It’s easy to live on spiritual autopilot. We scroll, we strive, and we survive, but rarely do we seek to truly encounter the living God. And yet, this is what we were made for. We are made not just to know about God, but to know Him. Not just to follow religious patterns, but to walk in His presence daily.
At Upstate Church, our next step is seeking the Lord with greater intentionality than ever before.
This season, God is calling us to Encounter.
A House of Prayer for All People “My house shall be called a house of prayer.” – Matthew 21:13
We believe prayer is where true encounter begins. Prayer isn’t just part of the Christian life; it is the Christian life. Jesus didn’t say His house would be known by preaching or music. He said it would be a house of prayer.
We are called to be a people who regularly and expectantly seek the face of God together. What this looks like:
• Encounter Prayer Nights • Reimagining Intentional Prayer Ministry at Upstate Church • Creating family and small group prayer guides • 100 weekly intercessors trained and mobilized
A Life Lived In His Presence
“O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my flesh faints for you.” – Psalm 63:1
God doesn’t just want our church attendance—He wants our hearts. He wants His people to live aware of Him, to long for Him, to worship Him not only in public but in the quiet places of our lives.
True discipleship is not behavior modification but presence-driven transformation.
We want to cultivate the disciplines and hunger required to live in daily fellowship with the living God. What this looks like:
• Church-wide emphasis on spiritual disciplines (fasting, solitude, Scripture) • A new Rule of Life resource guiding families and groups • A Presence Pathway: 30-day challenge to seek God daily • Sunday sermons and small groups emphasizing intimacy with God • 1,000 families adopt a weekly family worship rhythm
A Cry for Revival "O Lord, I have heard the report of you, and your work, O Lord, do I fear. In the midst of the years revive it; in the midst of the years make it known." – Habakkuk 3:2
We believe that when people encounter God’s presence, they are changed—and so are their families, their marriages, and their cities. We are crying out for God to move again, not just in the world, but in us.
We long to see revival—not manufactured but miraculous. We want to be a people who live with expectancy, believing that God still heals, restores, saves, and transforms. We want to open space for revival—through gospel proclamation, repentance, and Spirit-filled obedience. Part of the Power we seek is the spiritual courage to share the gospel personally with friends and family. To experience the power of God to save those we love and those we meet.
Realizing the power of God to use someone like me. What this looks like:
• Launching Encounter Revival Weeks • Strategic focus on seeing marriages renewed • Prayer coverage over every weekend service
(strategic emphasis of prayer for weekly service) • 1000 baptisms across campuses by end of 2027 • 100 stories of restored marriages and renewed lives shared • Creating space for intentional response on Sundays
Bram and his wife, Kathy, have been married for 48 years and have attended First Baptist Simpsonville | Upstate Church since 1995. They have three adult sons and six grandchildren. While Kathy grew up in church, Bram did not. For years, he felt an emptiness he couldn’t explain. To fill the void, he turned to drinking and eventually drugs.
God began working on Bram’s heart through the death of loved ones. Within two years, he lost his father, aunt, and both in-laws. During that time, Kathy faithfully shared her faith and witnessed to her husband, but Bram resisted the tug he felt from the Holy Spirit.
In 1999, Bram met with Pastor Randy Harling, “I told him I didn’t believe in God, but I just wanted to see my dad again.” That day, Randy shared the Gospel, and Bram gave his life to Christ at 43 years old. Everything changed—his marriage was restored, and his family began going to church together. In time, all three of his sons gave their lives to Christ.
Today, Bram has been free from drinking and drug use for 25 years. He says, “I didn’t like who I had become. I always needed to be in control, but it took surrendering my control to God… I found acceptance and love in Christ.”
His advice to anyone searching is to start seeking Jesus. If you’re trying to fill a void, allow the Lord to fill that void because encountering Him is the only thing that will satisfy us and give us true purpose.
Jeff and Nita Lyda began attending First Baptist Simpsonville | Upstate Church in 1997. For years, they were deeply involved—Jeff served as a deacon, and Nita led women’s discipleship.
After 13 years, they experienced hurt that led them to step away from church for nearly a decade. During that season, life was hard. Jeff suffered a heart attack, faced a cancer diagnosis, and lost both of his parents. Nita underwent knee surgery with a long recovery. They describe that time as “wandering through a desert.” Nita admits, “I had allowed people to take God’s place on the throne…We were looking for the church to fill a God-sized hole.”
Friends invited the Lydas to visit Upstate Church Haywood, but Nita was hesitant. When they finally did visit, everything changed. Nita encountered God in a fresh way and just six weeks later, she and her husband started attending regularly.
Through surrender and grace, God restored their faith and their marriage. Today, they pray together and have a renewed sense of purpose. “We’ve encountered God in such a way that we’re now better parents, better partners, and better friends. It took God breaking us down and taking our brokenness to bring us back to Himself.”
Their story is a reminder that only Christ can fulfill you—and He’s faithful to restore what’s broken.
Sydney and her husband, Anthony, have been attending Upstate Church for almost two years. Recently, they became new parents as they welcomed their daughter, Madison, on May 17, 2025.
Their journey at Upstate Church began in the fall of 2023 when Sydney started a new teaching job where she met Alicia Williams, who invited her to a women’s small group. That simple invitation opened the door to community, discipleship, and life change. “We came in wanting to just dip our toes in and ended up diving in head first—this church quickly began to feel like home,” Sydney said.
Though Sydney grew up in church and accepted Christ at a young age, she walked through a season of doubt and shallow faith as a young adult. Getting connected at Upstate Church helped restore her assurance and deepen her faith. Sydney and her husband have been married for five years, but early on in their marriage, they struggled with infertility. Alicia and Stephen Williams took Sydney and Anthony under their wings. Sydney recalls that time in her life marking when her personal relationship with God grew from checking off a list to truly encountering the Lord: “I wanted to stop hurting—I memorized Scripture and studied attributes of God to learn who He truly is.” She learned to trust God’s goodness and encountered His presence amidst her suffering.
Community played a key role. What began with attending a small group grew into serving at church and building friendships that carried the Rogers through hard seasons. “I don’t know where we’d be without these people—without God using His people to reveal Himself to us,” Sydney remarked.
Her encouragement to others: step out of isolation and pursue biblical community because you never know how God might use it to transform your life.
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10:00AM | 11:20AM
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COMING SOON!
