Why Queen Creek/Williams Gateway?
There are exciting plans for the Queen Creek/Williams Gateway area.
With the recent completion of the Santan Freeway (AZ-HWY 202), the Queen Creek/Williams Gateway area is one of the most exciting growth areas of the Phoenix metro area. In addition to this new highway, this area also has significant railroad access and the growing Phx-Mesa Gateway Airport, making it a prime area for growth in terms of residents, industry, and commercial business. Also, the growing Arizona State University Polytechnic campus and Chandler-Gilbert Community College Williams campus make this a stimulating community for technological and academic growth. The Urban Land Institute (ULI) projects that by 2015 there will be over 21,000 students at these campuses and that by 2030 the Gateway area will "have 165,000 residents, nearly 68,000 students at institutions of higher education, and jobs for 94,000 people."
The current population of Queen Creek is estimated to be just over 22,000. The town estimates that by 2017 the population will be just under 100,000. The 2000 Census reported that the median age of Queen Creek residents was 30.9 years old and the median income was $63,702 with an average of 3.54 persons per household.
Future plans for the Queen Creek/Williams Gateway area include additional freeway construction (in the southeast direction), and a mix of industrial, commercial and residential uses. In addition, community leaders envision this area becoming a key area for high-rise development, hotel/resort development, and high-density housing. This means that in the future, this community will include a significant diversity of suburban and urban living.
The target area is a strategic ministry location.
The above reasons make the target area a strategic ministry location for future kingdom impact. As technology jobs increase in the community, there will be a flood of culture-shaping professionals and college students. Thus, the target area is strategic not only for planting a church and making individual disciples, but for cultural transformation in metro Phoenix.
The target area fits the planter's strengths.
Not only is the Queen Creek/Williams Gateway area an exciting community for growth that requires aggressive church planting, but it also fits with the Simmons' gifts, strengths, and passions. Their ministry experience consists of two primary contexts: suburban Phoenix (at EVBC in Gilbert) and the college campus (at the University of Illinois, an academically rigorous environment with many engineers and an emphasis on growing technology). Their passions are to minister to families and young adults in their formative and life-directing years. Therefore, the target area is a logical fit for beginning this new church-planting work.
Second Mile Church will be a doctrinally and philosophically distinct church in this community.
There are currently over twenty churches in the area in and around Queen Creek/Williams Gateway. The one church that is more "reformed" theologically is very traditional, and the more contemporary churches tend to follow more of a Purpose-Driven paradigm. It takes many churches of different emphases and ministry styles to effectively reach a community, so Second Mile leadership rejoices in these churches and prays that they would effectively reach people with the Gospel. Nonetheless, a church with the theological and philosophical distinctives of Second Mile would be a needed contribution to the area.
