J.A. Buchholz

JACKSONVILLE — The Rev. Michael Moore once promised the congregation at Good Shepherd United Methodist Church he would kiss a potbelly pig if more than 100 people attended the worship service—and he did.

Those days are behind Moore. The church regularly has about 300 people in its worship service on Sunday in its new building, located on 22-acres on the other side of town. Things are definitely looking up for the congregation, which once struggled with a meager membership of 19.

Although the church was small, members decided three years ago to step out in faith and fight for their church’s survival.

“The people at the church had seen what would happen if they didn’t have a vision,” Moore said. “The Bible says the people without a vision will perish. I talked to the congregation and told them they could either close down or move forward.”

The congregation decided it needed to relocate and began meeting at Crystal Springs Elementary School, worshipping there for three and a half years and growing from an average of 46 in attendance to nearly 150. Members used the money from the sale of the former church property to build a new facility 10 miles west of the old location and moved there in September, holding services for the first time Sept. 21. Nearly 350 people attended.

Today, the congregation has morphed into a new one in a facility that is strategically located near Interstate 10, a multifamily housing subdivision, three golf courses, a proposed University of North Florida campus and many miles from any other United Methodist church.

“I think we are doing well because we have a blended worship style,” Moore said. “You will hear traditional songs like, ‘How Great Thou Art,’ mixed in with a contemporary song by Amy Grant. Men don’t wear a coat and tie. We have acolytes, but they don’t wear robes. We want to be about the simple message of making disciples of Christ.”

Moore re-established his relationship with Christ after his father died in his arms of a massive heart attack. He found himself weeping in the cemetery with his children, then 5 and 7 years old, when him son asked him why he was crying.

“I told him I was crying because my dad had died,” Moore said. “I had become one of those parents who didn’t go to church anymore, but made sure my children got on the bus and went to church each Sunday. So my son told me that my dad wasn’t dead, that he was with Jesus.

“He told me that I should get on the bus with him the next day. I went the next day, and the people stood up and applauded when I came in the door. My life was resurrected.”

Jason Moore, who gave his father comfort during the family tragedy, is the music director at the church.

Moore, who had a successful carpentry business that employed 40 people before he entered the ministry, sold the business and has never looked back on his previous life.

“I have quite a testimony,” he said. “I have danced with the devil.”

The Rev. Ed Murfin, who had just retired when the church began meeting in the school, said Moore is the right man to lead the church.

“I went to the church because it was next to the area where I built my home,” said Murfin, who began his ministry as a student pastor in the Florida Conference at the age of 18 before graduating from Florida Southern College and Candler School of Theology at Emory University. “I’m excited about this new church.”

Murfin, who had three new church starts in his career, is the church’s program director.

“We don’t want to be a flash in the pan,” he said. “We may get people because they think we’re new, bright or fancy, but we want people to know we are about the real commitment to Jesus Christ.”