Brandon Beals is the pastor of Venture Church in Mill Creek, Washington.
Mill Creek, considered part of greater Seattle, presents many challenges to church planters. Not only does less than 25% of the population have any religious affiliation but the city has very few unoccupied buildings. Additionally, the environmental issues and the wetlands make building and zoning particularly difficult. These factors, coupled with the fact that the city is now entirely built out, often leave new church planters with more problems than solutions.
But the Beals persevered and officially launched their church plant in 2004.
Within the first ten years, the church had outgrown eight locations, and leadership knew they needed to build a permanent church home. Yet with the city so limited by available land at that time, Beals knew they needed a miracle.
In 2016, one of the last empty lots in the city, which was supposed to have 60 homes built on it, miraculously became the land on which the first and only “new church building” was built: Venture Church.
While there are several other churches within the greater Seattle region, all other churches have been annexed into city limits or occupy pre-existing buildings. And, as Beals states, now that the city has reached its building capacity, no new church buildings will be built in the future.