A Brief History of Carpenter's Way
In early September 2009, Pat Cammarata had a vision to start a new church in the Mid-County area. After much prayer and several meetings with other pastors and friends, Pat began to work on the vision and mission of a new church called Carpenter’s Way. Word slowly got out about this new work and several people in the Mid-County area approached Pat about the possibility of helping start CW. After several individual meetings, those interested in serving met in a home during the month of November of that same year and the vision for Carpenter’s Way became a reality.
Between December 2009 and April 2010 this small group of about 14 families began to meet and then plan the next steps for Carpenter’s Way. Our first location was secured at a shopping center on Nall Street in Port Neches, TX. Remodeling was started and individuals began to take ownership of the various areas of ministry that were needed to start a new church: Music Ministry, Media Ministry, Children’s Ministry, Preschool Ministry, Fellowship Ministry, etc.
During those months our group of 14 families grew to 18 families. Also during that time FBC-Groves, the GTBN, and the BGCT began supporting this work with their prayers and finances. Later on, North Monroe Baptist Church in Monroe, LA began to support this new work as well. Our small group decided to start meeting unofficially on Easter Sunday 2010. We expected only about 40 people, but ended up with more than 89 in attendance that day! Our first official Sunday was April 25, 2010. All the remodeling was completed (with just a few minor adjustments) and we were ready to see how the Lord would bless our efforts. Our attendance that day was 148--more than any of us imagined or hoped for!
We met at that location for 3 years and then became mobile and began meeting at Port Neches Middle School while we searched for land for our future home. After one year of being mobile, we began saving money to purchase land. By the end of our 2nd year of being mobile we had enough saved to purchase property in Port Neches and made an offer during August 2014. One week later, to our surprise, we were approached by Woodcrest Baptist Church in Groves, TX who offered to donate 5.19 acres with an 11,000. Sq. foot building on site. On November 2014 we took ownership of these facilities and began working each Saturday to remodel the building to meet our present needs. We continued to meet in Port Neches Middle School as we remodeled.
In May of 2015 we had our first meeting in our new church home located at 5220 Monroe in Groves, TX. We continue to be amazed at what the Lord is doing with our growing fellowship. We look forward to the days ahead and what the Lord has in store for Carpenter’s Way!