In April, TAB shared the story of Justin McKay and his wife, Lacy — Alabama natives who went to Denver on their honeymoon and felt God calling them to plant a church there.
“On our first day, we were driving around, and we’re in awe of the Rocky Mountains,” McKay recalled.
Not too long after, they asked themselves, ”Where are all the churches?”
Long story short, in 2020, they started a church planting residency, and earlier this year started assembling a core team with a goal of planting The Local Church in the Arvada area of Denver. In the April TAB article, they asked for prayer and also mentioned they needed partners.
Since then, they’ve seen more than one team of Alabama Baptist pastors arrive in Denver on a vision trip, then decide to partner with The Local Church.
They’ve also had an Alabama congregation — Bethlehem West Baptist in Vinemont — decide to come alongside with extra missions funds from their budget.
Pastor Shane Wheeler said when they realized their giving had actually gone up during the pandemic, they began praying as a church about where they should “invest what God has blessed us with.”
Meanwhile, church member Diane Tucker read about McKay’s work, connected with him on her own and began praying daily for the ministry.
“When our pastor reached out to (McKay about potentially partnering), I sent him a message and said I’m so thrilled to see what God’s going to do,” Tucker remembered.
‘Prayer for wisdom’
Bethlehem West ended up committing to support McKay and two other Alabama Baptist church planters in the West for at least 14 months.
McKay noted “the West” means the world.
He said he, his wife and the core team of The Local Church are grateful for their partners, and seek pray-ers for God to open hearts as they work to build relationships and take the gospel to people right where they are.
In Colorado, “the gospel is still the same, but the hurdles are different,” McKay said, noting many people subscribe to a religion of their own making that they’ve sculpted from their experiences and travels.
“We would love prayer for wisdom on how to reach our culture.”
For more information visit thelocalchurchco.org or follow them at @thelocalchurchco. To learn more about partnering with the McKays’ work in Denver, email
Read the full story from April at thealabamabaptist.org/alabama-couple-prepares-to-plant-church-in-denver.
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