• Contact Us
  • Classifieds
  • About
  • Home

Pathway

Missouri Baptist Convention's Official News Journal

  • Missouri
    • MBC
    • Churches
    • Institutions & Agencies
    • Policy
    • Disaster Relief
  • National
    • SBC Annual Meeting
    • NAMB
    • SBC
    • Churches
    • Policy
    • Society & Culture
  • Global
    • Missions
    • Multicultural
  • Columnists
    • Wes Fowler
    • Ben Hawkins
    • Pat Lamb
    • Rhonda Rhea
    • Rob Phillips
  • Ethics
    • Life
    • Liberty
    • Family
  • Faith
    • Apologetics
    • Religions
    • Evangelism
    • Missions
    • Bible Study & Devotion
  • E-Edition

More results...

SPRINGFIELD – Tim Fleener, pastor of Real Life Church here, baptizes a new believer. Submitted photo

Real Life Church reaches, relates in Springfield

April 29, 2019 By Brian Koonce

SPRINGFIELD – Real Life Church is smack dab in the middle of an under-churched community, right in the buckle of the Bible Belt: Springfield.

“For years this area had been dominated by Southern Baptists and other evangelicals,” Tim Fleener, pastor of the five-year-old church plant, said. “But only 17 percent go to church here.”

‘No, there are churches
on every corner.’

It’s those statistics that called Fleener to Springfield and Missouri. He and his wife planted several churches in Nebraska, but with most of their grown children and grandchildren living in Springfield, they longed to be closer. They couldn’t shake the calling that God had called them to plant in under-reached areas, however. When someone from the Missouri Baptist Convention called him one day and suggested planting a church in Springfield, Fleener balked.

“I told him, ‘No, there are churches on every corner,’” he said.

But as he looked at the statistics and prayed, he realized that the need was indeed great in Springfield, even if the ratio of churches to population is higher than in Nebraska. Just a few hours to the northwest, prevailing religious ideas preach a works-based salvation and legalism. In contrast, Fleener found a lot of people detached from church in Missouri who had a background in Christianity, but still no relationship with Jesus. Thus, Real Life Church was born.

Reach, Relate, Reproduce

The church started off meeting in Carver Middle School in Springfield before moving to an event center and finally to the former West Division Baptist Church on the north side of town.

“We did things so very differently in starting this church than any of the other churches,” Fleener said. “Times had changed, the culture was different, the city was bigger, expectations were different, and people seemed to have heard it all before.”

So Fleener went simple and focused on three ideas: reach, relate, and reproduce.

Their first big outreach event – a Trunk-or-Treat/movie night – brought in 250 people from the surrounding community.

“I think I was expecting about 50 people,” Fleener said. “We were just blown away. We hadn’t even had services yet.”

A few months later, they hosted an Easter egg hunt the day before their official launch in the spring of 2014, again with overwhelming crowds. Six families from that first event are still with the church today.

“We’re really out to reach the lost,” Fleener said.

When it comes to the relating, the church emphasizes community and discipleship through nine small groups. They champion a regular routine of getting into the Word of God and praying. About 60 percent of the church are part of small groups, but Fleener says they’re going to get total participation.

In the last year, 57 people accepted Jesus as their savior at Real Life Church. As those people grow in the Lord, that, Fleener prays, will lead to the reproduction of disciples.

Comments

Featured Videos

Lick Creek Fellowship - A Story of Cooperation

A declining rural church faced closure after years of dwindling attendance and aging members. But after the doors closed, a small group stepped in to build something fresh from its legacy. Watch this video to hear this story of cooperation and new life.

Find More Videos

Trending

  • The blessing of staying

  • Amendment on role of women in pastoral ministry fails to achieve 2/3 vote

  • Citing challenges overcome 100 years ago, Iorg urges Southern Baptists to choose cooperation

  • Churches partner to start children’s Bible club

  • ‘Stand together’ for the sake of reaching nations, Chitwood tells SBC messengers

  • MBU sports team focuses on more than athletics

Ethics

FIRST-PERSON: Liberty for all – a Baptist distinctive

Baptist Press

As the echoes of Fourth of July fireworks fade and we turn our attention to the week ahead, Southern Baptists also will take a moment to celebrate a key freedom that Americans have long enjoyed and that Baptists have continually sought to defend.

Religious liberty ‘the best blessing’ America has, Baptist immigrants say

Baptist Press

More Ethics Stories

Missouri

Resolutions due 60 days before MBC annual meeting

Staff

Resolutions must be submitted in writing to the Committee on Resolutions at least 60 days prior to the first session of the annual meeting. Persons submitting resolutions must certify that they are messengers.

Copyright © 2025 · The Pathway