At the UNDERGROUND, our mission is to…

INSPIRE people to surrender all their lives to Jesus and His cause.

CONNECT individuals into missional communities.

EMPOWER communities to discover and obey their God-given mission.

ENGAGE every kind of evil in our city with prayerful action.

OUR STORY

In the summer of 2006, about 50 of us left our traditional churches to form seven house-based church groups. We loved the Western church, but hoped for more than Sunday morning worship and middle-class Christianity.

Who We Are

  • Theologically, we are orthodox and evangelical. Being an independent church plant (not coming from any denomination) we are anchored by the ancient and historical creeds of the church. The first and simplest creed: Jesus is Lord. We seek to place Jesus Christ as the head of this church, and to establish and submit to his supremacy in all things.

    We acknowledge both the historical significance and the prophetic call of the Lausanne Covenant (1974), agreeing with it completely, and the reaffirmations of the Manila Manifesto (1989). These creedal/confessional documents serve to anchor our theological commitments while also expressing our missional and evangelical convictions. We stand to be both challenged and guided by these core expressions of theological commitment as we try to grow and mature into the church that God has destined us to be.

  • Our passion is for the poor and the lost. We empower communities to reach and serve the people who exist at the margins of the church as we know it. We believe that intimacy with God and commitment to His mission means prioritizing both those in poverty and those without knowledge of His saving grace. We also believe that discipleship of believers happens best and most significantly while obeying Jesus and following Him through mission —  therefore, we empower believers to seek the heart of God in prayer to know their unique calling, and to find a community where they can truly live it out. We then work to mobilize communities to meet the needs of the world around us, and to proclaim the good news of the kingdom.

  • Instead of a single corporate vision, we have eighteen values that reflect our theological convictions. These values bind us together as a diverse and creative network.

    These values include Jesus, The Poor, The Lost, The Whole World, Empowerment, Kingdom Mission, Microchurches, Simplicity, Culture + Ethnicity, Biblical Justice, Each Other, Contextualization, Humility, Passion, Zeal + Contemplation, The Bible, Sharing + Giving, and Prayer + Dependence. To learn more about our manifesto, click here.

Our
Staff

Tomy Wilkerson
Executive Director

Stacy Gaskins
Executive Director

Sheri Lee
Media Director

Hannah Devine
Finance Support

Dafne Reyes-Collazo
Support Staff

Ana Stephens
Media Support

Sam Lee
Campus Ministry Director

Kristen Ahlberg
Finance Director

Lucas Pulley
Executive Director

Board of Directors

Bill Couchenour | Chair
Brianna Wilkerson | Treasurer
Dr. Marcie Radke, MD
Brian Sanders

Wes Binder
Sammy Ortiz
Jim Davey
Essence Hepburn
Tomy Wilkerson

Governing Elders

Bill Couchenour
Stacy Gaskins
Jessica Stephens
Ray Twetan
Stacy Twetan

Not sure where to start?

We’d love to help you discern next steps in whatever it is God has called you to.