over bad coffee and cold cheese sticks. We talked about what we could do to build God’s Kingdom together. We talked about forming a new community of people that would be a blessing to others. And before we knew it, we realized we were talking about starting a church. All that talk turned into a dream that would not die, that dream became a vision—and that vision grew with time.

In the summer of 2001, we knew God was calling us to begin the work that now exists as Summit Church. So we began preparing. In March 2002, that vision took the form of 25 people meeting weekly in our apartment’s clubhouse. We talked extensively about what life might look like if we really tried to do what God was calling us to do: reach people with the love of Christ and the Hope of the Gospel, while loving one another well in the process. We prayed together, worshiped together, gave together, and committed to doing what we could do to build and be a part of a biblically functioning community.

On September 8th 2002, we held our first service in the Aloma Cinema Grill. We invited our friends, neighbors—anyone we could think of. 300 people showed up for that first service. It was incredible. Within weeks we whittled it down to about 90. But by God’s grace, we’ve been growing (in breadth and depth) ever since.

Since then, we have grown into a community of over 2,500 believers who worship at three different Summit sites around the city of Orlando. We learn together, serve together, and worship together.

And, though I’m as nostalgic as the next guy, the glue that holds Summit together is not just what’s been, but what is now, and will always be: the vision. We are laying our lives down to be a biblically functioning community, to reach more people with the message of the Gospel, and to love each other well while doing it. Summit’s story is still largely unwritten; I can’t wait to see what comes next…

Isaac Hunter, Senior Pastor