Leslie Womack knew Mercyhill Church had something special the moment the pastor’s wife said her family, like the Womacks, was aboard ‘the struggle bus.’
The authenticity and humanity of Robyn Wood two years ago helped convince the Womacks to make Mercyhill their church. Hearing another family’s quip about navigating sick relatives, family pressures, and other modern life demands encouraged the Womacks.
“We need the people in the church to come together and make a community,” Womack said. “Once we found Mercyhill, it was like, ‘this is where we’re supposed to be.’”
From social media to ‘ride-or-die’
Through a social media ad, they found the Fort Worth, Texas, congregation, which launched in September. What they’ve seen since has made Mercyhill their ‘ride-or-die’ family of believers.
“Thank God for that Facebook ad,” Womack said.
During his studies at Liberty University, a church planter showed Shay Wood that ministry could happen in new ways to reach new people.
Related: Converge International Ministries and Liberty have partnered in global gospel work.
Wood’s summary of the church’s identity comes down to people who experience his mercy and surrender their lives to Christ.
“Mercy Hill, a hill meant for death, became a hill for mercy and the place where we find life,” he said. “We need to lead people to a place of surrender so they can trust God in their own lives and with their own destinies.”
About 75% of the people in Saginaw, a multicultural inner suburb about 15 minutes north of Fort Worth’s famed Stockyards and located in the same neighborhood where Mercyhill meets, are unreached; many of them experience church hurt. Wood said many people there are nominal Christians or have no religious or spiritual identity.
The gospel redirecting life in the multicultural, diverse community
Allison Nichols, who volunteers in the church’s children’s ministry with her husband, Josh, said churches don’t inundate the community where Mercyhill gathers.
The church’s neighbors include military personnel, defense contractors and Amazon workers. The city has blue- and white-collar workers living in homes that range from middle-class houses to million-dollar properties.
To help a diverse spread of people surrender to Christ and find life, Wood said the church creatively speaks to people in the life they have now. The Converge congregation emphasizes Sunday experiences, small groups, kids ministry and community outreach.
“We’re here to start a church for people who are not at a church already,” Wood said.
That identity is exactly why Josh and Allison Nichols joined the church. Since they did, six people have been saved and baptized, including a child that Josh Nichols led to Christ. That fruit offers convincing proof that clear gospel presentations resonate with others in the multicultural town of 25,000 people.
“It’s bringing worship to a new neighborhood,” Nichols said.
Converge’s 10 districts have committed to deploying 312 church planters before 2026. Read more inspiring church planting stories and learn about the goal to send out 312 church planters in five years.