Austin Christian Fellowship — Attraction in Austin

I am truly impressed by this church! No church is perfect and have already ran into some “bumps” but God has used them to grow me. A lot of times “bumps” are areas we need to change.

I had walked away from God and KNEW that the guy moving into our apartment complex that shared a backyard was a believer. So I AVOIDED HIM LIKE THE PLAGUE! 😂

He ended up inviting us to church. And God began to tear us down to our foundation so HE could rebuild everything! My husband was set free from a 10 year pain pill addiction, and I solidified my freedom from clinically diagnosed depression among other things!

The main campus has a lot of wealthier attendees which can be intimidating for some, but if you go to some of the other campuses (meet in gyms and schools) you will find people that are in similar socioeconomic statuses. It didn’t bother me but it was hard for my husband to connect with people at the main campus.

Small groups were amazing within the first 3 months of attending we ended up having to move in with my parents which was SUPER embarrassing but God was rebuilding! Well our small group leader came and helped us move and stayed till 11pm and we had to force him to leave! And some other small group members helped as well!!

The senior pastor Will and Suzi Davis are amazingly kind and remind me of my parents. They are very warm and inviting! Will stayed after service numerous times to pray for us when we were going through all these really hard times! And to this day will give us and our kiddos big hugs when we see him! (we are at the Hutto campus now, started at the main campus, moved to Leander with my parents where we attended Brushy Creek campus, helped launch Round Rock campus and are now helping launch the Hutto campus)

Pastor Will is also very intellectual in his deliverance of his messages and they are always something I needed to hear! Also about 3 years ago he openly admitted he was experiencing depression and the church allowed him to take a sabbatical 😱... I have never seen a church do that! AND when he did he invited local pastors to come and speak!? 😱 That was amazing that he had no fear that he would “loose his congregation” to someone down the road.

Also this church gives away half of what comes in sometimes even to other churches 😱😱😱which is in the millions! The other half goes to the 6 campuses, staff at those campuses, bills for all those campuses etc it doesn’t all pad the pastor’s wallet! And have been at 4 of the campuses I can tell you they run them well and pour a lot of finances into them to operate.

For instance in Round Rock they have a FREE special needs Sumer camp (sometimes winter and fall!) that is a WEEK long they hire paraprofessionals to help with the kids. And then they also have church members help out so the brothers and sisters of the special needs kids can have fun with them too!! AND they send the parents out on date nights every day for 5 days and PAY for their meal or activity!? 😱😱😱😱

Also Suzi Davis the pastor’s wife is AMAZING! She helped inspire If:Gathering and cooperates and attends reconciliation circles with Be the Bridge (a racial reconciliation group). And Pastor Will meets weekly with Austin area pastors to pray and strategize on how to effectively spread the gospel. Which to me is amazing as the past churches I attended we a “us 4 and no more” mentality. And that isn’t how the church should operate in my opinion. But God has healed that hurt.

So to the lady who gave Acf a one star I am so extremely sorry you had a bad experience! I have been in your shoes before but I HOPE AND PRAY God brings healing to you and draws you back to him! And shows you the church you are meant to be at that clicks for you, and inspires you to grow. And that one day you will be able to forgive because when we do it is so freeing to let it go and...

Horrible church. I have stopped going to church after my 6 month experience at this church. I had a bad experience in a small group, received zero support from the "pastors" I have never seen anything like this. As this is the 3rd fundamentalist church I visited for a while and there is no way to decipher or recognize a fundamentalist church, I no longer go. Appalling place, fake and just plain bad, The sermons were creepy, the senior pastor too. All in all for me a living nightmare.

I lost my mom and a sister 1.5 months apart last year. My relatives who are here were up in the DC area to deal with all this death and devastation. I called the church and tried to speak wth the pastor or his "care pastor" who "deals" with people who are experiencing difficulty. I was told by both that they didn't really "deal" with members of the church w/ my kind of issues and that I should "do life" in my small group, a group of controlling manipulative and racist women.

So I said to myself if being a "Christian" means being like these people... all of them, no more church.

The head pastor is a total creep, hugs you too closely and wrote the most vile blog posts. He once compared himself to a poor boy in a refugee camp in Haiti, stating he the boy, would "never amount to anything"( how does he know???) and never speak publicly, never publish books, this man, the head pastor is a self published author and I think he speaks publicly all the same, he is so low that to boost himself up he has to pick on a 15 yr old boy in a refugee camp?

Honestly, a new low. I also deeply resented their constant hawking their books and for fee "webisodes" at us. Someone should report them and have their tax exemption challenged. It's a for profit business.

I hated them and still do.

I sat through most of a sermon by this guy where he referred to "intermarriage" as an abomination. Seriousely? What did he mean, between species? Races or was this a subtle dig at marriage equality. I am married to a white man, it was creepy.

The final straw was when yet another pastor, not sure which, they have so many from College Station maybe missions pastor, spoke about communities in Austin, poorer ones as "those people" and how we had to serve them as they were less affluent, because this community, theirs was sooo affluent. He went on and on about them, those people. Ugh.

In my 6 months at ACL, I met several people, women mostly who made very little. Less than $14.00 per hour, at least 6 women and they were struggling. So clearly not as affluent as they think. These men were creepy, out of touch and hateful. I would rather die than be thought of as one of them, so no more church and I no longer call myself a Christian. I deeply resent that these rightwing lunatics have highjacked the term Christian and I would rather die than be mistaken for them. One of the few comforts in life that I had they took away from me. Zero trust.

My trust in people is shattered after this...

I've been attending ACF since 2007 and have served as a volunteer in many capacities. ACF is mission-minded and currently gives away 50% of our monthly contributions to mission partners in Austin as well as around the world. There are many ways to plug into volunteer opportunities, small groups, mission trips, women's/men's ministries, creative arts, kids/student ministries and guest services to name a few. ACF feels like home, and it's a joy to serve. I don't ever want to stop feeling the way I do when I serve. ACF's mission is to know, love and serve Jesus Christ.

When a visitor walks through the door, they are embraced and if they fill our an information card, will be contacted with the information needed to dig deeper into the body of Christ.

There are many resources available to us all as a body, and have no doubt that ACF will remain at our side should we fall on hard times and assemble to meet any needs.

Give ACF a try, Saturday night services at 5:30 pm, Sundays 9:00 and 11:00 am with the Middle-and High School Students worshiping on Sunday mornings in the...