Why here, why now
Gulfport, Mississippi.
A city rebuilding after the storm, and a church planted in it, for it.
Why here, why now
A city rebuilding after the storm, and a church planted in it, for it.
Why Mississippi
About half of adults here say faith is highly important in daily life, and roughly six in ten report attending a religious service at least monthly. On paper, this looks like the last place that needs another church.
But high religious identity is not the same as a transformed life. Underneath a culturally Christian surface is a real mission field: many who claim faith have never encountered the Spirit-filled, life-altering power of the gospel, and a generation raised in nominal, inherited religion is walking away from it altogether.
We are markers along the way, guiding people to Christ by how we live.
We do not believe Mississippi needs more religion. It needs a church that points people past religion to a real relationship with Jesus.
Downtown Gulfport · the harbor lighthouse · Fishbone Alley
Why Gulfport
Gulfport is Mississippi’s second-largest city, still rebuilding after Katrina and carrying real need. Nearly one in four families live below the poverty line. This is a community that needs the church to show up with practical help, not just a Sunday service.
Most families here are working-class, stretched thin, and disconnected from church. At the same time, Gulfport is home to a growing Hispanic and Latino population that has few churches ready to welcome them in their heart language.
Waypoint exists to bridge that gap: one church family where English and Spanish speakers worship, grow, and serve side by side.
Waypoint is not being planted near Gulfport. It is being planted in it, for it.
Why Waypoint
A waypoint is a fixed reference point travelers use to find their way. Sailors, pilots, and hikers all navigate the same way: from one trusted point to the next until they reach their destination.
Waypoint Church is not the destination. Christ is. We are a trusted point along the journey, a place where people can stop, rest, get their bearings, and be pointed in the right direction.
That is why the compass sits at the center of our name, its golden needle rising into the cross. Everything we build should do what the needle does: point people to Him.