The Next 35: Building for a World We May Never See
In 1990, Gilbert, Arizona was a town of 29,000 people. A loaf of bread cost a dollar. Homes averaged under $80,000. And a small group of people gathered with an idea. They didn't know what the future held, but they knew who held the future. In November 1991, East Valley Bible Fellowship, now Redemption Gilbert, held its very first service.
Thirty-five years later, Gilbert has grown to 285,000 people. The church sits on 23 debt-free acres at the crossroads of one of the most dynamic communities in the East Valley, two miles from downtown Gilbert, three from downtown Chandler, five from Mesa. Within five miles of the property, 25 apartment complexes representing 7,000 doors have been completed in just the last five years with another 20 complexes and 5,000-6,000 more doors projected in the next three. The town itself has identified the church's neighborhood as the center of a major redevelopment initiative. The opportunity in front of us is enormous.
And the question is simple: What do we do with it?
Faithful with Little, Entrusted with Much
Over 35 years, Redemption Gilbert has given away more than $7 million—$2 million of that in just the last five years. The church has planted 14 churches, all still operating. It has founded leadership networks, trained leaders in countries around the world, partnered with Title I schools, served as the founding partner for Gilbert's heat relief network, and hosted hundreds of people in need through community care events.
Jesus said, "Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much." Maybe what we've done with the first 35 years was the "little" that Jesus entrusted to this place. Maybe he's looking at us now and saying, "I'm ready to entrust you with much."
That's the conviction behind Next 35, an 18-month capital campaign surrounding our 35th anniversary, running from November 2025 through April 2027. The goal: $1.5 million to lay the groundwork for the next generation of ministry on this campus and in this community.
Three Pillars
The campaign is built on three pillars, each representing $500,000.
Pillar One: Groundwork. This campus has been the soil from which kingdom work has grown for decades. Faithful stewardship means maintaining what's been entrusted to us. That means replacing aging HVAC systems a $250,000 repair already on order, resurfacing 20-year-old parking lots, and refinishing roofs that leak every time it rains. Groundwork isn't glamorous. But nothing flourishes without it. You can't do ministry in Arizona without air conditioning, and you can't welcome a community onto a campus that's falling apart. These are the repairs that clear the way for everything else.
Pillar Two: Space. Our campus is a front porch extended into Gilbert, a place where neighbors are welcomed, community gathers, and the church becomes visible and accessible. This pillar funds three projects: a shaded outdoor community patio ($250,000) built between the chapel and worship center, creating a welcoming gathering space for the thousands of new apartment residents moving into our neighborhood; lighting for the commons lawn, enabling evening events, youth activities, and community sports leagues that introduce families to our church through their kids' soccer games and a good cup of coffee; and a wedding venue that serves our own church families affordably while generating revenue from the broader community. Space is how we practice faithful presence—turning underused property into an open invitation.
Pillar Three: Fuel. Sustainable mission requires sustainable funding. This pillar invests in three things: establishing a nonprofit development fund that positions us to pursue federal, private, and municipal grants, funding streams ten times the size of religious grants that our current structure can't access; a Horizon Ventures Fund to set aside resources for future development opportunities on our 23 acres as they arise; and a contingency fund representing 10% of our annual budget, providing both financial margin for emergencies and the agility to seize kingdom opportunities without hesitation.
A Gravitational Slingshot
In the movie Interstellar, the crew performs a gravity slingshot maneuver, catching momentum around a massive planet to fling themselves toward their destination. The strength of the slingshot depends on the gravitational sphere of influence of the object you're passing.
That's how we're thinking about this moment. Our 35th anniversary isn't just a celebration. It's a hinge point. The influence this church has built over 35 years of faithfulness, financial generosity, leadership development, global and local impact is the gravitational mass we're drafting off of. And what we do in this 18-month window will determine the trajectory of the next 35 years.
This campaign is fully funded through giving. No debt. The church's buildings and property are paid for, an incredible gift from the generations before us. The goal is not to burden the church but to build on what's already been entrusted to us with the same spirit of faith and sacrifice that got us here.
For a Generation We May Never Meet
Somewhere out there right now, in a kindergarten class, is the person who will one day lead this church, not the next pastor, maybe not even the one after that, but the one after that. What are we going to do to make sure this church is still here, still faithful, still doing the work when it's their turn?
The people who broke ground on this property in the mid-1990s couldn't have imagined what Gilbert would become. We can't imagine what it will look like in 2060. But we know what people will need: a place to be loved, a place to hear the gospel, a place to eat and laugh and be married and be buried. A community where the name of Jesus is honored.
Our past is a solid foundation—but it was never meant to be an anchor. The best is yet to come. And the next 35 starts now.
