JEFFERSON CITY — In many cases their own families rejected them.
The Joshua House Church accepted them.
Some have lived under the tyranny of an abusive spouse or boyfriend for so long, they forgot what true love is … or maybe they never knew in the first place.
The Joshua House Church taught them.
And still others have simply felt left behind; believing they could never be good enough to sit in the church’s pews.
The Joshua House Church encouraged them to come as they are.
“Our ultimate goal is to be culturally relevant to a hip-hop generation that is starving for real truth,” said Adrian Hendricks II, pastor and founder of The Joshua House Church, a Jefferson City church plant that launched a year ago this September.
The church, which meets in the main ballroom on campus at Lincoln University here, has been able to impact a people group in the city that has largely been left unreached.
“We know our gift is to reach the urban audience and we are doing it,” Hendricks said. “You can see it in their lifestyles. Before, they were always in the clubs, surrounded by the things of this world that couldn’t give them what they really needed. Now they are serving on the worship team. It’s truly rocking this community and people are taking notice.”
Glen Golden, pastor at High Point Baptist Church in rural California, Mo., never doubted that Hendricks and his vision for Joshua House would see anything but success. That’s why his congregation overwhelmingly agreed to sponsor the young church plant, fulfilling the North American Mission Board (NAMB) requirement that a new Southern Baptist church plant be backed by an existing Southern Baptist church.
“When we met with Adrian, we recognized God’s hand on him right away and we knew we wanted to be part of helping him do the work the Lord has laid on his heart to do,” Golden said.
But he considers it more of a partnership or a joint-mission venture than a sponsorship.
“Our church was established in 1822 and sometimes when you’re older you can get caught up in how we’ve done things for the last 200 years,” Golden said. “The excitement and exuberance in Adrian and the other leaders at Joshua House Church are a good influence on our church. We are learning and benefitting from them just as much as they are from us.”
Despite the encouraging success stories within their church plant, Hendricks knows in going forward that Joshua House is still in a sensitive place as only a year-old church plant.
“We are focusing on empowering our people to desire and become strong leaders,” he said. “Stability is our target. We want to use our momentum and God’s anointing power on us to build a healthy and stable church.”