JUST LIKE YOU,

Redemption City Church has a story. A story that is filled with ups and downs, joyous moments and difficult moments. But who we are today is made up of all these things put together, and it is the church we believe God has called us to be, namely -- Redemption City Church. 

​A LOOK INTO HISTORY

Below you can go on a journey through the history of our church, which gives a behind the scenes access to the complete story that so many people have joyfully been a part of. May this be an opportunity for you to get to know us better, and quite possibly be the start point for when your story intersects with our story-- which in fact is God's story for the life that He has given us. 

BEFORE THE LAUNCH

there was groundwork that needed to be laid. A team that needed to be built. People that needed to be met. And a city that needed to be explored. Redemption City Church did not start as a church plant that was sent out by an existing church or organization. Nor did we have any seed money to hit the ground running with. This truly was a God sent opportunity to build from the ground up.
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IT ALL STARTED WITH A VISION

In 2012 Pastor Brandon had a very tragic bodily experience that left him debilitated from the neck down, and with great sadness left him unable to continue his ministry as soon to be Lead Pastor at Reach Worship Center in Stockton California. In the most difficult season of his, it was when God met him where he was at and gave him confidence that despite the odds, he would one day return as a Lead Pastor. And it was in this season when the vision for Redemption City Church began to come alive. 

THE CRUCIAL MOVE

is what brought Pastor Brandon to Portland Oregon. Two years removed from his injury; Pastor Brandon was having hard time finding any help through countless attempts at some of the most prestigious medical centers in the country. It wasn't until he met a man named Timothy Hodges, owner of Counter Strain Portland, who was the first one to bring any movement and hope to the chronic injury Pastor Brandon was facing. This hope brought forth the day that Pastor Brandon and the rest of his family would officially move out of his hometown of Stockton California, into the Portland metro area to continue his therapy and healing journey. 
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NAVIGATING A NEW LAND

Moving to a new city can be challenging in many different ways, and to add the injury Pastor Brandon was battling on top of that, this was a heavy season for the Rachal Family. Thankfully, for the first year of their move, the Rachal Family was joined by three people who wanted to support and help the Rachal family through this move and difficult season. Justin and Vanessa Cahow, and Adrian Hernandez. Not only did their love for Pastor Brandon and the Rachal family run deep, but they also believed in the call on Pastor Brandon's life and wanted to do their God-given part in helping that come to be one day. These are the moments and sacrifices that have become the building blocks to who Redemption City Church is today. 

WHEN GOD PLACES A CALLING

it is very evident to see in someone's life. With Pastor Brandon having the call to lead, help, shape, and exhort people to the truths of God; there was no containing his passion. Despite the pain of his suffering and the countless number of losses he was hit with, he wanted people to know that through all of it, he still Makes Much of Christ. This heartbeat and message began to germinate the product of what is now called Making Much of Christ Ministries Network. MMCM launched back in January 2016 and became the epicenter for thought provoking blogs, podcasts, interviews, and gospel-centered support on helping people make much of Christ for wherever they are at. MMCM became the place where Pastor Brandon's ministry journey got back on track and serves as a building block to who Redemption City Church is today. 
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BUILDING A MINISTRY

"For every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything" Hebrews 3:4
Pastor Brandon set a vision for Making Much of Christ Ministries, but it truly was a God movement in and of itself. A staff began to grow and contribute to the organization, which brought timely support for the vision God had given Pastor Brandon. People like Orion Duncan, Lamar Saffold, Briana Rachal, Jillian Rachal, Brittany Rachal, Tina Robinson, Percy, Jacob Aria, all played a role in the growth of MMCM. This lead to hundreds of people across the nation getting impacted by the ministry, including people right here in Oregon. Those who joined the staff of MMCM are a part of the building blocks that helped MMCM be the launch pad to Pastor Brandon's next ministry journey, and the reason for Redemption City Church today. 

IT WAS TIME

for Pastor Brandon to take his next steps in ministry. Not only was he getting healthier physically, the Lord knew that what was going to bring his story out of the ashes, was going to be a spirit-filled pushing. With the success of MMCM, and the reach widening, Making Much of Christ Ministries happen to come before a man named Kevin Howard, who at the time was the Executive Pastor of Sonrise Church Hillsboro. Being impacted himself by the content of MMCM, Kevin reached out and approached Pastor Brandon with an opportunity to come and be a support to the staff at Sonrise Church. With prayer, patients, and thoughtfulness, Pastor Brandon gave his yes to the Lord, and to Sonrise Church to come and support the staff with Pastoral Care and Life Coaching. This yes would serve as a building block to who Redemption City Church is today. 
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THE LORD WAS WORKING

Pastor Brandon began his ministry at Sonrise Church in 2017, and was making an impact. All the way back in "room 9" as he would like to call it. He knew that he had a special privilege of getting to support and help the staff, and he took that very seriously. Pastor Brandon gifting's brought a unique flavor to the ministry of Sonrise Church and it was a clear sign that God had him there for such a time, but the time was still a building block season. For God was preparing him for what would become Redemption City Church, we just aren't there yet. 

THE INTERNS WERE COMING

was a focus Sonrise Church had going into the summer of 2018. What Pastor Brandon did not know was that he was going to play a big part in these interns lives, specifically Ezekiel Ostrowski, who at the time was a youth ministry intern. During the season of internships, Pastor Brandon became the Young Adult Pastor at Sonrise Church and Ezekiel branched off of youth and became a support to him. This time together began to build a relationship that germinated into dreams and hopes of a church plant one day. Ezekiel communicating that he wanted to plant a church with Pastor Brandon, this brought an agreement between the both of them that they would build, unify, dream, and work toward that church plant one day. This was igniting the vision that God put on Pastor Brandon's heart that he would one day plant a church. With Pastor Brandon's focus solely on Sonrise Church and his ministry there, the commitment between him and Ezekiel was a building block to who we are today, and that is Redemption City Church. 
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THE STORMS CAME

Just like in any God story, the enemy will do whatever he can to thwart the beauty that God creates. Unfortunately the enemy got a piece of the story, and that was through Ezekiel leaving and abandoning Pastor Brandon in the middle of their commitments, and work they had been putting in for their future church plant. This left Pastor Brandon devastated, and alone without any real support or partner for what he had set out to do. This was tragic because Pastor Brandon had worked his way out of the ashes through suffering, and was finally making steps, and it all seemed to crumble before him. Having to take a step back to recollect himself and revaluate what to do next, in steps Jack Davis, who at the time was the Children Pastor of Sonrise Church Hillsboro. This serves as a building block to who we are today, and that is Redemption City Church. 
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GOD HAS A WAY

of meeting us in some of the most difficult moments, and really providing the God-centered support that we didn't even know we needed. God did that when he stirred up Jack's heart to approach Pastor Brandon in joining the church plant with him. Not ever having a desire to be apart of a church plant, Jack felt something different when it came to Pastor Brandon. And it was that he believed in the call and vision on Pastor Brandon's life; and he wanted to be a part of that. This is when Pastor Brandon and Jack both began to vision and build out the framework for what we call Redemption City Church. The two of them had respectfully stepped away from their jobs at Sonrise Church, and began the journey of a church plant.  
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CULTIVATING THE SOIL

The work began in April of 2019. With Pastor Brandon being new to the land of Beaverton/Hillsboro, and Jack being fairly new as well, the connect points were not the highest to build a new church off of. But they were determined to do it no matter the obstacle that was in their way. The connections that had been made were from both of their respective ministries, and they proved to be vital to the start of Redemption City Church. Redemption City Church launched on June 9th of 2019, and Pastor Brandon and Jack made their commitment in April of 2019. This became crunch time since they only had three months to prepare for what became the start of Redemption City Church. It was three months of vision creating, vision casting, mission building, and mission implementing. It was extremely hard work and long hours to literally build a church out of nothing, but God was moving. He kept supplying vision, hope, and preparing the ground for the work He was going to do through Redemption City Church. 
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THE LAUNCH DAY WAS HERE

and there was so much to be excited about. There was so many God blessing that were all over the place. We had a building to start with, which as a new church plant with no seed money or support, is absolutely unheard of. We have to thank Abe and Sofia LASTNAME for that blessing. We had key contributors step in to join the church plant. People like Kaitlyn Iseminger, Amanda Smith, Vanessa Davis, Jillian Rachal, Briana Rachal, Joseph and Dora Haynes. These people caught onto the vision that God gave Pastor Brandon, and they wanted to be a part of it. This brought a fullness to launch day, and we were ready to get the ball rolling. 
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THE JOURNEY HAD STARTED

June 9th, 2019 is a day that we will not forget. This date will always be etched in the books as the day we had our first church service. It was special. We had over 50+ people attend our first service which is quite incredible, especially coming from the ground up. We had friends and family member come and show their support which provided us with great momentum moving forward. This day was a wonderful moment of God displaying how good He is. The story of Pastor Brandon's vision for a future church plant, all the people who either gave, supported, or joined him on this journey, give us the ability to look back in awe to see all the building blocks that brought for this incredible day. 

DESPITE US BEING SMALL

we really felt like a big church. We wanted to be a church that could really supply the needs for all people who came to attend. We started in our first ever series, which was our DNA Series, focused on who we are as people of God and as RCC. We launched Men's Den Night and our Women's ministry, which both had such a impact on the men and women of our church. We launched the Redeemed Kids Club, which provided full curriculum for our kids in the church. We had three baptisms and over 15 people join to be covenant member within the first five months of even being a church. God was really moving and people were transforming right in front of our eyes. 
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GOD WAS WORKING

While we were not growing wide in a vast amount of numbers, what we did see was the people of Redemption City Church growing deep. Here at RCC we aim to not live a superficial life with God, but a real, vibrant, maturation like relationship with God. This is the lens we navigate our teachings, small groups, ministries, and outreaches through. Our aim as Redemption City Church was not to try and build a church so fast that we couldn't keep up with the growth as a leadership team, but instead lean into God to build depth, strength, and courage as a church so we can be sturdy. We want to be a church that lasts in our community, and we believe God had been working in a way to do this. 

2020 WAS THE YEAR

where everything changed for us, just as it did for the entire world. Deep into our Ephesians Series at the time, things were rolling for us as a church. Having to navigate some storms, we still were in vibrant position. We were about to move into a new building that was going to be amazing for us and our reach for the community
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