Cape Coral Community Church, often shortened to CCCC by the people who call it home, sits on a five-acre property along Santa Barbara Boulevard in the heart of Cape Coral, Florida. It began in 1974 as a Bible study around the dining room table of Lew and Ruth Walter and has grown into a multi-racial Free Methodist congregation that serves a steady stream of newcomers, longtime residents, and the wider Lee County community. A DOJ-accredited immigration legal program, a once-a-month community meal called Feed the Need, and a long-running Christian school all share the campus with the Sunday morning service that anchors the week.
Sunday Morning at 10:00
The church keeps a simple weekly rhythm. One Sunday morning service gathers at 10:00 a.m. and runs in a contemporary style, with uplifting music followed by a message that applies God's teaching to everyday life. There is no second morning service, so the 10:00 gathering is the single weekly opportunity to worship together as a full body. Services are livestreamed on Facebook Live and posted afterwards to the church's YouTube channel, so people who are traveling, sick, or simply housebound can still keep up with the teaching.
Pastors are in the foyer before and after the service to welcome first-time guests, and a Welcome Center in the lobby hands out a small gift to anyone who is new. Anyone who would like a longer introduction can sign up for the New Attenders Gathering, a free casual lunch held in the fellowship hall where Lead Pastor Tommy Dennis shares how he was called to CCCC and visitors can meet the staff in an unhurried setting.
Roots on Santa Barbara Boulevard
The congregation's story began when Lew and Ruth Walter opened their home for a Bible study in 1974. By March 2, 1975, the group was large enough to hold a regular schedule of services in Fort Myers. In 1979, Reverend Wilton Sharpe and his wife Deborah arrived to pastor the small flock, and ground was broken for a first permanent building on September 14, 1980. The first service in that building was held on September 20, 1981.
Within a decade, the church had outgrown its original home. On May 24, 1989, a five-acre parcel was purchased on Santa Barbara Boulevard, and ground was broken for a new facility on September 20, 1990. The doors opened on July 7, 1991, and the congregation has been meeting on that site ever since. Pastor Sharpe moved to New York in the summer of 1995, and Pastor David Rigby, his wife Linda, and their three daughters came north from Canada to take the helm.
In 1998, Cape Coral Christian School was founded on the church campus. What was expected to be a small program grew rapidly to span Pre-K through 12th grade, and the school remains part of the church's footprint today, sharing classrooms, hallways, and chapel with the congregation.
A Free Methodist Church, in Their Own Words
Cape Coral Community Church is a Free Methodist congregation. The Free Methodist Church was founded in 1860 and today is a global denomination with more than a million members in eighty-two nations, and CCCC belongs to that wider family while remaining locally focused. In the church's own description, Free Methodists hold to the classic, orthodox Christian faith in the Wesleyan and Arminian tradition, similar theologically to the Wesleyan Church, the Church of the Nazarene, and other Wesleyan-holiness bodies.
Worship style varies widely across the denomination, and CCCC leans contemporary rather than liturgical. In matters of governance, Free Methodist pastors are members of the Annual Conference rather than the local church and are appointed in conversation with local leadership, while the day-to-day life of each congregation is steered by an elected Board of Administration. CCCC itself is multi-racial and draws people from nearly every denominational background, holding the written Word of God as its ultimate authority.
The church states its mission plainly: To Reach Our Community with the Hope of Christ's calling, inheritance, and power. The vision narrows that aim further: To be a place where anyone can find Hope in Jesus. The purpose is a single line: To become like Jesus and to aid others in doing the same. A list of values hangs underneath, including prayer, love shown through grace and kindness, servanthood, faith in God through Jesus Christ, worship through Word, music, and tithing, cultural relevance, life transformation, openness to all people, accountability to the body of Christ, and membership in both the local church and the conference.
Next Generation: Kids, C4 Youth, and Young Adults
Children from Pre-K through 7th grade are the focus of Emye Sanchez, the Children's Next Gen Director. Classes for Pre-K, grade school, and middle school students meet during the Sunday morning service so that parents and children are in the building at the same time. The C4 Youth ministry picks up from there for students in 8th through 12th grade and is led by Cory and Melinda Winn. C4 meets on Wednesday evenings from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. in the fellowship hall.
C4 is described as a safe, fun environment with the goal of leading young teens to faith and helping them develop a lasting relationship with Jesus Christ alongside strong friendships. Youth serve in real ways at the church, ushering, leading worship, working in the nursery, and running VBS crews, and they also serve outside the walls: cleaning up abandoned properties, visiting local nursing homes, and raising funds for water wells in Haiti. Extracurricular activities through the year include summer camp, concerts, tailgate parties, and bonfires.
For the college-and-career crowd, Young Adults Bible Studies meets on Monday evenings from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. in the fellowship hall with Erik Ziegler. The studies are designed to be a place for personal growth in the Word alongside peers at a similar stage of life.
Midweek Bible Studies, Prayer, and the Men of the Church
Two standing midweek studies anchor the adult discipleship rhythm. Discipleship Bible Studies gather on Tuesday evenings from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m. in the fellowship hall with Bob Francois. The Young Adults Bible Studies fill the Monday evening slot already described above. On the first Friday of every month, Prayer Night fills the fellowship hall from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m. for a focused hour of corporate prayer.
The Men of CCCC meet on Saturday mornings at 8:00 a.m. in the fellowship hall. The Saturday Men's Group is open to men of all ages and stages and is one of the most consistent weekly gatherings on the church calendar. There is no in-person midweek worship service at this time; the midweek offerings are study and prayer rather than a second Sunday-style service.
Feed the Need and the Wider Community
On the last Saturday of every month, the church parking lot and fellowship hall transform into a community meal site for Feed the Need, a ministry that runs from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. The program is listed under the church's Missions category and is built to feed neighbors who are hungry, stretched thin, or simply looking for a hot meal and a kind conversation. Photos from recent Feed the Need gatherings show a long line of volunteers plating food and a steady stream of guests around the tables.
Beyond Feed the Need, CCCC partners with other local organizations through its Community Partners program, and Hilda Luz Guiteirrez runs The Community Bridge, a DOJ-accredited immigration legal representative program that provides immigration help to families across the Cape Coral area. The church frames this work as a natural extension of its mission to reach the community with the hope of Christ.
Next Steps: Class 101, Community Groups, and Baptism
CCCC has put together a deliberate set of on-ramps for people who want to move from attending to belonging. Next Step 101, also called Class 101, is offered periodically throughout the year and walks through the mission, history, and vision of the church. Those who are ready to take the next step can be baptized by full immersion. Community Groups gather in homes and around the city for personal growth studies of the Word and are a more intimate complement to the Sunday morning gathering.
The church is quick to say that the building is not the point. The church is not a building, it is people, and developing connections is one of the central tasks of the congregation.
Staff and Leadership
Lead Pastor Tommy Dennis shepherds the congregation. The Next Gen team includes Emye Sanchez as Children's Next Gen Director for infants through 7th grade, and Cory and Melinda Winn as C4 Youth Leaders for 8th through 12th grade. Hilda Luz Guiteirrez leads The Community Bridge, the church's immigration ministry. Office hours run Mondays and Thursdays from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., and the phone rings into a staff that is glad to answer questions about anything from Class 101 to Feed the Need to a Bible study in the fellowship hall.
Practicalities for a First Visit
The address is 811 Santa Barbara Boulevard in Cape Coral, with the office using zip code 33991. The phone number is 239-574-1148 and the fax line is 239-574-2359; the general email is info@capecoralchurch.com. From College Parkway, Cape Coral Parkway, or Pine Island Road, signs direct visitors north or south to Santa Barbara Boulevard, where the church sits on the right. From Colonial Boulevard, taking Veterans Memorial Parkway west to Santa Barbara Boulevard and then north for 2.3 miles will bring you to the same driveway.
Giving is available in three ways: online through an Elexio giving account, by texting any dollar amount to 239-217-9359 and following the prompts, and in person on Sunday morning. Online guides for text, mobile, and online giving are available for first-time users. The current Sunday bulletin and sermon notes are posted at the start of each week for anyone who wants to follow along ahead of time.
A Place to Grow
From a home Bible study in 1974 to a five-acre campus on Santa Barbara Boulevard, Cape Coral Community Church has spent five decades learning what it means to be a household of faith in a fast-growing Florida city. The contemporary Sunday gathering, the C4 youth room on Wednesday, the Tuesday night discipleship table, the Saturday morning men's group, the monthly Feed the Need meal, and the steady immigration legal work are all part of the same story: a Free Methodist church that wants its neighborhood to find hope in Jesus and to become more like him, one week at a time.