Aaron Burke
RADIANT CHURCH EXPERIENCES EXPONENTIAL GROWTH
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n 2013, AARON ’05, ’20 (D.Min.) and KATIE (WHITTENTON) ’06 BURKE felt called to plant a church in Tampa, which was at the time the third most unchurched city in the United States. They moved to Tampa in January of 2013 with their six-month-old daughter. After nine months of preparation, Radiant Church held its first Sunday service on September 15, 2013, with 348 attendees. “We didn’t know anyone in the Tampa area and the idea of planting a church scared me to death. But God has been faithful and what started as a small gathering in south Tampa has grown to a movement across Tampa Bay with four locations and over 4,000 attendees each weekend,” added Aaron. Nearly six years since its founding, Radiant Church was named the fourth
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fastest-growing church in the United States by Outreach magazine. “Our church exists to help move people from where they are to where God wants them to be. The goal is to make the church the most enjoyable and empowering experience of their entire week,” he said. Aaron attributes the growth of the church to the grace of God, a lot of prayer, consistent focus on lost people, healthy leadership and solid assimilation processes. The church has also used an online marketing strategy to reach people far from the faith and to bring them into the church to experience Christ. A few years ago, Aaron enrolled in the Doctor of Ministry (D.Min.) program at Southeastern to further his growth as a leader. “The D.Min. program has been instrumental in the growth of my local church. The benefit of the program is that everything you learn or write about
is connected to your current ministry context. I have been able to research subjects that are necessary to see my church become healthier and reach more people,” said Aaron. Future plans and visions for Radiant Church include constructing a new broadcast facility for their South Tampa location. They will also be launching their fifth location in the fall of 2020. “The dream God has put in my heart is to reach 10,000 people a weekend by our 10-year anniversary in September of 2023. We call this vision 10k for Tampa Bay. The goal is not to build a big church, but it is to reach a lot of hurting and broken people. The Tampa Bay area is growing at over 50,000 people a year, and the church needs to do the best we can to reach the people far from God,” said Aaron.
