By Libby Hopkins
Ephesians 2:21-22 says, “In whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.” Pastor Brent Simpson and his congregation at Arise Assembly of God at Brandon can relate to this verse because their church is expanding. “The new church will seat close to 900 guests and is located on Pauls Dr. behind the post office and near the Brandon Chamber of Commerce building,” Simpson said. “It is just under 33,000 sq. ft. We should be holding our first worship experiences at the end of this summer, around August.”
Arise Assembly of God at Brandon is a rapidly growing and vibrant community of followers of Jesus Christ. You can expect to find a multicultural and multi-racial congregation of worshipers that are warm, friendly and welcoming of all. “We have seen great growth over the last seven years and are currently having four Sunday services to accommodate this growth,” Simpson said. “We are building our new campus out of necessity and our church has grown.”
The Sunday worship experiences are a dynamic blend of powerful prayer, contemporary praise and worship, and relevant, practical and motivational messages. Lives are changed, renewed and refreshed at every worship experience. “The church is the group of faithful Jesus-followers,” Simpson said. “The building is just a place we assemble before heading back out into the community to do ministry. The building will be large, state of the art and a blessing to our community.”
Simpson and his congregation plan to open the building up to community for events, Brandon community theater, school graduations, and the like. “The new campus is just a tool that the church will use to bless the community and share the gospel of Jesus Christ,” Simpson said. “Our mission as a church is to help our community experience God, not just in our new campus, but also in Walmart, our company break rooms and our homes. It is my strong belief that the revival that is coming to America will not simply take place in our sanctuaries, but will overflow into the marketplace just as it did in Acts 2. Our church buildings simply become the ‘huddles’ where we game plan for how we go back into our environments to do ministry.
Visit www.arisebrandon.com or call 689-2345. Located at 710 S. Kings Ave. in Brandon.
