Our History

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The Highway Community was launched as an independent church plant from the First Baptist Church of Los Altos (FBCLA) on Easter Sunday, April 23, 2000, culminating over 5 years of ministry development and experience. Here’s our story:

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In 1992 an awareness grew that a demographic shift was taking place. Through a Doctor of Ministry class on generational ministry at Fuller Theological Seminary, Dean Smith, then Executive Pastor at FBCLA, discovered the rise of Generation X and its corresponding impact. Dean began plans for this shift, and in the Fall of 1993 John Riemenschnitter was hired to work with college students and begin a new singles group that became known as the 20/20 Singles Fellowship.

In 1993-94 plans began for an alternative worship service at FBCLA that would reflect the look and feel of Generation X. In June 1994 a prototype was presented and the decision was made to proceed. In February 1995 Highway Alternative Worship Service began on Friday nights in the FBCLA auditorium. Out of this ministry, Highway Video, which now supplies media resources to churches around the world, emerged.

Over time it became obvious that Highway had appeal beyond Generation X. Boomers and Builders joined the Xers in worship each Friday night, and we began to discover that Generation X was just the first generation of Postmodern times. In Spring 1997 FBCLA approved a plan to add a Highway-style service to the Sunday morning worship schedule. From September 1997 – August 1999 the Highway service was held at 8:30 AM with Highway Video providing video for the teaching time. By 1999 the 8:30 AM service grew to be the largest in the three-service format.

FBCLA’s decision to return to two identical worship services in the Fall of 1999 provided the opportunity to launch Highway as a separate ministry to reach a wider audience and make a greater impact. FBCLA sent a core team of 90 adults and 30 kids and raised $250,000 to launch The Highway Community, which began meeting Sunday mornings at Palo Alto High School.

In August 2005, The Highway Community completed the purchase of the Red Rock Coffee in downtown Mountain View as an outpost to serve the community. The non-profit store hosts live performances several nights a week featuring both local and traveling artists, and serves as a gathering place for people to meet. All Red Rock profits are donated to local community charities.

In September 2005, The Highway Community and Community Bible Church of Mountain View, a church with a rich, 150 year history in the city, voted to join together and make The Highway Community a multi-site church. CBC staff joined the Highway staff and, beginning in January 2006, The Highway Community began gathering both in Palo Alto and Mountain View.