The Sent Church Story

by Pastor Daniel

The Sent Church story began in the fall of 2010 when Pastor Jonathan Barthalow started a small group Bible study at UNI. The following year, I (Daniel) started school at UNI, met Jonathan, and got to be a part of the very first Chi Alpha service. At that service, I met 15 other students who wanted to see the kingdom of God established on the campus. One of those students was Emily, who I would later marry. Over the next four years, we pursued our college friends with the love of Jesus both at UNI and later at the University of Minnesota after we moved to Minneapolis so I could study at North Central University.

While at NCU, God gave me an intense burden for church planting. During chapel, He spoke very clearly to me that I was called to plant churches in Iowa. Just as Jonathan had sacrificed to see Chi Alpha established at UNI, God wanted me to give my life so that I could see churches planted across Iowa. 

In 2015, God opened a door for us to return to UNI to reestablish Chi Alpha on the campus as the campus directors. Our mission was to revitalize the ministry and catalyze a movement of students who were willing to give it all for Jesus. In five years, God moved mountains on the campus as hundreds of students gave their lives to Jesus.

In 2019, we sensed that the Lord wanted us to start a new church in the Cedar Valley in the fall of 2020. We believed that He wanted us to be called Sent Church because He wanted us to be a church that is not just for ourselves, but one that is sent by Him to help our friends encounter His love. When 2020 came, we knew that planting a church would be extra difficult given the circumstances. However, we wanted to be obedient to God and did our best to follow Him each step of the way. Through it all, God was faithful as He captivated the hearts of students and grafted in a few key families to help us plant the church.

On September 13, 2020, we officially launched the church as we had our very first service at the Hilton Garden Inn in Cedar Falls. In those first few months, we experienced tremendous favor even as we navigated the difficulties of 2020 and 2021. In the spring of 2021, we experienced a miracle as we were able to raise the money to purchase our property at Prairie St. After 16 months of praying for the property, we had our first service there on Palm Sunday 2021.

We want to be a church that is all about prayer, discipleship, and reaching those who don’t know Jesus yet. We want to see personal, regional, and global transformation. We believe that we can do this by raising up strong men and women of God who are fully devoted to Jesus.