House church grows as Utah residents respond
Jordan
By Jerilyn Osborn
After getting saved as the result of a church plant in Ogden, Utah, Trinity Jordan realized the importance of planting new churches. “Church planting just seemed part of Christian leadership to me,” Jordan says. “I felt called to be a leader within the Jesus communities I was part of and knew that Utah needed more churches. It was just second nature in some ways.”
Jordan saw that the young families and young adults of Layton, Utah, were not being reached. “Layton is the big city of Davis County. Within a seven-mile radius of downtown Layton, there are over 200,000 people, and 50 percent of them are Mormon,” says Jordan. “I knew . . . so many great people that I wanted to share Jesus with.”
In 2004, Jordan, his wife and three other families, launched a house church and later that year planted Elevation Church. A year after that, they launched Sunday gatherings in Layton and began another house church. On Easter Sunday in 2009, Jordan and his team launched a second church plant — Elevation in Kaysville.
“We have two campuses and each has a different demographic,” says Jordan. “Our Layton location attracts young adults between the ages of 18 and 35, with families or who are single.” Elevation’s Kaysville location consists primarily of 30- to 60-year-olds with a church or Mormon background.
Today, between nine house churches, two large gathering locations and four services, roughly 350 people are involved and connected with Elevation. But the church’s ministry does not stop there. With podcasts and blogs, Elevation has a growing online presence as well. Approximately 3,200 subscribers download the podcast each week.
Since their first house church in 2004, Trinity has seen many lives changed. “If I really had to nail it down, I’d say right around 300 personal connections,” Jordan says. “But with our podcast we have no clue really. A church in London, England, called us when our podcast went down. They were following our sermons and re-preaching everything, and they needed the next sermon for an evangelism night they were doing.”
One person in particular whose life has been impacted is a young man named Ty. Ty, who has cerebral palsy and was raised Mormon, first encountered Elevation while working at the movie theater where the church’s Layton location meets.
“He would talk to us on Sunday mornings as we set up,” Jordan says. “I would be preaching and see Ty sneak into the theater and peek his head over the edge of the hallway walls to see what was going on.”
Then one Sunday, “Ty came walking in not wearing his uniform,” Jordan recalls. “He had taken the day off of work so he could attend.” After the service, one of Elevation’s leaders prayed with Ty and the two developed a friendship that led Ty to question his prior beliefs.
Some time later, Ty called Jordan and said, “I’m ready to give my life to Jesus. I know what you guys are teaching is the truth. I feel the Spirit every time I am with you guys. How do I give my life to Jesus?”
Since giving his life to Christ, Ty has become an active member of Elevation.
“Ty brings his Mormon family and friends to Elevation on a regular basis,” Jordan says. “This happened over a year ago, and Ty is still going strong with Jesus.”
To learn more about the AG’s Church Multiplication Network, go to www.churchmultiplicationnetwork.ag.org.