Taking a big step forward in both service and technology, Fort Lupton Baptist Church joined forces with Crossroads Baptist Church. The result is a community-friendly house of worship in cooperation with another in Northglenn and a third campus in Thornton.
“Crossroads Baptist is a big church, with over 1,700 members in two churches,” Pastor David Graves explained. “Crossroads felt like instead of becoming a megachurch, we would spread out through the community so we could share the resources and individual expertise.”
Crossroads Pastor Kim Skattum said looking beyond their congregation spurred the change.
“About seven years ago we really began to move our sights outward and became much more externally aware and focused,” Skattum said. “We started to ask ourselves the question, is our community a better place because we are here? About that same time we were looking for expansion opportunities because we had outgrown our first campus on 104th and Huron. We ended up buying a bigger piece of land on 128th and I-25 and we thought what we would do is just build a building there and just move operations.”
Instead, Crossroads decided to keep the original campus and build the new campus, now in its sixth year of operation. In doing so, the church doubled the size of their congregation. Then came the opportunity with Fort Lupton First Baptist, allowing a move further north and east.
“I had talked to Crossroads about a merger, and as it turns out, they were looking to expand,” Graves said. “We joined forces, and they spent about $400,000 adding to the campus. Our goal right now is to be a blessing to the community, to serve the community, to try to do what we can to help the schools, the city. We just want to be a helping hand to help this community grow, so the whole philosophy has changed.”
Along with the new philosophy comes access to the church itself, even for non-church-related functions.
“Now this facility is available to anyone in the community who wants to use it to hold meetings, anybody — except for groups who worship Satan,” Graves said. “Anyone in the secular community, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, is welcome all week long to use this facility for free. This church is here to be a blessing to the community, and we want people to know that. If they want to have a wedding, they can have it here. If they want to have a funeral, they can have it here. If they want to have a party, they can have it here. They might have to pay a damage deposit, but it’s all free.”
Fort Lupton First Baptist Church, established in 1917, has been at its current location since 1976. According to Graves, the congregation was slowly dying out, like many small churches these days.
“We became a church that wasn’t relevant to today’s culture,” Graves said. “We are getting out of that, becoming more modernized.”
The steps to modernization began with broadcasting services live on the Internet for those unable to attend in person, and simulcasting rotating pastors from the Northglenn and Thornton churches. Early services feature live contemporary music, with afternoon services more along traditional, organ-based offerings.
“What we are really doing now is trying to give a lot of thought, prayer and emphasis to how we as a church, in partnership with others who are serving the Fort Lupton area, how do we serve that community in effective and impactful ways?” Skattum said. “That’s really where we are at in our journey, and really delighted to be part of it at the Fort Lupton campus.”
Contact Staff Writer Gene Sears at gsears@metrowestnewspapers.com.