Shining Christ’s light in the community
A new congregation in Gainesville, Fla. — the home of the University of Florida — focuses on outreach and equipping members to serve in the community.
Lead minister Donny Dillon and his wife, Julie, along with their daughters, Mackenzie and Addilyn, established the SonLife Church of Christ in September 2023. The 23-person congregation started in the Dillons’ living room and quickly outgrew two locations.
SonLife moved to the Alachua County Sports Complex in August 2024. The church now has 87 members and averages 70 to 100 attendees on Sunday mornings.
SonLife lead minister Donny Dillon poses for a photo with his wife, Julie, and daughters, Addilyn and Mackenzie.
SonLife’s story began at the 2022 New Day Conference at the North Boulevard Church of Christ in Murfreesboro, Tenn. North Boulevard administrative minister Glenn Robb met Dillon at that conference.
“We started talking to him about his new church at that time and were inspired by his vision for reaching out,” Robb said.
North Boulevard pointed Dillon toward The Crossings Church in Wentzville, Mo. — which has roots in Churches of Christ — as a model to train him.
The reason: The Crossings heavily emphasizes campus ministry and integrating it into the full congregation.
The Crossings senior minister, Robert Cox, and campus minister Kerry Cox, Robert’s son, knew Dillon from campus ministry conferences and agreed to work with him.
Dillon previously spent eight years as a youth minister and 23 years as a campus minister.
He saw planting SonLife as a way to do more in the community.
SonLife members attend a church singing night at the University of Florida football stadium, known as “The Swamp.”
“It’s got to really be centered around the Great Commission and going and being the people God intended us to be and being the hands and feet of Jesus in the community,” Dillon said.
SonLife aims to reach out to the unchurched and meet needs in the college town of Gainesville. Students at the University of Florida and Santa Fe College make up nearly half of the city’s roughly 150,000 residents.
SonLife has 15 active college students, and Dillon said students are one of the church’s target audiences. The congregation also reaches out to students through SonLife’s weekly mentorship program with children in Section 8 housing. SonLife hosted its recent Vacation Bible School at the community center to continue connecting with these kids. Teens from The Crossings traveled from Missouri to lead the VBS, Robert Cox said.
With 30 baptisms in under two years, SonLife’s growth is rapid compared to other U.S. congregations. Robb said SonLife’s growth rate is like what he saw on mission trips to plant churches in Africa.
“The biggest challenge within the community is avoiding the distractions that we are able to avoid on a mission trip,” Dillon said. “When we get into our everyday routine of life here in our community … that’s when it seems to go off the rails.”
SonLife’s community outreach is an example of evangelism for the global Christian community. Robb would like to see SonLife’s intense outward focus on newcomers — and its evangelistic emphasis to bring new people to Jesus — reproduced in every church.
“Focus outward, not inward,” Robb said. “Make plans, strategies and programs that will touch the hearts of people that are not yet in church because they’re the ones we need to be reaching.”
SonLife Church of Christ members gather at the edge of a pool to celebrate a baptism.
KENZIE JAMES, a senior multimedia journalism major at Harding University in Searcy, Ark., is a Christian Chronicle intern working in the main office in Oklahoma City. James grew up in Tallahassee, Fla., where she attended the Timberlane Church of Christ.
Welcome to Billionaire Club Co LLC, your gateway to a brand-new social media experience! Sign up today and dive into over 10,000 fresh daily articles and videos curated just for your enjoyment. Enjoy the ad free experience, unlimited content interactions, and get that coveted blue check verification—all for just $1 a month!
Account Frozen
Your account is frozen. You can still view content but cannot interact with it.
Please go to your settings to update your account status.
Open Profile Settings