- Church planting & multiplication
The heavenly sound first heard on Pentecost in Acts 2 is growing louder at Echoes Church in Mesa, Arizona.
More than 400 people have said yes to Jesus’ leadership of their lives since the church launched in December 2024. Plus the Converge Southwest congregation baptized 68 people on Feb. 23.
“Our mission is to help people echo the life of Jesus in their everyday lives,” said Joshua Paul, the church’s executive pastor.
He and lead pastor Daniel Goulding started discussing planting a church together in July 2023. They studied Acts together, finding God’s direction and confirmation through Acts 2:2, when the sound of heaven came to earth as a rushing wind.
The Lord’s wonderful presence and mighty power displayed themselves on January 26. More than 2700 people gathered, including hundreds of families and individuals new to church who had not yet believed in Jesus.
“We knew there needed to be another church,” Paul said of this fast-growing Arizona community.
That’s the spirit of Vision Arizona, Converge Southwest’s church planting network in Arizona, which has planted seven churches in the last 22 months.
Related: Converge is a movement of 1700 churches helping people meet, know and follow Jesus.
The worldviews around Mesa range from agnosticism and Roman Catholicism, especially among Hispanics, to the teachings of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. The city’s LDS heritage means many people have been exiled for questioning that group’s teachings.
“There’s a lot of spiritual confusion here,” Paul said, adding that many are open to faith because they are intrigued by the possibility of life beyond themselves.
However, there’s a struggle to know and follow Jesus that develops because of financial stress, dysfunctional choices, mental health hardships and marital challenges.
“When you dig down under the layers, there’s some really upsetting stats that share the need for the hope of Jesus within people,” Paul said. “There’s a lot of need for hope, for purpose and for community.”
That need is being satisfied by the sound of heaven rushing into Mesa. That wind of the Spirit means people far from God are finding a way to the throne of grace.
One man told Paul about being raised by a practicing witch and getting demonic tattoos earlier in his life. But he said yes to Jesus and got baptized after hearing the sound of heaven during an Echoes’ worship service.
“We’re called to be an echo of who Jesus is,” Paul said noting the church’s vibrant faith and strong witness can only be the work of God.
