Denver Metro Project
Taylor and Daylie Hunt are planting a church that will wade into the mess of life alongside messy, broken people because they have experienced first hand how God has waded into their mess.
After Taylor got what he likes to call his “spiritual kick in the crotch” between his Junior and Senior year of High School, God rescued him from his rock bottom moment. Around the same time, Taylor had a bunch of friends who were also searching for something — searching for hope at the bottom of a bottle, searching for the next hit, the next party, hoping for the next high. It was in that season where Taylor’s faith came alive because he got to share about the hope he had found in Jesus that had saved him in the midst of his mess.
Since that day Taylor has wanted to plant a church for messy, broken people just like him.
Taylor and Daylie met each other while working at another Orchard Church plant in Ventura, California. They have served in various roles during their 10 years working at Mission and really feel like they have received a master class in being a church where people far from God can come experience the hope of Jesus.
Since it’s founding in the 1850’s, Denver is a place where people would flock to in their search for more for themselves. Whether they were searching for gold in the gold rush, searching for an escape in the beautiful mountains, or searching for a better career amidst Denver’s booming economy, people move to Denver searching.
And that sense of searching remains true in the people of Denver today. The beauty of Denver’s physical landscape and its economic opportunities continue to attract hopeful people searching for the promise of something more, and for many of the people flocking to this beautiful place the search has come up empty. 1 in 4 Coloradans report poor mental health–with the state reporting persistent depression and anxiety among the population. And two-thirds of Denver metro’s 3 million people would claim no affiliation to a local church. According to Pew Research, Colorado is one of the states with the least churches according to state population in the country. Suicide, addiction, loneliness, and divorce are all on the rise as people are coming up desperately empty in their search for more.
Together with their incredible and experienced teammates Jen and T.D. Oakes, the Denver metro team will be planting a church on the east side of Denver in the Central Park neighborhood. They want to plant a church where single moms and soccer dads, people counting days clean and people on parole, the “up-and-to the-rights”, “the-down-and-outs” and broken can all come together to experience the hope of Jesus that meets us in our mess and is the only answer to our searching.