Fort Worth church plant sees 83 baptized in under three years, momentum in discipleship

Dom and Allie Simmons launched IAM Church in Fort Worth, Texas, on Jan. 19, 2024, and have seen 83 come forward for baptism in just under three years. 

Dom Simmons was connected with Clay Jacobson, church planting mobilization lead at Texas Baptists, and Nic Burleson, church planting mobilizer, through a pastor friend upon planting IAM Church. He said Jacobson and Burleson have taught him and Allie how to network with other pastors and given wisdom, discernment and encouragement in hard moments of church planting. 

“When you really pursue church planting, seasons get really hard… We didn't launch [our church] with a bunch of money or a big team, so Clay and Nick and just the [Church Planting] Network in all has been a really great resource to encourage us to not give up, to keep going and to apply that to our ministries and teams,” Dom Simmons said.

Discipling believers in their next step of faith 

Allie Simmons said IAM Church is experiencing momentum in discipleship, beginning with the prayer team. She said the focus has been helping people consider their next step after giving their life to Jesus.

“We've started a prayer team, having a point of contact for people to come for prayer during our worship [set],” Allie Simmons said. “People have taken leadership over that team and really have started developing a whole care ministry… We're big on [the idea that] it's not enough just to get saved, but, ‘What's your next step?’ So directing people to baptism if that’s their next step [or] small groups and discipleship. So it's cool to see this care ministry being birthed and how many different areas of our church it's going to affect.”

Dom Simmons said there are two classes that help people take their next step of faith–the “Join the Family” class and the new believers class. He said the “Join the Family” class teaches about the heartbeat of the church, the direction the church is going, how they can serve and gets plugged into a community group. The new believers class walks through each person's decision to follow Christ and what it looks like to live it out using the acronym, “RESET.” 

“We just started using [an acronym] called ‘RESET,’ and it's about rest, equipping, serving, evangelism and tithing. Our goal is to help you know how to do all five of these things healthily as a Christ follower,” Dom Simmons said.

Dom Simmons said he is also preaching a sermon series titled “RESET,” using the acronym to help the congregation reset their brains to view resting, equipping, serving, evangelism and tithing through a Biblical lens.

This year, IAM Church implemented a Wednesday night discipleship class that new believers can attend after completing the new believers class. The discipleship class spans one year, with a graduation in December.  

Allie Simmons attributed IAM Church’s growth and momentum to their mission statement, “Loving people to life.” 

“We believe everybody has a dead area in their life that needs to be loved to life. Everybody has a life where the enemy has robbed, stolen or killed something, and we want to meet people where they're at,” Allie Simmons said. 

“We just preach the gospel unapologetically, and we love people to life, and I think people feel that,” Dom Simmons said. 

Cultivating family-oriented community 

Dom Simmons said at the beginning of the planting process, he and Allie asked God what their community needs and how to serve them. 

“What we realized is our community is full of broken homes, broken families. What I mean by broken families is not necessarily single moms or single dads. But even moms coming to church without the dad or the dads coming to church without [the] mom or the kids that want to be a part of church,” Dom Simmons said. “So, [we considered], ‘What can we do to make our church family-oriented, where families want to be a part of [our church]?’ 

Dom Simmons said there are several events that IAM Church hosts to help disciple families in the church, including a Labor Day cookout, Fall Family Bash and house parties, which are church-sponsored nights hosted by church members in their homes to build community.

He said the goal of house parties is to eventually form discipleship groups with those attending.

Trusting God in the church planting process

Dom Simmons said since the beginning of the planting process, God has provided for their needs. 

“We didn't launch with $50,000 in the bank. We had a lot of [financial] promises that didn't come through… There were moments where we had to really just press into him and not just allow our words to say, ‘He's Jehovah Jireh,’ but really believe him for that,” Dom Simmons said. “Now we have our space. We pay $8,000 a month [for the building], and what seemed impossible [in the beginning] would be very possible now… God just keeps bringing increase and asking us to trust him.”

Dom Simmons said he and Allie want to be an example of God’s faithfulness to their congregation. 

“Three days before we launched the church, we lost a baby, and what was really cool was we got to stand before our church and say, ‘We're not just planting this church for you. We're planting this church for us because we have to be loved to life as well in this moment,’” Dom Simmons said. “We're not untouchable. On Sunday morning when I worship, I'm worshiping from a place of needing the Lord... So our prayer is, ‘God, let us be the living fruit that people need to see as your evidence that you are who you say you are.’” 

Dom Simmons encouraged church planters to trust God through the process and be in community with other like-minded pastors. 

“If [God’s] calling you to it, he'll walk you through it. The winds and waves are going to come, but at the end of the day, when you surrender and submit to the Lord, he will guide you,” Dom Simmons said.