The Rock of Cleveland: Located in Cleveland, Georgia, The Rock was planted four years ago when David Crow and his wife Lori, along with a team of three ordained ministers and their families launched this new work in the White County area. Nestled in the beautiful Northeast Georgia mountains with a county population of only 22,000 people, the doors to The Rock were officially opened on December 2, 2001, with approximately 40 people in attendance.

Within weeks, services were overflowing and the new church was experiencing unprecedented growth. Many became believers, marriages were reconciled and people were set free from drug and alcohol addictions.

Within the first seven months, The Rock experienced more than 50 salvations and 40 baptisms. In only eight months the attendance demanded a second Sunday morning worship service, and within a year both Sunday morning worship services were filled to capacity with a total of 400 people.

After two years of ministry, The Rock built and moved into a new 93,000-square-foot facility on 20 acres and draws approximately 650 attendees each week-nearly 3.4 percent of White County's population.

Church: Victory Life Church
City: Durant, Oklahoma
Pastor: Duane and Sue Sheriff
Attendance: 2,800
County: Bryan
Population: 37,800
Percentage: 7.4

Victory Life Church: Duane and Sue Sheriff were traveling ministers until 1987, when God led them to the seemingly insignificant town of Durant, Oklahoma, to help a struggling church.

"Sue and I went under the assumption that we would get the work on its feet, raise up a pastor, and then return to our full-time travel schedule," Duane recalls.

Now, almost 20 years later, the Sheriffs are pastoring a church of 2,800 people in a town of 15,000 and a county population of 37,800. Though they have continued their traveling to rural churches during this time, they have seen God build a work that is a multi-site ministry (six total) serving more than 4,000 people each week and the surrounding communities.

"From the very start we wanted to take the church to the community, instead of waiting for the community to come to us," Duane says, describing the church's pursuit of significance.

Victory's ministries include a food and clothing bank that serves more than 3,000 people a month; a teaching tape ministry that has distributed more than 5.6 million free recordings; a Christian school which serves 300 students from kindergarten through 12th grades; one of the largest daycares in Oklahoma, serving over 250 students on a daily basis; a Christian cable network and Internet service; more than 100 care groups, and a drug and alcohol counseling center that serves three counties.

Church: Faith Center Fellowship
City: Meno, Oklahoma
Pastor: Cody Anderson
Attendance: 200
County: Major
Population: 7,545
Percentage: 2.7

Faith Center Fellowship: Cody Anderson pastors Faith Center Fellowship, a church of 200 in Meno, Oklahoma (population 190). Faith Center is seeing God move in an area that would be overlooked by many, growing a dynamic church with various effective local and overseas outreach ministries.

"We reach the cowboy culture of our area with a cowboy outreach every month that includes church service before the team ropings and western play-days that reach many families," Anderson says. "Our youth ministry reaches into 10 school systems in our area, and we are the sole support for many churches in Guatemala and Nicaragua plus orphanages in Vietnam. You do not have to be in a large city to do large things, all you need is a big heart that serves a big God."

Church: Victory Christian Fellowship
City: Somerset, Kentucky
Pastor: Mark Harrell
Attendance: 800
County: Pulaski
Population: 55,000
Percentage: 1.4

Victory Christian Fellowship began when five families living in rural Kentucky started looking for a "spirit-filled, life-giving church." In 1990, they asked Mark Harrell to move from Louisiana to Kentucky to be their pastor. From that point the church has grown to more than 800 people, from meeting in homes, to store-front property, to a campus that houses their sanctuary, classrooms and a gymnasium. A missions-focused church, Victory launched a missions organization called His Servants Ministries, which coordinates monthly short-term mission opportunities.

Church: Shenandoah Assembly of God
City: Shenandoah, Iowa
PastorS: Mark and Janey Dolphens
Attendance: 600
County: Page
Population: less than 14,000
Percentage: 4.2

Shenandoah Assembly of God: Mark and Janey Dolphens in Shenandoah, Iowa, have grown a congregation of 450 people, in a town of just 5,300, located in a county of only 14,000. Shenandoah Assembly has a large outreach ministry with buses, county jail teams and care centers for shut-ins. They have seen nearly 1,000 people come to Christ in their four years as pastors (seven percent of the county population), and will soon complete a 525-seat sanctuary that will be the largest public auditorium in the county.

Church: Word of Life Church
City: St. Joseph, Missouri
PastorS: Brian and Peri Zahnd
Attendance: 3,500
County: Buchanan
Population: 85,000
Percentage: 4.1

Word of Life Church: In November of 1981, at the age of 22, Brian and Peri Zahnd founded Word of Life Church in St. Joseph, Missouri (population 72,000). It was a very inauspicious beginning. Brian had no training, no experience, no affiliation, no backing-just a vision to win people to Jesus and build a church. For seven years the church struggled, staying under a 100 people. Brian endured an almost constant battle with discouragement and a deep sense of failure.

The breakthrough came when Brian read Acts 16:5, "The churches were strengthened in faith and increased in number daily."

"The Lord spoke to me like thunder in my soul and said, 'Preach faith and your church will grow,' " Brian recalls.

Over a period of seven years, Word of Life grew from less than a hundred to 1,200 people in attendance. In 1996, Word of Life built a 2,500-seat auditorium. Today 3,500 people from four states attend three weekend services, making Word of Life the largest church in Northwest Missouri. In May, the church will complete construction on a 1,000-seat youth auditorium to accommodate their booming student ministry.

Word of Life is aggressive in the use of media-utilizing television, radio, webcasts and podcasts. The church has become known throughout the Midwest for its excellence in music ministry.

Word of Life regularly hosts leadership conferences to help pastors build churches that are a synthesis of church growth principles and Book of Acts values. Brian and the leadership team of Word of Life have a vision to help churches make a significant impact upon their communities.

"I know what it's like to pastor a small church and struggle with feelings of insignificance," Brian says. "Pastors who are faithfully leading smaller churches in smaller communities are significant-in fact they are unsung heroes. I want to encourage and help these pastors."
Jim Graff