Chan and Stacy Kilgore have been married for over 25 years. They have three beautiful daughters, Abigail Kilgore (25), Aubrey (18) and Amber (15).
We are honored to parter with Chan Kilgore and support CrossPointe Orlando, FL. Please keep Chan and his family in your prayers.
What is the name of your church and roughly how many attendees do you currently have?
I pastor CrossPointe church in Orlando, Florida. We run over 700 in average weekly attendance at CrossPointe Lake Nona. We have six other congregations averaging over 1200+.
Where are you originally from and where is your current church located?
I was born in Orlando but grew up in Rockledge, FL, Virginia Beach, VA and Huntsville, AL. Our church is located in the southeast part of Orlando known as Lake Nona/Medical City.
Tell us the story of how God called you to plant churches and why you chose the current location for your church plant.
Seventeen years ago my wife and I were driving on the highway 417 passing by what has become the Lake Nona area of Orlando, and God just spoke to me and called me to plant a church in this area. At the time this part of Orlando was filled with old orange groves and cow pastures. I had no idea how this area would explode in growth. I planted in this part of Orlando simply out of faith and obedience to God.
What is the spiritual temperature in your community/country? How does this reflect your church’s mission and focus?
Lake Nona is a community in which people live in a highly contested space. So much competes for their hearts' devotion, time and resources. The options vying for people’s time and resources our near endless in Orlando. We are seeing a rapid spiritual change in the culture of Orlando (reflective of what is happening across the country). It’s not that less people are going to church, it’s that people are going to church less. According to a recent Barna Report states that Orlando ranks as the #6 dechurched city in America and #9 unchurched city in America. See report here.
We are learning to contextualize the gospel in a highly contested space. We are learning to share the gospel in a culture where the pursuit of pleasure is everywhere, and yet people seem to struggle with weariness, emptiness, depression and loneliness at epidemic proportions. We are learning to how the gospel is not only good news for eternal life but for everyday life.
Tell us one of the most difficult situations you have faced during your years as a church planter. How did God work through that particular situation?
We walked through a very painful experience of having one of our lead pastors having an affair and walking away from his wife and children. We saw God’s grace in the midst of brokenness in ways you cannot experience a part from pain and disappointment. We saw God’s grace in raising young, strong leaders to navigate our congregation through this difficult season. We also saw God raise up an associate pastor to lead this congregation with wisdom and grace through this season of healing.
Tell us about how you have seen God working - maybe share a particular story.
God seems to be working in a number of different ways throughout CrossPointe. Perhaps the two I'm most excited about is CrossPointe Espanol and the recent planting of CrossPointe Jupiter. Pastor Miguel Medina continues to lead CP Espanol to reach the rapidly growing of first generation Latino population in Orlando.
Pastor Brian Sullivan who came to Christ shortly before beginning an internship at CrossPointe. A few years later, he joined Pastor Jamie Hart to plant CrossPointe Winter Park and is now planting CrossPointe Jupiter. We are seeing God use Brian and his wife Corrina in amazing ways as they are pulling together a core group to plant our newest congregation.
Are any other stories or information you would like to share?
One of the great stories in the brief history of CrossPointe is seeing Ryan Walker go from a pagan to church planter. He was one of three young men who were baptized before we ever began our Sunday morning services. We were faithful to disciple him. When he graduated college he began an internship with us and ultimately raised support to come on staff. He became an associate pastor at CrossPointe Lake Nona and then two years ago transitioned to replant CrossPointe Downtown. We desire to see God use us to reach more lost people who will be discipled and plant the gospel around the world.
Please list any prayer requests we can share with our SRC family.
- Please pray for CrossPointe to be able to engage more deeply in our city to see lost people come to Christ in greater and greater numbers.
- Please pray for our marriages and families.
If you would like to reach out to Chan, you can email him at chan@xpointe.com or visit the church's website at http://xpointe.com.