Launching
September 2026

Help us start a new church that brings good news and good works to Rock Hill for the glory of God.

Meet the Gardners

Grey Gardner and his family, pastor of Hill City Church, Rock Hill, SC, debuting September 2026.

Gray, Jen, Charlotte, Finley, Joelle, and Millie

As residents of Rock Hill and natives of South Carolina, we are thrilled to begin pursuing the call to plant a new church in the community we call home. Our passion is to see people come alive to the life-changing message of the Gospel, engage in deep discipleship and community, and participate in God’s mission to bring hope and healing to this broken world.

Gray will serve as the lead planter/pastor of Hill City Church. He has most recently served as an executive and campus pastor at Forest Hill Church in Charlotte, NC, and has over a decade of ministry serving across three different churches in student, college, and discipleship ministries. Gray is passionate about helping people grow a robust faith in Jesus Christ through biblical preaching and teaching, as well as mobilizing people to live out their faith everywhere they live, learn, work and play.

As a family, our prayer is that God uses this new church to reach people who are far from God, awaken sleepy Christians to the abundant life Christ has for them, and multiply disciples, leaders, and churches across Rock Hill, our broader community, and to the ends of the earth.

Why Rock Hill?

  • The majority of people are lost and unchurched

    Only 1 in 4 people in York County are connected to an evangelical church. That leaves over 200,000 neighbors in need of the gospel.

  • The college campus is a mission field

    Nearly 5,000 students attend Winthrop University each semester. Reaching them now means sending disciples into classrooms, businesses, and cities worldwide.

  • There is minimal support for the mental health crisis

    With limited providers and growing crisis among teens, Rock Hill needs gospel-centered community and care that bringshope and healing.

  • The social and economic needs presents an opportunity

    Behind the city’s growth are deep struggles—housing instability, teen pregnancies, and broken families. The church can step in.

The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.

God is calling us to be a part of the solution.

Our Planting

 Timeline

This is intended to give you a general idea of our timeline. Dates subject to change.
Subscribe to receive our newsletter so you can stay up to date on everything happening with our plant.

Summer ‘25

Begin sharing the news about our call to church plant. We enter the beginning stages of fundraising, developing prayer partners, and discerning what God wants this new church to be like!

Fall ‘25

Gray steps out of his executive pastor responsibilities at Forest Hill Church.

We begin Formal Assessment process through the SC Baptist START Network.

December ‘25

INTEREST MEETING #1 (Subscribe to our newsletter for details)

Gray steps out of the Fort Mill campus pastor role at Forest Hill Church.

January ‘26

INTEREST MEETING #2 (Subscribe to our newsletter for details)

Gray officially becomes a Church Planting Resident at Forest Hill Church, and enters the Launch Cohort of the Greater Charlotte Church Planting Network.

February ‘26

LAUNCH GROUP BEGINS MEETING MONTHLY (Subscribe to our newsletter for details)

May ‘26

LAUNCH GROUP BEGINS MEETING BI-WEEKLY

July ‘26

LAUNCH GROUP BEGINS MEETING WEEKLY

August ‘26

WORSHIP PREVIEW NIGHT

September ‘26

LAUNCH SUNDAY

Our plan is to officially begin worship services that are open to the public in September 2026.

Get Involved

2) Pray.

  • Pray that God will use this new church to reach the lost, make disciples, and ignite a multiplying movement in Rock Hill and beyond.

  • Pray for the Gardners to be spiritually rooted and grounded in the Gospel throughout this journey.

  • Pray for laborers to join the work of the harvest in Rock Hill by becoming a part of our Launch Group.

  • Pray for God’s provision as we raise funds for this new church.

  • Pray that we would find an incredible location to become home for our new church.

  • Pray for Forest Hill Church as it prepares to send out leaders and resources, that God would bless its sacrificial generosity in sending us.

    Subscribe for our newsletter updates for ongoing prayer requests and needs.

3) Give.

We can’t do this without the generosity of kingdom-minded people like you.

Every dollar you give will help us launch and sustain Gospel ministry to reach the lost and make disciples.

More details about projected costs, preliminary budgets, and mission-centric strategies will be published in the months ahead.

GIVE ONLINE

Interested in joining the

Launch Group?

Subscribe for updates and attend our first interest meeting later this year.

FAQs

  • Hill City will be a church that glorifies God by reaching the lost, equipping the reached, and sending the equipped to their neighbors and the nations.

    We aim to cultivate a welcoming and authentic community where all people can learn to love God, love people, and make disciples for the glory of God.

    We will be serious about discipleship, growing in God’s Word, and cultivating a biblical worldview.

    We will preach expositional sermons from the Bible that equip the church to follow Christ more faithfully, while reaching newcomers with the life-changing message of the Gospel.

    We will prioritize passionate worship that features the best of ancient and modern worship music, psalms, and hymns, while remaining rooted in the historic faith.

    We will be a church that challenges every Christian to take the Gospel to the places they live, learn, work, and play.

    We will put a premium on multiplication and build systems to multiply disciples, leaders, and churches across Rock Hill and beyond.

  • Hill City will be an autonomous church, meaning it will be governed by its own congregation and led by qualified elders.

    However, we recognize the strength of collaboration and will be partnering with the following groups:

    • Greater Charlotte Church Planting Network

    • Pillar Network

    • SC Baptists

    These partnerships create layers of accountability, support, and strategic missional partnership that will help us take the Gospel further, faster.

  • Forest Hill Church is the “parent” or “sending” church of Hill City. As such, Forest Hill is taking primary responsibility for the launch of this new church by investing resources and sending people and leaders.

    Hill City is not a campus of Forest Hill, and therefore will operate separately from the governance and leadership of Forest Hill Church.

  • We will begin developing a small Core Team to assist in the leadership of Hill City over the next several months.

    A larger Launch Group will be formed beginning in early 2026, which will form the basis of the new congregation come launch time in September of 2026.

    Hill City will be largely dependent on the contributions of volunteers to make ministry happen.

  • The church will officially launch with public worship services in September of 2026.

    The exact date and location has not been determined.

  • We are passionate about the next generation. While it’s early to know exactly what kids and student ministry will look like, we will absolutely prioritize reaching these age groups with excellent, age-appropriate ministry programming.

  • The best way to get involved right now is to Subscribe to our newsletter, begin Praying, and Give to the cause (see the links above).

    Interest meetings will begin in late 2025.

    Launch Group meetings will begin sometime early 2026.

  • We’re planting not so much to be different, but to join and complement the incredible work already being done in Rock Hill by faithful pastors, churches, and ministry leaders.

    We are not in competition with other Rock Hill Churches — we are joining the collaborative, kingdom effort to reach people far from Christ.

Give

We can’t do this without the generosity of
kingdom-minded people like you.

More details about projected costs, preliminary budgets, and mission-centric strategies will be published in the months ahead.

GIVE ONLINE