Our History…
Here are some important dates in our brief history:
January 2002: The Elders of North Austin Christian Church
agree to plant a new fellowship in the Cedar Park/Leander Community.
April 2002: RJ Dugone
(pronounced "Doo-go-nay"), previously the minister of music at North Austin Christian Church, was appointed by the Elders of NACC
to be the Sr. Pastor of the new church plant project called Church Plant 2002
(or CP02)
June 2002: The first
meeting of the yet unnamed church plant meets the first Sunday morning in June. CP02 would continue to meet at the North Austin Christian Church campus for the next 2 ½ years before moving to the target community.
September 2002: CP02 is incorporated with the state of Texas
as "Austin Believers Fellowship" and adopts a constitution. In addition to
adopting an official name, the congregation of CP02 elected RJ Dugone to serve as the first Senior Pastor
of Believers Fellowship. The first Elders were appointed by RJ and ratified by the newly formed membership.
July 2003: Austin Believers Fellowship purchases land on New Hope Road, next to the Gann Ranch Development.
The church later learns that this land was not a legal lot and could not be developed. However, through the efforts of Kim Basinger (serving
then as the Vice President of our corporation) the church obtains an additional 1.03 acres that gave our land legal lot status.
January 2005: Austin Believers Fellowship does business under the name Believers Fellowship as it moves to its
new location on Hwy 183 North in Leander, signing a two-year lease. The
church has high hopes of building and moving onto the west New Hope Road
property of just over 11 acres, develop a campus that will house our fellowship
and reach out to the community.
January 2006: Believers
Fellowship adopts a new constitution and creates a separate Board of Directors
to manage the operations of the church.
July 2006: The church
begins clearing the land to start development but is halted after learning of
the high costs to develop that land.
November 2006: While
waiting to determine future plans for the land, the board agrees to relocate to
the Dr. John's Sports Center for Sunday services.
January 2007: Believers
Fellowship church has first Sunday service in Dr. John's Sports Center. It
was a successful transitional gathering with a celebration pot-luck dinner that
followed services. RJ Dugone continues to lead a growing staff that
includes Gino Pena, newly appointed Associate Pastor, Donna Dugone as music
minister and David and Audra Fritz as youth pastors.
June 2007: Following
investigational marketing of the land, the board of directors receives an offer
to buy the West New Hope property for an amount equal to almost 5 times the
original purchase price! Suddenly, through God's provision, our church is
no longer strapped for cash for the first time in it's brief history! The
board agrees to keep the money available for church growth opportunities and
procurement of our permanent home in the near future.
September 2008: The Board
of Directors has taken steps to acquire a 17.2 acre property to offer the church
a location to meet during the week and soon have a new multipurpose worship
center facility The property is located just east of Hwy 183A and north of
RM2243. Initially, the house on the property will serve as a center for
mid-week activities and church offices. The Pastoral staff will be
transitioning to this facility in early October and a construction project for
the new multipurpose building will break ground in November.
The Future: Believers Fellowship
is purposely building a fellowship for the future. It's not that we aren't interested in older generations of people, because many of us are older--but, we are all committed to building a fellowship that is viable 20 years from now. Therefore, this is a fellowship that should be relevant to both you and your children.
Having obtained land immediately adjacent to the Leander
Transportation Oriented District, our campus will be located essentially in the
new city urban center, a strategic placement that will serve our vision for
reaching the next generation.
We believe the church should be a place that is exciting and
fun...yes, it should be fun. The Creator of the universe is our God and He
loves us! Combine that with the fact that Jesus conquered death and lives
in and through us...yes, church should be an experience that is full of joy!
We are a worshipping church. The highest calling of the church is to love God with heart, soul, mind and strength--holding nothing in reserve. We are unashamed to sing (loudly) and to proclaim the goodness of our King. Are we radical? We are appropriately radical--kind of like an anti-MTV.
We promise one thing--you won't go to sleep in our services!
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