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Meet Brandon Grant of Rise City Church in Lakeside

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Today we’d like to introduce you to Brandon Grant.

Brandon, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
My wife Jamie and I moved to San Diego in August 2012 with a dream in our hearts to start of a new church. We moved from Central Illinois. San Diego is ranked in the top 25 ‘least churched cities per capita” in the USA in multiple surveys. This, along with having a friend who had moved out here to start a church in 2008 in Chula Vista, captured our attention and propelled us to come. Upon arriving in SD, we began networking with people, getting more familiarized and acclimated to the community and culture. Our first church purchase was an ice cream truck that we used to throw park parties and be a part of a local concert series in Santee. We donated all of our proceeds to the local food back.

Eventually, in October 2013 – we launched Rise City Church at Hill Creek School in Santee. Within a couple of years, the church grew to over 400 people, baptizing over 100 people and helped start a couple other new churches. In 2016, Rise City was approached by another church in Lakeside about the prospect of merging together to become one church, which also meant the ability to move into a permanent space. After a unanimous vote, the two churches came together – and this was catalytic for the growth of Rise City.

Now, in 2020 – Rise City Church has grown to nearly 1,100 weekly worshippers. But more importantly – the church has seen nearly 400 people baptized, helped start nine new churches (6 in SD, 2 in Bolivia, and 1 in Peru), and they’ve given over $1.5 million away to local and global needs!

Has it been a smooth road?
Some struggles included uprooting all that we knew living all of our lives in the Midwest and heading out West away from family and friends. It took time to adjust to the culture, as well as the cost of living! Additionally, there were many times we thought we should either not launch the church or postpone the launch of the church as we got closer and closer to the proposed launch date because we have so few people wanting to join the launch team.

Please tell us about Rise City Church.
Rise City Church is a loving and life-giving church who brings hope and healing in Jesus’ name. We want this to be so much more than a statement, but we strive for it to be a lifestyle – our identity. I believe the following things are what we specialize in:

1. Authenticity/Transparency – What you see is what you get; we’re real people with real problems believing in a real God who can transform us day by day and pick us back up as we stumble and fall

2. Multiplication – We believe Jesus said to make disciples who make disciples, and we seek to do this by starting new churches that start new churches. Statistically, starting new churches is one of the most effective ways to connect with disconnected people. This is why we pour so much time, energy and resources into starting new churches and not just focusing on our own church.

3. Generosity – We believe it is better to give than receive. At this point, we’ve given away nearly 20% of all the funds that have ever come into Rise City Church.

Is our city a good place to do what you do?
Absolutely! We need more churches – and churches that reflect the respective community that starts in. SD is so eclectic and every neighbor has its own personality, diversity, background, etc. A one-size-fits-all approach to church will not be the most effective. Therefore, SD is a great place to start new kinds of churches to connect with so many different types of people!

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