Equip Lunch Highlights Church Planting in Fast Growing Masterson Station
The September Equip Leadership Lunch put a clear focus on one of the more urgent ministry opportunities in Central Kentucky: planting churches where communities are rapidly growing.
Held this past Tuesday at the new Ramsey's Diner in the Masterson Station area of Lexington, the lunch brought pastors, leaders, and ministry partners together for a timely conversation about population growth, gospel opportunity, and the need for churches to multiply.
Masterson Station was a fitting place for the gathering. The area continues to see new homes, shopping centers, restaurants, and businesses developing along Leestown Road. More people are choosing this part of Lexington as a place to live, shop, eat, and work. That growth brings activity, energy, and opportunity. It also brings a spiritual question that churches must take seriously.
As neighborhoods expand, where will people gather for worship, discipleship, pastoral care, and Christian community?
A growing area creates a growing ministry need
Masterson Station has become one of Lexington’s fastest-growing areas. New subdivisions and commercial developments continue to change the look and pace of life along the Leestown Road corridor.
For churches in the Central Kentucky Network of Baptists, that growth is not only a community trend. It is a mission field.
During the lunch, the CKNB Network Ministry Director shared demographic information that helped those in attendance see the need more clearly. The data pointed to what many local residents and leaders can already observe: more people are moving into this part of Lexington, and the need for places of worship is growing with them.
The purpose of the discussion was not simply to admire growth or talk about numbers. The goal was to ask how churches can respond faithfully.
New neighborhoods often include families who are establishing fresh routines. Many are looking for community. Some are new to the area. Others may be reconnecting with church after years away. Some may have little or no church background at all.
That makes church planting more than a strategy. It becomes a way to bring the presence, witness, and care of a local church closer to where people actually live.
Center Point Church announces plans for Masterson Station
One of the key updates of the day came from Graham Withers, who shared that Center Point Church has announced its intention to plant a new church in Masterson Station within the next year.
The announcement connected directly to the theme of the September Equip Lunch. Rather than only talking about the need for churches in growing communities, the group heard about a specific church taking steps to respond.
A new church plant in Masterson Station would place a gospel-centered congregation in the heart of an area experiencing strong residential and commercial growth. As more people settle into homes and daily rhythms there, a new church can become a place of worship, welcome, service, and spiritual formation.
Church planting also reminds established churches that multiplication is part of faithful ministry. Healthy churches do not only gather people. They send, support, and reproduce ministry in new places.
For Center Point Church, the plan to plant in Masterson Station represents a meaningful commitment. For the broader network, it offers an opportunity to pray, encourage, and support a new work from its earliest stages.
Andrew Eaton encourages churches to take part
The guest for the September lunch was Andrew Eaton, KBC Church Planting Specialist. Eaton spoke to those gathered about the role that existing churches can play in helping new churches get established and off the ground.
His encouragement was practical and hopeful. Church planting does not rest only on the shoulders of the planting pastor or core team. Other churches can take part in real and needed ways.
Eaton highlighted several kinds of support that can make a difference for young churches, including:
Prayer support for the planting pastor, family, core team, and community
Temporary commitments of help during key early seasons
Skilled volunteers who can serve in areas such as worship, children’s ministry, hospitality, outreach, administration, or setup
Shared experience and coaching from leaders who have walked through similar seasons
Encouragement that reminds planting teams they are not serving alone
These forms of support matter because the first season of a church plant is often demanding. New churches are building relationships, identifying leaders, finding gathering spaces, organizing ministry teams, and introducing themselves to the community.
A short-term commitment from a partner church can provide relief and stability. A sending church, supporting church, or network partner can help a young congregation focus on people and mission while basic ministry structures are still being formed.
The Equip Lunch gave leaders a chance to consider how their own churches might join the work, not only in theory, but through specific acts of prayer, service, and partnership.
A new plant is also planned for Frankfort
The conversation also extended beyond Lexington.
Those in attendance heard that Joshua Copley will lead a team from Safe Harbor Baptist in Georgetown to plant a new church in Frankfort within the next year.
This announcement added to the sense that God is stirring a season of multiplication across Central Kentucky. Masterson Station and Frankfort are different communities with different needs, but both represent places where churches are preparing to send people for the sake of the gospel.
Safe Harbor Baptist’s involvement shows another important part of church planting. Sending teams from existing congregations can help new works begin with unity, shared mission, and a foundation of committed people.
For the Central Kentucky Network of Baptists, these developments point to a broader movement of churches working together. The network is not only maintaining current ministry. It is helping churches look outward, identify needs, and take steps toward new gospel work.
Churches multiplying for the sake of the Kingdom
The September Equip Leadership Lunch offered more than information. It gave leaders a picture of what cooperation can look like when churches care about growing communities and unreached areas.
Masterson Station’s growth along Leestown Road is easy to see. Homes, businesses, restaurants, and traffic all tell part of the story. The Equip Lunch helped connect that visible growth to a deeper ministry need: people need churches where they can hear the gospel, gather in worship, build relationships, and be discipled.
With Center Point Church looking toward Masterson Station, Safe Harbor Baptist preparing to send a team to Frankfort, and leaders across the network being invited to pray and serve, this is a meaningful moment for the Central Kentucky Network of Baptists.
The takeaway from the lunch was clear. Growing communities need gospel presence, and churches can respond best when they respond together.
These are exciting days in Central Kentucky, as churches seek to multiply themselves for the glory of God’s Kingdom.
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