Hear From Isaac, Andy, and John

A Brief History

I was eighteen years old, sitting at a Denny’s with my two best friends (John Parker and Andy Simonds, our Executive Pastor and Worship Pastor, respectively). There, over bad coffee and cold cheese sticks, we began to talk. 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. 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, through a number of circumstances, we felt absolutely certain that God was calling us to begin the work that now exists as Summit Church. So, we began preparing…

In March 2002, the vision began to take shape. A group of about 25 people began meeting weekly in the clubhouse of our apartment complex. 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, worshipped 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 worship service in the Aloma Cinema Grill. We invited everyone we could think of. About 300 people showed up for the very first service—it was incredible. Within months we whittled it down to about 90. Fortunately, by God’s grace we’ve been growing in breadth and depth ever since.

On January 18th, 2004, we moved to Winter Park High School. Even with facility challenges (the air conditioning worked about 40% of the time), God was faithful, and people continued to take steps toward Him. On September 11, 2005, we moved into the old AMC theatre just off Colonial Drive near the Fashion Square Mall, which we now call the Herndon Campus. Since then, we have opened two additional campuses, the Plaza Campus near downtown Orlando and the Waterford Campus in East Orlando. As of May 2011, there are around 4,000 people who worship at Summit at those three sites around the city of Orlando. We learn together, serve together, and worship together.

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