BLOG

Applications are now open for our Summer 2025 globalX trip to Costa Rica with 6:8 Ministries! The trip will take place July 21-28, and we’d love to have you join us. When Mike Carlton decided that he and his 14-year-old daughter, Katie, would join our 2022 globalX trip to Costa Rica, he was hopeful that…

We are so excited to welcome Abby Weiss as our new UpStreet Groups Director! Abby began serving with us in September, and she is passionate about leading kids at Access Church into a growing relationship with Jesus. Abby grew up in River Falls, Wisconsin, where Main Street had two stoplights and everyone knew everyone. Her…

We are so excited to welcome Gabe Ervin as our new UpStreet Production Director! Gabe began serving with us in June, and he is passionate about leading kids at Access Church into a growing relationship with Jesus. Gabe is a Jacksonville native and is the youngest of four boys in a family of parents devoted…

Making Friends, Growing in Faith & Living With Purpose. Just one year ago, the Quinones family was looking for a Christian community where kids and parents could grow in faith together. Having been a part of both traditional church and house church experiences, Elliott and Miranda hadn’t found the right fit. Miranda remembers, “We felt…

Kurt and Shannon Valentine both grew up in a relationship with Jesus Christ, but as their lives became increasingly hectic with demanding careers and young children, they found themselves drifting away from their faith.  “We were trying to carry our heavy loads all alone,” they explain. “Over time, this left us feeling depleted and void…

Kate and Rob Andrews and their son, Jake, started attending Access in October 2017 when a friend invited them. The Andrews had recently moved back to the Jacksonville area because of Rob’s job. Jake was about to start high school when they moved, and they wanted to find a church where they could meet people…

Elizabeth Hall attended church with her grandparents as she grew up, and she committed her life to Christ at a church camp when she was 12. Similarly, Rick Hall went to church with friends while growing up, putting his faith in Jesus at the age of 11, but neither went to church once they moved…

Right away, the value placed on excellence was evident to Shane as a musician. “I liked the excellence,” he said, “but it was the atmosphere of caring that Darin and Kevin created for the band that really made Access different.”

Kyal and Shana Rector are familiar with the task of finding a church in a new area. They have been through the process before. Their military background has moved them all over the United States. But a career change placed them in the St. Johns area, and they found themselves once again looking for a church.

Did you have a positive influence in your life as a teenager? Perhaps someone came into your life at a crucial time and made an investment in you, the dividends of which you still feel today. At Access we talk a lot about all the ways God uses these kinds of pivotal relationships to help us on…

As the holidays approach, many of us will open our doors to family and friends. Our homes will be clean, de-cluttered, and filled with inviting scents. These are intentional actions meant to communicate that we value our guests and have spent time and energy preparing for them. At the end of the day, we want our guests to…

If you step into the UpStreet large-group environment on a Sunday morning, several things become evident: we believe the Bible should never be boring, worship can be really loud, and Sundays should be fun. You will see the UpStreet Production Team working to leverage every minute they have to make truth memorable. In the middle…

We’re so excited to welcome Sarah Peckham to our Access Church staff as our new Waumba Land Director. Waumba Land is our environment for preschoolers. Our mission in Waumba Land is “to make a first impression of the heavenly Father in such a way that it makes a lasting impression on the heart of a child.”…

How would you like to spend a day with Andy Stanley, learning what he is most passionate about? Deep & Wide is a one-day conference with Andy, and it’s right down the road in Orlando! All Access volunteers are invited to join us November 9, so we can learn together how to make Access even…

Take 10 teenagers, 3 college students, 75 kids, and 4 host homes all over town. Add UpStreet-style storytelling about God’s love, great music, and lots of water fun. Mix it together, and you have an amazing week of summer called Camp95. The goal of Camp 95 was to bring “all the fun of UpStreet to…

Costa Rica, with its coastline, mountains, and rainforest, is a beautiful place to spend your time. What about spending your sweat, your work, and your heart there as well? July 4 a group of 15 Access Church adults and teenagers returned from a week-long globalX trip to Costa Rica, where they did just that. Why go to the trouble? Why…

One-day Conference for Access Volunteers Thursday, November 9 Orlando All Access volunteers are invited to join us November 9 for Deep & Wide, a one-day conference with Andy Stanley. Deep & Wide is designed to help church leaders turn up the irresistible in their programming and community presence. Andy will share what he’s learned in the past 25 years…

Angie and Shane Hamilton thought they knew church. They both grew up attending church and had tried various churches off and on as adults. “It was boring, and I felt I had to change my life to be a part of it,” Shane said. “It just seemed easier not to go.” Angie’s disenchantment began as…

Thanks to Brian Smith for being bold and publicly professing his trust in Jesus though baptism on Easter!

Access is committed to being a church that’s easy to invite people to. “Invest and invite” is shorthand for our desire for the people in our lives to experience what has impacted us. Yet as easy as we try to make it, inviting remains a very personal thing. What makes Access people so passionate about inviting?…

We’re excited that 19-year-old Zach Mengel has joined our Access Church staff. When he came on board this past summer, he jumped into helping with Waumba Land (preschool), UpStreet (elementary), and InsideOut (high school) and assisting Lead Pastor Rich Barrett. Zach was invited by a friend to visit Access, and he attended for the first…

“Fun and laid back” describes the Grass family perfectly, so it’s no surprise these are things they would look for in a church. Because of where they were in their faith journey, they knew they also needed “open-minded and practical.” “Dave and I both had been away from church for so long and had questions about our faith,”…

Before the diagnosis, life was “pretty normal” for Kristi and Joe Arns. They spent their time keeping up with kids (JT, 14, Adri, 19, and Jeremy, 22), family, work, and their neighbors’ tennis team and enjoying the beach on weekends. “Normal” also included being a part of Access Church, serving in Waumba Land and Guest…

Millennials are described as many things in our culture. What about “The Jesus Generation”? That is how the people behind the Passion conference see them, and they’re helping Millennials embrace this as their calling. In the first days of this new year, 55,000 young people from 90 countries and 16,000 colleges descended on the Georgia…

Every Sunday the Access volunteers and staff share and celebrate “win” stories – the ways we’ve seen God at work in people’s lives. Christina and James Joyners’ story is one such “win.” Both James and Christina grew up going to church. But after a painful experience with church as adults, they stopped attending altogether. For 10…

“This church is like a Christmas miracle!” is a quote that’s pretty well known around Access Church. It all started during a Community Group meeting, when Justin Smith was asked why he and his wife, Jasmine, are committed to Access. Here’s the story that led Justin to compare Access to “a Christmas miracle.” Justin and Jasmine met and…

Whether it’s the dinner menu, a family activity, or the music in the car, it’s a challenge for families to find something every member of the family enjoys. Could it be possible to find this in a church? Jeff and Lisa Hootselle knew that it was possible, having experienced the environments of Woodstock City Church in…

If Access Church is a body with arms outstretched toward those disconnected from God, the volunteers are the heart that keeps the body moving. Every week individuals with jobs and families show up to serve and love without expecting anything in return. There are several obvious benefits to serving; Friendships are born and nurtured, there…

Baptism is one of our favorite things to do around here because it’s a tangible example of the life change happening here at Access Church. If you’re ready to take this step, start here. All of you who partner with us by serving and giving, you make these kinds of stories possible.  

Sarah Graves and her husband, Lawton, have been an active part of Access Church since 2010. Since their move to Jacksonville, they have added three beautiful girls to their family. Sarah was the preschool director at a church in Tallahassee before moving to Jacksonville. She quickly jumped into Strategic Service at Access in Waumba Land…

There is a scene in a current movie where a married couple is getting ready to go to sleep. The wife looks over at the husband and remarks, “Some of our time together really should be spent while we are awake.” In a fast-paced world, it’s difficult to find time to invest in the marriage…

Parents, are you looking for an opportunity to connect with your children while learning about God’s “big ideas”? We would love to invite you to attend our next Kidstuf event on October 9. We’ll learn what God has to say about self-control through a 45-minute, fun, digital, multimedia, and interactive experience. Self-control is something we…

A note from Kevin Bunnell, service programming director: I’ve had the privilege of spending a lot of my time this past week on preparations for our Night of Worship on September 16. Several times a year, we gather as a church family to celebrate who God is and what He’s doing in our lives as…

Aaron Ellinger is someone you’ll see often around Access Church. The native Midwesterner made Jacksonville his home five years ago when a job relocation helped him claim sunny Florida as his home. Aaron is a single dad to three children, ages 17, 14, and 12. Aaron admits that his children played a large part in finding a…

We’re excited to announce that Sarah Graves has joined our Access team as our Waumba Land Director. Sarah is replacing Doug Hurley, who will take on the new title of GroupLife Director. In 2009 Sarah and her husband, Lawton, were a year away from finishing school in Tallahassee. They knew they wanted to eventually settle…

Recently we challenged you to get “involved,” and you responded in a fantastic way! In fact, we’ve had 20 new volunteers sign up for positions in Waumba, UpStreet, Host Team, and Service Programming. Amazing! We are so encouraged by this. Over the next couple of weeks, you’ll have a chance to speak with Zoie, who…