HarborPointe Community Church was officially conceived on June 20, 2002 when Tom and Ann Andrews crossed the Monitor-Merrimac Bridge Tunnel, while on vacation in Virginia. Both were native Virginians, transplanted to the Midwest, but the couple sensed God was leading them to something new and became open to going anywhere. “Anywhere” became Hampton Roads.
Tom’s vision of the ministry was clear from the start:
For sure our new ministry will be for people like us…people who have been upended in life and sort of discarded. And it will be for young people in need. I want us to touch troubled kids. And I want to pass on to the next generation what God has been teaching us. We want young leaders emerging and given a prominent place. We want people freed to give as God has blessed them, not forced into a box or mold that we have designed. And we want this ministry to be a faith venture from beginning to end.
Ann came up with the name, HarborPointe Community Church–a refuge of hope–and we were on our way.
By October of 2002 the Andrews family had settled in Virginia. A Bible study emerged and then a core group of around 20 people committed themselves to the vision. A young man with worship skills came on board skills and with a strong assist from Crossroads Community Church in Yorktown, HarborPointe’s first worship gathering was ready to be launched. The inaugural service was held January 18, 2004 at the Knights of Columbus on Buckroe Avenue. The style of worship that first Sunday which combined music set to guitars and drums, lights low, tablecloths and candles, and we prayed, most of all, a genuine openness to the Spirit of God and one another, remains in effect today.
Soon God favored us with a building of our own, the old S&S Furniture Store at 351 E. Mercury Boulevard. With a wing and a prayer, our group of 60-some-odd-ragtag unincorporated collection of worshippers found themselves owning this old warehouse and beginning the prodigious task of converting it into worship space. Almost two years later, October 9, 2006, we held our grand opening at what we call The Harbor.
HarborPointe is blue jean and flip-flop friendly, heartfelt and genuine in community, a safe place to be yourself… to let your hair down…to be honest with one another and mostly with God. It is pretty easy to sense his presence here and to experience the love of some people who really do care and who really believe in prayer. We have grown slowly but steadily since our inception. We want to keep relationships first and programming second―always. We invite you to join us in this adventure of faith we believe is deeply transforming and still just beginning.