Our January issue carried the story of Ken Lewis and Jeremy Chasteen planting Crosspoint Church in Clemson in 2005. Now, the focus turns to Crosspoint Church’s first church planting partnership: Crosspoint Church, Bluffton, led by Carl Martin.
Ken Lewis, one of Crosspoint Church’s founding pastors, played football with Carl Martin at Clemson University. The two attended Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) together, and, in Martin’s words, “We could not be tied together any more closely as brothers in Christ.”
Martin and Lewis’ shared history led them to partner in church planting. Martin pastored at East Pickens Baptist Church for 11 years before he resigned to plant Crosspoint Church, Bluffton. Martin’s church supported Lewis’ and Chasteen’s endeavor to plant Crosspoint Church in Clemson. Now he needed their support to plant a church in Bluffton.
Martin said his vision was to put his arms around the Lowcountry and build a network of church plants. He said his goal was not to grow big, but to go wide. But pastoring was different than planting.
Martin said, “Despite nearly two years of preparation, I underestimated the difficulty of church planting.”
Though Martin casted vision and values, he said that he failed to go relationally deep with his team.
“If I could go back, I would lead those young men differently — less hierarchy, more shepherding. God has used that regret to refine me,” said Martin.
Still, Martin spent over a year researching, praying, and preparing, even raising $600,000. He and his family moved from Pickens to Bluffton in July 2007. Four other couples formed the core group that covenanted together as a church Feb. 17, 2008. There were also locals, future church planters, and college students who were involved.
Martin said three things were important to him in those early days: Meeting at a neutral location, starting small groups, and “planting pregnant” (being a sending church from the start).
The team accomplished all three goals. Their first services were at Sea Turtle Cinema. Their first small group was at a local business owner’s home. And they sent out several church planters who they discipled in the process of planting.
Martin pastored the church for three years, watched it grow to about 125 or more people, and then passed leadership to Reuben DeJesus, a Hispanic church planter. DeJesus pastored the church for more than five years, and Martin took a church planting role with the SCBC.
The church then went through hills and valleys as leadership fluctuated and the church merged with one of the oldest congregations in the area, Indian Hill Baptist Church. The two churches then formed a nondenominational church, New Life Church.
In 2021, only 30 to 40 people remained, until Christian Chapman, described as an evangelist who spent much time in the community, assumed the pastorate and the church experienced growth again.
Today, New Life Church is enduring personal hardship with leadership, yet continues to grow.
Nearly 200 people attend on Sundays, and they’ve also baptized over 40 people in the past year. The church continues to reach students from Bluffton High School and the University of South Carolina-Beaufort, through FCA and other outreach efforts. Their children’s ministry has also grown from about four to 18 kids.
“The minute we got out of the way … that’s when we saw the growth,” said Derek Hellstrom, an elder of the church since 2011.
Looking back, Martin said, “While the church plant did not unfold exactly as I envisioned, God redeemed the story.”
Recently, Martin visited New Life Church and preached.
He said, “It was one of those experiences that was deeply meaningful as I stood in front of my spiritual grandchildren.”
(Correction from the first article of this series: There were an estimated 900 people in attendance representing nearly 300 churches at the Pillar Network Conference. Also, Crosspoint Church was misspelled; there is no “e” at the end.)