ROY -- North Central Baptist Church of Roy is inviting the public to its charter service Sunday. The church is at 5798 S. 1900 West, behind Auto Zone.
The community is invited to join the small congregation for breakfast at 9:30 a.m. followed by Bible class at 10 a.m,, worship service at 11 a.m. and evening service at 6 p.m.
A charter service is designed to establish the church and receive charter members.
An independent Baptist church, North Central has held services since June 27.
"We saw the lack of Bible-preaching churches here that actually preach the Bible and do outreach and give the gospel out to those that need it," said Pastor Jason Harris, 29, who began planting the new church when he moved to Roy in March. "There wasn't a lot of that here in this area. That's what we got burdened for."
Harris and his wife, Tina Harris, 33, both are graduates of the Baptist College of America.
After he graduated two years ago, Jason Harris said, the couple set out to find a home to plant a church and to raise money for the project by asking for donations from congregations throughout the country.
"I had a burden to start a church somewhere in the United States," Jason Harris said. "I was praying about every state. I saw that Utah had a need for the gospel to be preached. I came out here and did survey work. ... We drove around and looked for church buildings, for a place to live."
That's when they settled on Roy.
Immediately when they arrived, the couple began securing a location and inviting area residents to their church.
"We started canvassing the area," he said. "We passed out over 10,000 invite cards before our first service in June."
Jason Harris said he and his wife also began developing a relationship with city leaders to help them with their quest for a building.
At the present time, their new church is in the corner of a warehouse. But plans are to move in a couple of weeks just southwest of where they are now. They'll keep the same landlord but will triple their space.
"We had 27 at our first service," Jason Harris said. "It's been growing since then," he said, adding that the church has averaged 50 in attendance.
"We've had a lot of visitors come through the doors. We had our first baptismal service a couple weeks ago. ... It's been very exciting. The Lord's been great. Every week we've been in awe of God's amazement."
The Harrises say they love their new home and are hoping to grow their congregation to its maximum potential.
"When we leave town and go somewhere else, we're like, 'Where's the mountains?" said Jason Harris. "When God moves you somewhere to do his work, he moves your heart there too. You don't feel comfortable anywhere else."
The guest speaker at the 11 a.m. service Sunday will be Mike Holloway from Temple Baptist Church in Kokomo, Ind.
Considered the Harrises' launching church, Temple Baptist is where the two attended when they were in Bible College. It's Tina Harris' home church, which she attended for 20 years.
More information about Tina and Jason Harris and their new church is available on the church's website, northcentralbaptistchurch.com.
The couple may be reached at 801-513-6072.
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