Christ Church is a newborn community.

In the spring of 2006 my wife and I felt God’s call to move to the Brenham area to start a new church. Our friend Brad Bevers (realtor and Wii tennis player extraordinaire) helped us find a beautiful place for our family in Chappell Hill, and in June 2006 we closed on what I hope to be our lifelong home. I had been serving as an Elder at Ecclesia Church in Houston since 2003. The Elders and community of Ecclesia graciously commissioned us off and encouraged us to begin the work of forming a new church in Brenham.

In the process, my friend Casey Cease began to share our vision for a new community and sensed the same calling towards Brenham. His family took the plunge and followed God’s call; they sold their house in Sugar Land and purchased a home in Brenham. Casey is one of our founding Elders.

As a small community formed, the seedling of the church emerged. We decided to begin meeting weekly in our homes to pray, read Scripture, and share a meal. February 8, 2007 marked our first humble gathering. Ten people (including three children!) huddled in our small living room with plates of chicken enchiladas, and we could sense God was creating something special.

Today we still meet in our living room. The group is still ten to fifteen people who want to live life in community, who want to pray and read Scripture together, who want to see God’s Word shape every detail of their lives.

We’re only a few weeks old, a newborn by every definition. Our prayer is that God would raise us up into maturity, that we would sink our roots deep into the soil of God’s Word, that our seedling would grow and bear fruit, and that God’s kingdom would be evident in our midst.

Please feel free to join us. It may be awkward at first (we’re all new at this!), like a first date: lots of unknowns but quite hopeful. Expect to eat dinner with people you’ve never met. Expect to be distracted by excited children. Expect to be crowded in a small living room (our house was built in 1911!). Expect to be challenged by your Creator to be a part of something new. Expect to see God build a church from the ground up.

With much love and excitement,

Justin Hyde
Pastor, Christ Church
Lent 2007