In the early 2000s, Jody Jones returned to the U.S. after several years serving as a missionary in Mexico. He desired to plant a vibrant church that made a difference in its community. Frisco, TX stood out among other areas as the fastest growing city in America. Jody, along with his family, met another family in Frisco who shared their vision for planting a church, and in April of 2002, Shawnee Trail Church of Christ began in the living room of the Jones’ home.
Over the next few years, the church grew, and more people in the community came to hear the Gospel. Over time, Shawnee Trail Church met in a rented house, a movie theater, a school, and even a park!
In 2008, Seth McDowell came to Shawnee Trail as Senior Minister. That same year our first church Elders were chosen. Since that time Shawnee Trail has experienced the guidance and providence of God at every turn.
In July of 2015, we moved into our first permanent building on John W. Elliott Drive, and every year since then we have continued to grow and now have over 550 members. In 2018, as a church, we set out to:
- Develop a culture of discipleship within our church.
- Begin planting churches in Collin and Denton Counties.
- Make room for more disciples by developing a facility plan to handle our future growth.
We set out to accomplish these three major goals in three years. Through faith, prayer, planning hard work, and mostly, through the grace and power of God at work, we have made great progress in all three areas.
- We have seen spiritual growth among our members as we’ve seen people reprioritizing their lives to greater commitment and service to God and to others and we’ve seen more people baptized into Christ in the past three years than ever before.
- We planted our first church, the Crossway Church of Christ, in Celina in January of 2022. crosswaycelina.com
- We purchased 4.5 acres behind our current facility to allow for future growth and we are making plans to utilize it for God’s glory.
We still have a lot of work to do. And with God leading the way, we are excited for the future. Today we carry on those first members’ vision of what this church should be, and what God wants us to be – a vibrant church that is growing and reaching people with the saving message of Jesus Christ.