Once the idea of starting a church took hold, the way forward looked like taking the next right step after next right step. We didn’t know all that God would do along the way, we didn’t know what joy and hurt and pain and healing and beauty might come, we don’t know what God might yet do in and around and through this church. But we aim to be faithful and obedient as best we can and cheer each other on as we go.
Twelve people showed up to an apartment clubhouse in Maitland and Summit Church happened for the first time.
It wasn’t easy turning a movie theater into a church and back into a movie theater again, but people came early and stayed late to work side by side and make church happen.
Both the theater and cafeteria were home for Summit at different times. There was still a lot of setting up and tearing down, but thanks to the folks who showed up and helped, Summit became home for lots of people and we grew quite a bit.
We moved into a space of our very own—an old AMC movie theater. We met for a while in Theater 3, which was later a multi-purpose space called The Garage and now goes by The South Meeting Room. Our now-Sanctuary is actually three movie theaters combined.
Summit Connect groups were originally called Community Development Initiative Groups. We got wordy but we fixed it.
The world was recognizing that the AIDS crisis in Africa was the greatest humanitarian crisis of our time, and we knew God wanted us to be part of what he was doing in bringing hope in very desperate circumstances. So we developed and followed relationships that opened doors for ministry initially in South Africa and Malawi. Since then, as of December 2017, we’ve sent 48 teams and 673 travelers to 6 countries in Africa.
Our Waterford Campus in east Orlando was first located in Lawton Chiles Middle School. It was another all-hands-on-deck effort turning a cafetorium into a Sanctuary and classrooms into child care spaces, but people again showed up early and stayed late to make sure it was all done right. Summit Waterford moved into their permanent home in March 2011.
We first launched our 33rd Street Campus for the men, and the women’s side became a reality in November 2014.
The community that would help become our Lake Mary Campus met for a time in The Plaza Theater not far from the Herndon Campus before heading north to do church at Lake Mary High School. The permanent Lake Mary Campus facility opened in August 2015.
Over the years our niceSERVE events have added up to more than 100,000 hours of service. Through our actions—through all the raking of leaves, cleaning of windows, playing with children, painting of buildings—Summit has served Orlando and communicated to those living in our community that they are valuable to us and to God.
The community that is now the Riverside Neighborhood Church met for the first time as a Bible study in 2018. They continued to meet as a house church beginning in 2019 and saw prayers continued to be answered. This close community would continue to grow and reach their neighbors, eventually meeting as a Neighborhood Church in Riverside Elementary School.
