Daybreak Community Church

Newly planted church gets its break courtesy of 'Millionaire' winner

Burlington Free Press, 10/07/2000

COLCHESTER--A few rows of molded blue plastic chairs and a narrow stage in a middle school cafeteria are not generally considered the most gracious of appointments.

That didn't matter to the Rev. Robby Pitt as he addressed the 40 people gathered before him for Daybreak Community Church's Sunday morning service.

"We're trying to figure out how to make this home," Pitt said. "We'll get used to this place, and we'll take advantage of this place."

Pitt's message during this first weekly meeting at Colchester Middle School--the new home of the church Pitt planted in January--was all about the amazing grace of God.

"God is not hiding from us," Pitt said. "He's making himself known."

Twice in the last few months, in fact.

After months of searching for a steady place to hold Sunday morning services, Daybreak got the green light from a facility less than a mile from Pitt's home. The church also learned it will receive a portion of the $1 million "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" winnings of Kim Hunt, a 41-year-old former seminary classmate as well as church mate of Pitt's.

With such good news as that, it was only natural for Pitt to explore and appreciate the concept of grace with his congregation.

"God, thank you so much for you amazing grace," Pitt said, closing the service, "undeserved as it is."

Helping growth

Although not a pastor, Hunt was involved with a church plant in Seattle in the late 1980s, but money was tight and the church disbanded after two years.

"Funding was a big issue then," said Hunt, who teaches math near his home in Collierville, Tenn. "That can be a big problem if you don't have an established church, and established churches have resources."

Within a week of winning, Hunt knew he wanted to help a handful of churches plant their roots in communities. A pastor at a Fort Worth, Texas, church that Hunt attended with Pitt when they were in seminary gave him names of beginning congregations that could use some help, and Daybreak was one of three churches that came up.

"I hadn't talked to Kim in 10 years, that's what made it so nuts," Pitt said. "What a commitment to what he believes in--and he believes in church planting.

"It just reminded me that God could provide the money any way he wanted to."

Hunt's still unsure exactly how much money he'll give to Daybreak. He'd like another religious organization to match in part or whole the amount of his gift as a way to increase awareness of church planters and their work. How Daybreak uses the money will depend on funding the church receives from other sources.

"It won't make it succeed," Hunt said of whatever financial donation he makes, "but financing helps to eliminate one of the big drawbacks."

Building again

There were fewer faces in the crowd Sunday morning, but they were more familiar.

Where around 100 people came to each of Daybreak's three preview services at South Burlington's Clarion Hotel, Pitt now has a faithful flock of about 45. They've stuck with the fledgling church through location changes that bounced them around South Burlington from a hotel reception room to Hoyt's Cinema 9 to New Covenant Baptist Church. There, during weekly Sunday night services, Pitt worked to form relationships with those already in his congregation rather than attract more members through advertising.

"It just didn't seem to worth our while this summer while we were meeting at someone else's church that didn't look like who we wanted to be," Pitt said.

And where they wanted to be was still up in the air. Storefronts in downtown Burlington were too expensive to rent. Burlington schools--both public and private--said no at least once if not twice. Then, Colchester Middle School, which hosted a church in the past, said yes last month.

"Essentially," Pitt said, "it's starting over with a core of about 45 people instead of a core of six people."

South Burlington's Mark Williams is part of that expanded core.

He pitches in by picking up bagels or acting in skits for the church. He played the husband to Kim Pitt's wife in last week's drama about a woman who cataloged every gift she received.

"People don't remember speeches, but they do remember skits, and I think that the multimedia approach is very important," Williams said.

While the congregation might be thinner than those from the days of meeting at the Clarion, Williams said it feels like the church has gelled into a team reaching toward the same goals and helping each other through the tough times.

"Actually," Williams said, packing away bagels after last Sunday's service, "I don't care where we meet.

"Yeah, wherever, tell me where to show up."