From megachurch to Maricopa

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Churches come in a wide variety, ranging from formal Catholicism to more free-wheeling Evangelical styles, from giant 100,000-member mega-congregations to gathering of just a few devoted people. While Maricopa resident Grady Root said no one way of operating a church is better than another, he believes he has formulated a style people in Maricopa will enjoy.

Root is lead pastor of Maricopa Springs Family Church, a small Christian congregation he cofounded in April with executive pastor Mitch Royer.

The church has about 100 members with 25 or so showing up on any given Sunday, according to Root. The service starts with a period of socializing followed by live music and a message from one of the pastors.

The flavor of the duo’s ministry is described as living life with people. “We want to talk to our members, know their names and be a part of their lives,” Root said. “We really want to be hands on.”

Root, who went to Wheaton College, the same small Christian school famed television preacher Rev. Robert H. Schuller attended, said he and Royer want to inspire the members of their church to be involved with one another and the community as a whole.

“We want to lift each other up,” Royer said. “People like to feel that sense of community.”

The men’s small-church approach is quite different from the megachurch they came from. Root and Royer, both preachers’ sons, met four years ago while working as youth pastors at Willow Creek Community Church in Chicago, one of the largest congregations in the nation with a membership of more than 100,000.

“It is a great model, and a phenomenal place to work,” Root said. “It just wasn’t what we wanted in a church. People there came to hear the message but didn’t get involved.”

Root approached Royer two years ago with the idea of opening a church of his own. Royer said he thought Root was joking.

“We had talked about opening a church, then one day he calls me up and tells me he bought a home in Maricopa,” Royer said. “I Google mapped the city, and the only two images available were that of a red barn and a cloud of dust. I though he had gone crazy.”

Root was open to founding his church in whatever part of the country he felt led to. “I was looking for communities that had experienced rapid growth that were in need of religious uplift,” he said. “Maricopa fit.”

Root, his wife and two children moved to Maricopa in July 2009. He was able to convince Royer and his wife to join them shortly after.

When not preaching or attending to his congregation, Root works as a banker at Chase in Maricopa. Royer is in the real estate business, working for Desert Canyon Properties.

“Jesus is the hope of the world and I want to play a part in proclaiming that message,” Root said.