Tell Us About Your Church And Community
Highland is a gospel-centered Church located in the heart of Westminster, CO, right near the Westminster City Hall. We are at the intersection of several areas that provide rich ministry outreach opportunities: Westminster/Federal Heights (Waterworld, for you locals!)/Broomfield, and Adams and Jefferson Counties. Part of why we exist is to communicate the life-changing message of the Lord Jesus Christ, and our vision is “to train Christ-followers to replicate [our] mission by planting and supporting churches when and where the Lord allows”. And God is using us to do just that! Overall, our congregation is young, with our largest demographic being 0-11 years old and our second largest group in their 30’s and 40’s, but our members who are in their retirement years are actively engaged in and leading the charge in reaching our diverse community and the kids around us.
Senior Pastor Danny and Hallie Gardner moved from Southern California to join the Highland Baptist staff in January 2015, and Danny became the Senior Pastor in 2016. At the time they were the youngest family in the church, with 3 elementary and middle school boys, which was intentional as the elders and church wanted Highland to keep up with the changing Westminster demographic moving forward.
Tell us about some of the community outreaches your congregation is doing
5-6 years ago we started City Kidz, which is a kids-focused outreach we have in 3 local trailer parks located in Federal Heights. We meet once a week during May-October in a common area of the trailer parks for a fun-filled 2 hours with bounce houses, games, music, and a gospel presentation/skit, reaching around 280 kids and their families. We are grateful for the leadership of Tom and Linda Miller, who coordinate the team of volunteers that runs this show 3 times every week!
We also do 2 gift drives during the year. During the holidays, we have a Christmas shoe box drive where church members adopt a kid, fill a shoe box with Christmas gifts for that kid, then wrap it and deliver it to the kid’s house. Then in summer, we do a backpack drive full of school supplies to deliver to around 300 school-aged children.
Tell us about Highland's Vision to plant and support new churches
In 2021, we paid off a final debt and began aggressively saving funds dedicated for church planting. A couple of years later, we received a call from a small local fellowship that had been in decline for several years asking if Highland could be a part of re-planting a congregation there. From our saving efforts, we had the resources to restore the building (new paint, carpet, roof repair, repair the a/c, windows replaced, and more) and to call Michael and Brittney Rice to lead this new congregation. On Labor Day weekend, 2023 we planted Newland Church with 50 Highlanders leaving to join with the remaining membership of that smaller church. And they’re doing great! They are growing quickly and are moving into being a stand-alone, self-supported church. Highland is keeping our eyes open and hearts ready to plant another church in 1 -2 more years.
What does Highland Baptist do really well?
Our greatest strength is the genuine community the Lord has developed through serving together and connecting outside our weekly church services. We live out doing life together. In addition to weekly Sunday and Wednesday gatherings at the church building, families share in the daily rhythms of life – school, new baby support, neighborhood, joyful celebrations, sorrowful moments of grief, meals, you name it! The Highland family really functions as a family…we like to call ourselves “Highlanders”!
Like many families, we are growing, with babies seemingly taking over the facility! We recently celebrated the 50th baby born into the Highland family in the past 3 years, and our lobby has become an extended nursery during the worship service as young families gather there to worship the Lord together instead of inside the sanctuary.
This past summer, we had our annual Outdoor Service and BBQ. It’s nice to meet all together, instead of divided into the 2 Sunday morning services, to worship and eat together.
What are some ways your fellow CRM churches can be praying for Highland?
- As our saving efforts continue, please pray for ongoing provision to plant churches and train up new leaders.
- Pray for our church plant, Newland Church of Wheatridge, to continue flourishing and move into thriving.
- Unity among our Highland family members.
- Praise God for our newly completed sanctuary remodel that will allow us to offer significantly more seating as well as enjoy some technology and audio upgrades! This will allow us to go back to 2 services, which is a great relief to our staff.
