ShawneeDispatch.com

The Rev. Wallace Smith hopes the growth in western Shawnee will trickle over into his new church.

"We wanted to have a healthy place that looked like an area of growth and change," he said.

American Baptist Churches identified western Shawnee as an area it would like to grow, so Smith and his family moved from Indianapolis to Shawnee in January to create Journey Community Church.

Smith, 35, grew up in Winfield, Kan., and his father is a pastor. He was the associate pastor for more than 10 years in Indianapolis. His wife, Christy, is a teacher in the Shawnee Mission School District, and they have two daughters.

The name Journey came from its small congregation and is significant of faith and life, Smith said.

"We are all on a faith journey, and we walk together," Smith said.

So far, Journey Community Church has about 10 members and meets on Tuesdays and Fridays in Smith's home.

Smith's office is located in the Central Baptist Theological Seminary, 6601 Monticello Road. Ultimately, Journey Community Church will be located at the seminary, after working out a schedule with Community Life Church, which currently meets in the building on Sunday mornings.

Smith said Journey Community Church plans to work with the seminary, offering a different experience.

"The goal is we may be a teaching lab for seminary students," he said. "Every student has to do so many hours of internship and they could do some of those hours right on site with us, if they wished."

The First Baptist Church of Shawnee, 11400 Johnson Drive, also is an American Baptist Church, but Smith insisted that he is not looking to compete with other churches within or outside of his denomination.

"There are several new churches going up and that have gone up in the last five years," he said. "There is just a sense that we can be something alternative to or in addition to what is already there, and not in a competitive way, but in a cooperative way."

Smith said Journey Community Church would be a missions church engaged in social justice in the community.

"Our faith has been reduced to a couple of hours a week," he said. "How do we engage people in a hands-on way that really has an impact on their community. We get so busy we forget that there is need and we just overlook it."

For more information about Journey Community Church, go online to journey-shawnee.org.