Church of the Redeemer: Winter Haven, FL

In 2003 a group of friends started talking about starting a new church in Winter Haven and the next year they began planning to start this new church.
 
In the Fall of 2005 Drew Bennett was called by Trinity Presbyterian Church in Lakeland, FL to serve as Associate Pastor/Church Planting Apprentice in order to be trained to serve as the founding pastor of the new church.  This was supposed to be an 18-month apprenticeship, but due to a unique set of needs- both at Trinity and also in the projected target area- the original timeline was delayed.   By late 2006 the plans for a new church were practically off.   Those who were originally part of the core group began to scatter to do ministry in other places.

However, in February of 2008 (5 years after the initial conversations about a new church) we were all back together again.  And the best part was that God had added a bunch of new friends to our number.   For 6 months- in the Spring/Summer of 2008 - we meet as a “core group” to pray, envision, and plan to plant  There were approximately 35 adults and 20 children that were a part of this core group training.  In June of that year Jonathan Winfree was called to serve as an Assistant Pastor at Redeemer.  

On October 5, 2008 we began public worship services in the Fine Arts Auditorium at Winter Haven High School.  235 of our closest friends joined us that Sunday morning to help us celebrate the realization of a dream that had been many years in the making.