ATLANTA - Lorraine Powell was the "prime mover" for starting Centerpoint Community Fellowship in Franklin, N.C., according to interim pastor Bernie Calaway. "We call her our ‘matriarch,’" he said.
With a strong desire for true cooperation and fellowship among believers, Powell ached over political discord in the church she had been a member of for 73 years. In response to seeing the young people in the church "losing their calling because they were abandoned and pushed out," in early 2009, she and her husband, Jack, began inviting youth to their home on Wednesday nights, providing supper and Bible study. At the same time, they began researching starting a new church – one that would focus on "true spiritual community," not only welcoming young people, but also encouraging them to find ways to serve.
Through a friend, the Powells learned of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, and its focus on missions, emphasis on the autonomy of the local church and equality in leadership resonated strongly with their ideals. The Powells, along with a small band of other "disenfranchised" people, began to meet and discuss the formation of a new church. They wrote a covenant, statement of beliefs and mission statement.
On Easter Sunday of this year, Centerpoint Community Fellowship held its first service in borrowed space. Now offering Sunday School, worship, a mid-week Bible study for youth, women’s prayer group meetings and sometimes an outdoor service in a local park, the church has a core group of 25-30 people, including three youth who lead in contemporary praise and worship music with drums and guitars.
"CBF has supported us with encouragement and friendship, phone calls and financially by providing materials for a children’s day camp," said Calaway. "We believe that young people are not just the future, they are the present. Equipping all believers, and especially our youth, for a life of Christian service and ministry is what we are all about."
"The Lord is really, really blessing us every way we turn," said Powell. "We could not ask for any greater God."
CBF is a fellowship of Baptist Christians and churches who share a passion for the Great Commission and a commitment to Baptist principles of faith and practice. The Fellowship's mission is to serve Christians and churches as they discover and fulfill their God-given mission.