Blazing A New Trail in Denver

A little over three years ago, Jeff and Lianne Nikkel felt a call to plant a new church in the Denver CO community of Centennial. A “new kind of church,” Trailhead Church is built around Jesus’ call for believers to be transformative in their relationships. Since it’s inception, Trailhead Church has been different, meeting 3 Sundays every month in a facility graciously shared with them by Bethany EV Free Church. Bethany meets for worship in the sanctuary in the morning, Trailhead meets there in the evenings. On the 2^nd Sunday of every month, believers from Trailhead gather somewhere in the community and do an evening of service, at a school, a park, a neighbor’s home.

Since launching this “new” kind of church, it has grown to 18 small groups and around 120 individuals, each with a common mission of living authentically as followers of Jesus who are connected to one another and to their community.

From the beginning, Jeff and Lianne had a vision of planting a church that plants churches. They believe that replicating their experience in other places around Denver will help to re-shape their city from the inside out.

On June 1, Vaughn and Taryn Jost began serving Trailhead Church as apprentice church planters. Vaughn and Taryn, who grew up in Hillsboro KS and were on staff for many years at Ebenfeld MB Church outside of Hillsboro, have felt God’s call to plant a new church out of Trailhead in the Denver area. For the past couple of years, Vaughn has been working at completing his Masters Degree at George Fox Seminary in Portland OR via distance education. During this time, he and Taryn and their family have been attending Trailhead Church and observing how this new kind of church planting works in an urban setting. Now, nearing the end of Vaughn's seminary studies, he will work and train under the guidance of the Nikkels, preparing for a January 1 beginning as church planters for Trailhead Church. The new church plant will be called The Micah Project and finds its identity and purpose in Micah 6:8,

He has showed you, O man, what is good.

And what does the LORD require of you?

To act justly and to love mercy

and to walk humbly with your God.

Partnering with Trailhead to plant this new church will be the Southern District CEEC Commission and Mission USA, our national church planting/church renewal agency. Since the beginning of June, a church plant project team has been in place with representation from Trailhead Church, CEEC and as is typical of SDC church plants, the project team will stay in place while The Micah Project is developing its own leadership internally and the church is no longer receiving subsidy from either the Southern District or Mission USA. It is anticipated that could last up to three years.

Vaughn and Taryn are planning to spend a part of the summer connecting with other Southern District Conference churches to share their vision for church planting and to raise support for the new church. If you have a chance to connect with Vaughn and Taryn, please invite them to speak or share at your church. And pray for them as they continue to follow God’s leading!