Stonegate Community Church History

            In May of 1998, a group of people, most from a single Sunday School department at First Woodway Baptist Church, began meeting in the Hewitt home of Tom and Jeanie Johnson on Tuesday nights to worship, fellowship and discuss a vision for a new church.

            The mission of the new church was to reach people living in the Highway 84 corridor, between West Waco and McGregor. That area was the fastest growing in McLennan County with almost 50 percent of the new housing starts within this area.

            The name Stonegate was prayerfully taken from three different scriptures:1 Peter 4-6, Psalm 100:4 and Matthew 7:14.

            “As you come to Him, the living stone – rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to Him – you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For in scripture it says, ‘See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in Him will never be put to shame.’” (1 Peter 4-6)

            “Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise; give thanks to Him and praise His name.” (Psalm 100:4)

            “But small is the gate and narrow is the road that leads to life.” (Matthew 7:14)

            In welcoming people to the first service, Pastor Ron Kenner said: “Stonegate Community Church is committed to touching lives with the satisfying message of Jesus Christ, in whatever way we can. If the Lord leads us to stop and pray for a particular need in the middle of a worship service, we will. If we are led into a worship time that consists of music or testimony, and not a traditional message, we will follow that lead. We will, in effect, color outside the lines if necessary. Welcome to the first service of Stonegate Community Church and may God bless you.”

            The published statement of purpose for Stonegate was: “It is our desire at Stonegate Community Church to be filled with the Spirit, speaking to ourselves in psalms, and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in our hearts to the Lord.” -- Ephesians 5: 18B-19)

            While there were already a few churches in the Highway 84 Corridor area at the time, the people who Stonegate sought to minister to were the unchurched – those who were new to the community, those who just didn’t attend anywhere and those who had been hurt in a previous church experience.

            The church was chartered as a non-denominational church and began meeting Sunday, August 9, 1998 in South Bosque Elementary School. The founding pastor was the Rev. Ron Keener who had been the Sunday School Department superintendent at First Woodway. Tom Johnson was volunteer worship leader and Jeanie Johnson was volunteer pianist. At the conclusion of the first service, 88 people joined. Wednesday night worship was conducted in the home of Tom and Jeanie while the church was meeting at the school.

            Growth was rapid, and after five weeks at South Bosque, Stonegate began meeting at Waco Baptist Academy. By the time Stonegate moved, a member had donated a grand piano/organ keyboard and a spinet organ/keyboard, and other members had donated hymnals and pew Bibles. Dick Wooten joined the volunteer staff as part-time associate pastor.

            The church quickly broke 100 in membership and many other regular attendees – drawing members from all walks of life, and all areas in and around Waco. Children and youth programs flourished under volunteer help. Most of the volunteer staff became salaried: Dick Wooten became a fulltime associate pastor, managing business affairs; Jimmie Davis was hired as the organist, Jeanie Johnson as pianist, Tom Johnson as part-time worship leader; and two young adult members were hired as part-time youth coordinators. The church also paid two part-time nursery workers. While there was a formal statement of belief, Stonegate was governed by a loose coalition of committees led by the pastor: finance, responsible for administering all church needs; youth, for managing youth and children’s programs; and vision, for growing church activities and missions.

            The church became widely known in Waco through a five-year series of bimonthly devotional-styled ads published in the Waco paper. The ads drew many visitors, some of whom became members, and feedback from the local community in the form of letters, e-mails and phone calls.

            Pastor Keener resigned in March of 1999, and Ken Young, a new graduate of Truett Seminary, was hired on June 27, 1999, as fulltime senior pastor.

            Pastor Young changed our published statement of purpose to: “Stonegate Community Church exists for the purpose of connecting people to God and one another through worship, relationship, and service in order that our lives, our homes, our community, and our world may be transformed to reflect the in-breaking of God’s Kingdom.”

            Stonegate applied for membership to the Waco Baptist Association in 2001 and after a year of preliminary status, was granted membership Oct. 15, 2002.

            Church membership had declined, and Pastor Young’s first job was to get the bylaws rewritten, and an elder board elected. The first three elders were Frank Alexander, Charles Crouch, and Charles Relyea.

            The church hired a youth minister, Michael McEntyre, and eventually a part-time children’s minister, Whitney Graham. The youth did summer and spring break camps to Montana, Colorado, Florida and Europe. After a period of time, Tom, Jeanie and Jimmie resigned. Carrie Young became pianist and John Wiles was hired as worship leader. In 2002, the church bought property in the Highway 84 corridor in West Waco between Woodway and Hewitt – at the intersection of Van America and Woodgate. The church elected an additional four elders: Larry Storer, Matt Woodard, Mark Warren and Richard Gaburo.

         Ken Young resigned on Dec. 14, 2003. In February of 2004, the church hired Brock Sanders as interim pastor, and Ray Sanchez as interim worship leader. Interim Pastor Sanders had formerly been the pastor of Sanger Avenue Baptist Church, which had recently disbanded, and Interim Worship Leader Sanchez had been that church’s volunteer music director. On April 15, 2004, the church called Pastor Sanders as the fulltime senior pastor. In May, Sanchez became permanent worship leader.

Stonegate elected two new elders in April of 2004: Paul Holroyd and Wayne Hammermeister.

            On April 4, 2004, Stonegate moved into space in the Midway Plaza, within sight of the land the church was purchasing. Attendance increased and membership began growing again. By May, Stonegate had to take additional adjacent space for Sunday School, and removed a wall to enlarge the sanctuary. In July of 2004, Stonegate had a Vacation Bible School. In 2005, Peggy Sanders was hired as the Children’s Director with responsibilities for Sunday School, Children’s Church and Vacation Bible School.

God continued to rain blessings on this church.

Brad Harrell, a local developer and builder, was building a large number of starter homes in the Polo Park addition, just in the city limits of Waco but next door to Hewitt Elementary. He had a 5.5-acre parcel of land that fronted Panther Way that he offered to donate to the church in exchange for the slightly smaller parcel a few blocks away that the church was buying. In addition, he made a cash donation and agreed to make certain improvements to the land.

Architect B.J. Greaves was hired to draw up a new master plan and design a Family Life building, and Barsh Construction was selected as the builder. A groundbreaking was held September 4, 2005, and work began on Dec. 13, 2005 on a Family Life building as phase 1 of a new master plan. The building would include a sanctuary, Sunday School classes and offices, and would double as an athletic facility for youth activities and a fellowship hall. Phase 2 will be an educational facility and Phase 3 will be a new sanctuary. Phase 1 will then be renovated to be a fulltime Family Life Center.