Plant Austin | Association of Hill Country Churches

OUR STORY

Birth of a Vision (1994-1999)

God gave the leadership team of Hill Country Bible Church Austin a vision for reaching every man, woman, and child in Greater Austin with the life-changing reality of Jesus Christ.

The first church plant was started, and a strategy developed for multiplying disciples and planting healthy churches around the Greater Austin area.

The Board

Danny Box

HCBC PFLUGERVILLE

Keith Ferguson

CITYVIEW BIBLE CHURCH

Chris Plekenpol

WELLS BRANCH COMMUNITY CHURCH

Eric Creekmore

HILL COUNTRY BIBLE CHURCH

Nick Shock

POINT COMMUNITY CHURCH

Growth of a Movement

2000-2012

The Association of Hill Country Churches (AHCC) was born as a relational collaboration of evangelistic Bible churches that were committed to making disciples, planting churches, and partnering with like-minded ministries.

God accelerated the reproduction of churches through the establishment of the church-planting residency and a shift in model from hive-off launch teams to missional core groups.

More association churches got involved in planting new churches, moving reproduction to the 3rd and 4th generation.

Refinement of a Family

2013-2020

After a season of rapid expansion, the association experienced a time of refinement, where new churches were started, some church plants folded, and a
few churches merged together.

The AHCC formally organized into a separate non-profit with its own board of directors with the intent of providing care for existing churches and resources for starting new churches. 

This period saw expanded efforts at saturating the city with the gospel and an expansion of multiplication strategies, while at the same time clarifying the role of the association within the larger body of Christ.

Renewal of a Call

2021+

The AHCC Board of Directors senses a renewed call from God to focus our association efforts on catalyzing church-planting in our region. God is moving us to intentionally develop our internal and external pipelines for the purpose of finding, assessing, training, launching, and coaching church planters into the mission field of Greater Austin.

We are excited to partner together as a movement to help one another multiply disciples and start reproducing churches. We envision a healthy rhythm of reproduction for every church in our movement that ensures the strength and viability for both the sending and starting church.

With greater clarity of focus, theological alignment, relational commitment, and increased financial partnership, we believe the association will play a vital role in catalyzing church-planting throughout our region.

Danny Box
HCBC PFLUGERVILLE

Danny served as a youth pastor in Conroe, Texas before attending Dallas Theological Seminary, graduating with a ThM in Old Testament in 1990. He also has a BS degree in advertising from the University of Texas. Danny joined the staff of HCBC Austin serving for 10 years first as Youth Pastor and later as Family Pastor in 1994, before planting HCBC Pflugerville in 2000. Danny and Kathy have three adult children and five grandchildren: Jake & Krista, Camp, Enock and Della Box, Ben & Jennifer, Deacon and Mary Beth Box, and Kaley & Sebastian Anzaldo.

Keith Ferguson
CITYVIEW BIBLE CHURCH

Keith grew up in Garland, Texas, and became a Christian in high school. He did his undergraduate studies at Baylor University, where he first surrendered to ministry. After college, Keith moved back to the Dallas area to attend seminary and work in full-time student ministry. Keith completed his Th.M. from DTS in 2005 and moved to the Austin area to complete Hill Country Bible Church’s church-planting residency program. After completing his training, he planted Cityview Bible Church in September of 2007, where he still serves as the lead pastor. Keith and his wife, Barie, have five sons and one daughter. Keith’s ministry passions include helping people find life in Jesus Christ and being a catalyst for multiplying movements at home and abroad.

Chris Plekenpol
WELLS BRANCH COMMUNITY CHURCH

Chris graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1999 and served in the Army for seven years. Upon Gods call in his life to ministry, Chris attended Dallas Theological Seminary and received his Masters in Theology (ThM.) Chris traveled as an evangelist and missional group trainer with iamsecond.com for two years before becoming the Lead Pastor of Wells Branch Community Church. Chris is married to his beautiful wife Adrienne, a graduate of Abilene Christian University, a former high school Spanish Teacher, and his best friend. They have three incredible boys: Austin, Jett, and Titus. Chris loves watching sports, especially Army Football, dancing with Adrienne, and thinking of creative and innovative ways to communicate the love of God. Chris has written five books.

Eric Creekmore
HILL COUNTRY BIBLE CHURCH

TBD

Nick Shock
POINT COMMUNITY CHURCH

TBD