Our Story

Our Story

On April 25, 2003, fifteen people met in a home to discuss starting a church in Estero, Florida. Each of the families in the group had individually sensed a call from God to begin a new and different kind of church.

This new church would seek to glorify God through presenting the Gospel to every man, woman and child, connecting them into loving relationships with Jesus Christ and with others.

This church, which came to be known as Summit Church, would focus outward – on the Kingdom of God in Southwest Florida and throughout the world, not inward – on merely seeking to meet the needs of a few who are gathered inside the four walls of the church.

During the summer of 2003, Summit Church developed a core group of 75-100 people before officially launching on the campus of Florida Gulf Coast University on September 7, 2003. Since then, Summit has experienced tremendous growth in both breadth and depth of their influence, with two campuses in Southwest Florida (Naples & South Fort Myers) and the third campus being initiated this year. We have nine other church plant partners locally and nationally, and thirty-six various other ministry partners globally engaged around the world in sixteen countries. Summit Church’s commitment to world evangelization is exemplified in its current missional giving. Twenty-seven percent of our current operational giving goes toward advancing God’s global agenda through our Xpansion ministry. (click here for information on our Xpansion Ministry)

In addition, Summit has been influential in starting a fellowship of like-minded church leaders called Infinity Alliance to reach every man, woman, and child in America with the Gospel of Jesus Christ through starting and partnering with missional churches. Our convictions of what it means to be a missional church and the accompanying practices are shared with over a thousand churches around the nation. Through the Renovation Network, Infinity provides envisioning, strategic direction and coaching, and training resources to establish city movements that seek to mobilize all the different expressions of the unified Church in a region to act as one Church. The desired outcome is to saturate a geography with the Gospel and hopefully see lostness measurably reduced in a city. The goal is to present the Gospel to every man, woman and child, giving them a repeated opportunity to see, hear, and respond to the invitation of Jesus Christ.

On September 16, 2007 Summit Church celebrated the Grand Opening of the first facility in South Ft. Myers on ideally located property graciously donated by the John E. and Aliese Price Foundation under the direction of Mr. and Mrs. Wainwright Miller.