Acts 29

Covenant Community Church grew out of conversations among a number of Wheeling families that were involved in a variety of different Ohio Valley churches.  Each time they discussed their respective churches they cited similar things they were missing in their current worship experience.  These conversations usually ended with declarations of the need to start their own church that would better meet the needs of their families. 

Over a few years these discussions, thoughts and dreams eventually culminated the reality of Covenant Community Church.

In the summer of 1998 two Wheeling families headed to Pauley's Island, NC for their annual vacation at the beach.  Once they arrived at the beach it was discovered they had actually arrived a week before their reservations.  Since they were already obligated for the next week and they were already at the Island, they decided to turn their one-week vacation into two-weeks.  During the first week they begin to pursue the idea of starting a new church in Wheeling.  The decision was made to contact a good friend who was formerly on the staff of Young Life and was currently the Pastor of a church in Columbus, Georgia.  They called no one was home.

Meanwhile, Don and Terrie McKelvey having moved to Columbus, GA. In 1982 to begin Young Life ministry there, had transitioned from youth ministry to Don being pastor and Terrie a worship leader at St. Stephen's Church. They were now in the 10th year of ministry there when they began to feel a restlessness that they prayed was coming from God, but did not know what it meant.

At this time the McKelvey family, now with two young girls, took a summer vacation to Pauley's Island to meet up with Terrie's family from Ohio.

During that week Don vaguely remembered that his old friend used to go to Pauley's Island at the same time in July every year. He took a chance and called Dan Aderholt's home. His college age son answered the phone and said that he was getting ready to go to Pauley's but the rest of the family was already there. Don called Dan who proceeded to tell him about the embarrassment of coming the wrong week but also said that they had tried to reach Don on their way down to Pauley's. They met at Dan's last ditch place of lodging along with the Frazier family from Wheeling and began discussing all the issues of their church situation. Don suggested that they think about planting a new church. But how?  It was decided to take the idea home, round up some friends to present the idea and see if any real interest existed in establishing a new church.

When Don returned home he contacted another old friend, Gary Treichler, who was on staff at Spanish River Church. Gary was a great resource for small group ministry which Don was looking into for the church. In talking with Gary, who also knew the people in Wheeling, Don their conversation about wanting to start something new. Gary then told Don about Spanish River's Mission ministry of planting new churches.

Meanwhile in Wheeling eight families came together and heard what had transpired at Pauley's Island.  There was a lot of excitement about the idea and the families agreed to meet regularly to pray about starting a new church.  Over several months these folks consulted scripture, prayed for God's guidance and shared visions of what would make a new church different and more appealing than those in which they were currently involved.

The McKelvey's were now understanding their restlessness and believed God was moving them to plant a church in Wheeling- of all places. Conventional wisdom says "no" to Wheeling and "no" to a church planter who is 50 years old.

God, however had other plans!

Don McKelvey, Dan Aderholt along with Tom Hammon and David Nicholas  got together and a proposal was made and soon accepted by all parties.

The decision was made to formally invite Don McKelvey to bring his family to Wheeling for the purpose of planting a new church.  Don's acceptance led to Covenant Community Church's first worship service on March 23, 1999.  Services were originally held in the Alumni Center of the McDonough Center on the campus of Wheeling Jesuit University.  The church experienced enough growth that we were forced to seek new a new meeting place and therefore moved to the auditorium of Triadelphia Middle School in late 2001.

In March of 2002 the church was offered the opportunity to meet at the beautiful, but vacant, Giffin Park Church in St. Clairsville, OH.  For two years the church met in St. Clairsville and continued to see growth in the numbers that were attending Sunday worship services and getting involved in other areas of the Church. 

Late in 2003 several factors, including the fact that the church was outgrowing its current home, led the church leaders to begin to seek a new place for the church to call home.  After much prayer and hard work, arrangements were made to share the facilities of Edgewood Lutheran Church on National Road in Wheeling.  This novel agreement has allowed Covenant Community Church to return to its intended neighborhood. This move led to a 40% growth within the first 6 months.

God has been so faithful and good. We praise him for His infinite love, mercy and wisdom and for allowing Covenant Community Church to come into existence and to be part of the Acts 29 Network.