OUR STORY

How it all started...

In 2011, University Baptist Church of Galveston was a small congregation looking for a part-time pastor. The church had a long legacy of ministry on the island, but the membership had experienced significant decline in the days following Hurricane Ike.

At the same time, God was beginning to work in the heart of Aaron Sanders, the Student Pastor of Brazos Pointe Fellowship in Lake Jackson, Texas to plant a “Church for the Unchurched” on the island. As the two congregations learned more about one another, it became evident that God was orchestrating something special.

After months of planning and prayer, the two churches voted to start Coastal Community Church. The Sanders and several other families relocated to Galveston and the new church began planning meetings on January 1st, 2012. Coastal Community Church officially launched on Easter Sunday, April 8th, 2012.

About 8 months later, Coastal began to outgrow their initial worship space at 426 Winnie Street. Realizing that more space was needed for Sunday mornings, the church began the process of meeting in schools on Galveston Island. Over the next 9 years, Coastal met in three different public schools throughout Galveston. Meeting in these spaces involved a great number of volunteers to help setup and tear down the Sunday morning worship space, as well as the age-level meeting spaces.

In March 2022, after many years of planning and praying (and a considerable amount of construction), Coastal finally moved into a new home on 1309 23rd Street--a structure built in the 1950s and formerly known as the Pennington Buick Building. Being intentional to preserve the art deco style of the exterior and industrial style of the interior, Coastal renovated the building into a two-story, 33,000 square-foot space for worship, ministry, and offices.

God has done amazing things in the life of Coastal Community Church, as well as the community of Galveston Island over the past 11 years. We invite you to join us in this journey, as we are confident He has greater plans yet!