By Kelli Cottrell

Comparing himself to Ty Pennington, the host of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, Pastor Mark James explained the five purposes to his congregation of 480 members.

“They remake homes and we remake lives,” said James, who was preaching for the first time in his new $4 million building on April 2, 2006. “They give away keys to homes; Christ gives us the key to the Kingdom. They are sponsored by Sears and Roebuck; we are sponsored by Jesus Christ.”

James, pastor of Christ Community Church, confessed this sermon was one that he had reworked from a previous message he had taught using the 40 Days of Community, Better Together sermon series.

“This was nothing new,” he explained. “I wanted our people to hear again how the five purposes of the Purpose Driven model are used in our congregation. When the church is the church these things will happen.”

James, 52, arrived to pastor the church in June of 2002 with a desire to implement the Purpose Driven paradigm into the structure.

“When Mark came here, we were running 96 people average and then he explained the Purpose Driven paradigm and trained us (the leadership) with videos and seminars,” said Bucky Payne, chairman of the elders for Christ Community Church. “This past Sunday was a reminder of the five principles our church is based on. We know what our purposes are and we don’t get sidetracked to become a country club or social activity.”

In the spring of 2002, Christ Community launched the 40 Days of Purpose campaign.

“It gave us something to hang our small groups on,” James said. “And it gave me a strategy to wrap the whole church around. It’s been quite effective.”

In 2004, the church held the 40 Days of Community campaign with an all-church mission project and individual small group projects.

“Our church single-handedly took care of Christmas for a local mission,” said Tim Johnson, former adult ministries pastor who is now a church planter in Georgia using the Purpose Driven model.

The church’s goal was to give the number 40 for all their projects.

They wanted to give away 400 presents and instead were able to give more than 600 presents to the mission. And they have continued to give more gifts every Christmas. In 2005, the church congregation gave 1,100 presents to the mission with each family receiving a dozen cookies to take home as well.

“The campaigns have been tremendously successful for us,” said Johnson, who oversaw them. “We had an event where our goal was 400 people in attendance and we reached that, too.”

The congregation gave the local food bank 40,000 pounds of food, costing about $8,000 during that campaign.

“It’s been amazing,” said James, originally from Indiana. “It’s been really exciting.”

Each member is encouraged to participate in ministry and small groups.

“We really have a church where people feel accepted and can belong,” said James, whose wife, Anna, came up with the churches slogan: “A place to belong.”

Recently, the church has started Divorce Recovery to help members heal from broken relationships.

A typical Sunday morning consists of contemporary worship songs and lots of energy, James said.

“We have some older, retired people who love the warmth and energy,” he said. “Our goal is to really have a church where people feel accepted. We are contemporary and casual. Our target is unchurched, young families.”

Last month, the church made a pilgrimage from their rented facility to their new property.

“We had everyone start at the old building with prayer and then get in their cars and motorcade over to the new property for worship and communion and prayer. It was amazing.”

The new building reflects the Purpose Driven concept of worship and fellowship, James said.

The open “mall” area in the middle of the facility houses a baptistry that can be converted into a stage for outdoor worship and concerts complete with a café on the other side.

“There is a lot of room for fellowship,” James said. “We did this on purpose because we believe the five purposes are all about people.”

Payne remembers reading the Purpose Driven materials and thinking, “It must be nice for these other churches to experience such growth, but it’ll never happen for us that way. When it did, I was amazed. We’ve really expanded and grown through being a healthy church that follows the purposes.”

During the last few months, the church has continued to rise in attendance from 300 attendees.

“We’re staffing for growth,” James said. “God is moving.”

All 2006 Church Health Award winner information is correct as of Jan. 1, 2006.