In the waning months of 2003, when many of our churches were scuffling for footing, there was a collective effort to keep the Kingdom of God moving forward. What is the best thing to do when you need to get realigned? Plant a church. In August of 2004, twenty-four disciples from the churches in Virginia came together to descend onto the "Star-City" of Roanoke, Virginia and to plant the Roanoke Valley Church.
Roanoke is tucked in the southwest corridor of Virginia, and plays host to a smaller metropolitan area and Universities such as Virginia Tech, and Radford. Church leaders Forest and Mandy Versele led a powerful group of disciples that were determined to see God impact their city and beyond.
This past July we celebrated the tenth anniversary of the church planting. The Verseles, who had served the church for eight years and have since moved to Sydney, Australia to lead the church there, returned "home" for the celebration! It was a fantastic weekend of shared memories of all that God has done and a faithful weekend of prayer and new dreams for the next ten years.
With the theme of "Deeply Rooted," the church was given a charge by Forest to stay connected to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit and to always appreciate the body of Christ. A simple, but powerful directive will be the key for the Roanoke Valley Church to continue to shine brightly in Southwest Virginia.
"God has done great things among us" was a common phrase used throughout the weekend to encapsulate the many memories and miracles that have occurred in 10 years. The community ministry boasts a core group of leaders that have sacrificed jobs and personal advancement to be the pillars of the church. Many of the members of the mission team are still committed to the task and still see themselves as a "mission team" here in Roanoke! With many of them still in the area, they have seen God grow the church from 24 to over 130.
The campus ministry began as a "rag-tag" group of graduate students. They dreamed one day that the campuses in the area would have the largest campus ministry in the state of Virginia. God has seen their ministry of six grow into over 70 students. The campus ministry in Roanoke has been a stellar example of what God can do. Over the years, many of the disciples in the campus ministry have sought to impact the world. Sixteen students have entered into the full-time ministry in that span and are in places such as Sydney, Australia, Stockholm, Sweden, Melbourne, Australia, Auckland, New Zealand, London, England, Fiji Islands, San Antonio, Texas, Boulder, Colorado, Spokane, Washington; and all throughout Virginia. I love the fact that Roanoke was a church that was sent out, and has and will continue to be a church thrilled to make and train disciples so that they can be sent out.
We're excited to see what God will do over the next ten years. We are ecstatic about what he has done, but we know there is so much more work to do! We appreciate your partnership in the gospel and your many prayers for continued glory to be heaped upon God in Roanoke, Virginia!
To God be the glory!