Planting Vivid Step by Step

Vivid Church launched in Lexington, South Carolina, on Sept. 20, 2020, with three services and a total of 248 people attending. That celebration day represented months of prayer and preparation by pastors Allen and Amanda Kendrick and their launch team.

Allen and Amanda, graduates of Southwestern Assemblies of God University in Waxahachie, Texas, are originally from Alabama.

“The story of Vivid Church began in my heart while I was visiting a monastery in California for four days of solitude and silence in early 2019,” Allen says. “I had been serving as young adults pastor at a church in Southern California, but I felt the Lord impress me that it was time to move back to the south and plant a church. Several months later, Amanda and I visited South Carolina and knew that was the place we were called to. We moved without knowing anyone and without anyone coming with us for support.”

But by January 2020, the Kendricks had an initial launch team of 12 people who met together to discuss their dream of starting a church. In March, they hosted the first interest gathering at Coffee Haven in downtown Lexington and 74 people came.

In addition to having more interest gatherings, the Vivid team began reaching out to help their city and to form relationships with people. They identified three essential personnel groups they could serve during the early stages of the COVID pandemic: Lexington Medical Center, local firefighters, and local police officers.

To also support hurting businesses, the Vivid team purchased 500 Zombie donuts and 600 Piecewise cups of coffee during a four-week period and took them to Lexington Medical Center to bless the hospital workers, who had been working around the clock. Next, they purchased over 100 pizzas from two local businesses and took lunch to the frontline firefighters and policemen over a period of several weeks.

In May 2020, they partnered with the local Farmers Market and served free water every Saturday to anyone they met there. Countless conversations took place and relationships were formed with people who indicated their interest in becoming part of a life-giving community centered on faith in Jesus.

In June, the Vivid team began meeting weekly for prayer and worship at the Kendrick’s home, and in July they secured a storefront facility for Vivid church and began renovations. In August they dedicated 21 days to prayer and fasting to ready their hearts for what God wanted to do.

On launch day in September, pastors Allen and Amanda Kendrick were officially installed as the lead pastors of Vivid Church by Scott and Jenny Wilson, pastors of The Oaks Church in Red Oak, Texas.

“The Oaks Church is our parent church,” Allen says. “The Wilsons and the church have been paramount in the success of Vivid Church. They have loved us, resourced us, and walked with me and Amanda as spiritual parents in the faith.”

Since the launch, Vivid Church has seen at least 40 people come to know Jesus. Dozens of people have joined small groups. The team now has 85 people serving on it. On Easter 2021 Vivid had four services, and 432 people attended in person. The church has also acquired a building adjacent to their current facility; they are renovating it to house ministry to Vivid kids ages 6-10 on weekends and provide meeting space for other ministries throughout the week.

The Kendricks says that moving to a city where they had never lived before and planting a church in the middle of a global pandemic was the hardest assignment they had ever been given. However, AGTrust Matching Funds and the support of The Church Multiplication Network gave them the momentum they needed to secure a storefront facility with 24/7 access, where their church could launch. Through AGTrust and CMN more than 600 church plants across America are reaching people for Christ today.

“There is nothing more exciting than witnessing the transformational power of the gospel touch someone’s life and save their soul,” Allen says. “With all that God did through Vivid Church in 2020, imagine what He will do in 2021!”