A Family That Pursues God in Castle Rock
The Rock Church gathers at 4881 Cherokee Drive in Castle Rock, Colorado, with a mission the leadership has boiled down to a single line: Pursue God, Embrace People, Transform Society Through Real Family. Pastors Mike and Kristi Polhemus lead a congregation shaped by extended times of worship, open gifts of the Spirit, and a steady call to prayer that runs through every week. Members describe themselves as a family in pursuit of Jesus rather than a club, and the language of real family is repeated often, from the children's wing to the family discipleship groups that meet in homes across the Meadows neighborhood.
What sets The Rock apart in the Denver south-metro area is its prayer infrastructure. The Lighthouse Prayer Room operates around the clock as a dedicated space for personal and corporate prayer, and several weekly rhythms flow from it. Extended seasons of Maranatha Morning Prayer have filled the room on weekday mornings. Healing and Prophetic Rooms meet twice a month. Live prayer events have been hosted with the Lighthouse Network Prayer Room in Jerusalem, streaming worship and intercession between the two locations. The Rock calls itself a House of Prayer, and the prayer room is treated as the spiritual engine of the rest of the ministry.
Sundays at 9:45 AM
The Sunday service begins at 9:45 AM in the sanctuary, but the morning actually starts earlier. A pre-service prayer gathering runs from 8:15 to 9:15 AM in the prayer room behind the sanctuary, and anyone is welcome to join either in person or through a Zoom link. The full service typically runs between two and a half and three hours and includes worship, ministry time, corporate prayer, announcements, and a message from one of the teaching pastors. The team is intentional about leaving room for the Holy Spirit to lead, so no two services look exactly alike.
Worship usually lasts about an hour and a half. The worship team waits on the Lord, and there is plenty of space in the sanctuary to sit, stand, or move. Flags are provided at the front for those who want to use them. Ear plugs sit on the tables in the back for anyone who finds the volume high, along with Bibles and tissues. The dress code is casual; the stated goal is for people to come as they are. Near the front door, free drip coffee is set out for early arrivals. Anyone looking for a warm chai or a specialty drink can step into Lighthouse Coffee, a coffee counter inside the building.
Multiple restrooms and changing rooms are scattered through the building, and a nursing mothers room allows moms to stay engaged with the service while caring for little ones. The teaching team includes Pastors Mike Polhemus, Andrew Nemeth, Marcus Meier, Matt Candler, and Jaden Henry, along with guest speakers from time to time. Messages are recorded and uploaded to a sermon archive, and a weekly email includes questions for personal study or family discussion.
Wednesday Nights in the Chapel
Wednesday night worship and prayer begins at 7:00 PM in the chapel, available both in person and online through Facebook Live and the church's livestream page. Enter through the office doors on the right side of the building. Children have their own programming at the same time, and youth in grades six through twelve meet in the Student Center Auditorium as Abide Youth.
At 6:00 PM, before the worship service, the Foundations Class gathers in Room 6 or on Zoom for a 12-week study through The Purple Book. The class is designed so that new participants can join at any point in the recurring sequence, and families are encouraged to attend because similar children's programming runs at the same hour. Pastor Marcus Meier teaches Foundations Class.
On the last Wednesday of each month, the worship and prayer service takes on a regional emphasis, with pastors and worship leaders from other churches in the area gathering to pray together for Colorado.
The Lighthouse Prayer Room
A separate ministry called the Lighthouse Prayer Room anchors much of what The Rock does. The prayer room operates as a dedicated space for personal and corporate prayer and is open around the clock. Healing and Prophetic Rooms meet on the first and third Tuesday of each month at 6:30 PM, where trained teams pray one-on-one with anyone who comes, regardless of background or faith tradition. A Healing Heart Prayer Ministry offers scheduled in-person and online appointments for people processing deeper burdens. Altar Ministry teams are also available at the end of every Sunday service to pray with anyone who steps forward.
A 10-40 Window Prayer Meeting gathers on Tuesdays at 5:30 PM to pray for unreached people groups. The church has hosted live prayer events with the Lighthouse Network Prayer Room in Jerusalem, streaming worship and intercession between the two locations on Saturday mornings. The Altar Initiative is a recurring emphasis in which the congregation returns to a priestly identity of prayer and ministry.
What The Rock Believes
The Rock holds to a Trinitarian view of God and affirms the full deity and full humanity of Jesus Christ, including the virgin birth, sinless life, miracles, atoning death, bodily resurrection, ascension, and promised return. The Bible is described as the inspired, infallible, and authoritative Word of God. Salvation is by grace through faith in the person and work of Jesus Christ, made effective by the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit.
Distinctively Pentecostal convictions are spelled out in detail. The baptism of the Holy Spirit is described as available to every believer for empowerment in ministry, and the gifts of the Spirit, including tongues, interpretation, prophecy, and healing, are taught as still in operation today. Healing, physical, emotional, and spiritual, is presented as part of Jesus' provision through the cross, with prayer offered for the sick even as the church acknowledges that not everyone is healed. Water baptism and the Lord's Supper are both practiced as ordinances for believers.
The church teaches that marriage is a covenant established by God between one man and one woman, and that sexual intimacy is reserved for that union. The statement of beliefs is framed around following the Bible's teaching with humility and dependence on God's grace.
The statement closes with a clear Great Commission emphasis, identifying the local community as Jerusalem, surrounding areas as Judea, difficult places as Samaria, and the rest of the world as the church's sending field. The second coming of Christ is taught as certain, with the church preferring to focus on readiness rather than on debates over pre-, mid-, or post-tribulation timing.
Decisions That Define The Rock
The Rock has published a written manifesto called Decisions That Define The Rock. It begins by declaring that teaching the Gospel without demonstrating it is not enough, that good programs without transformation are not enough, and that gifting without character is futile. The church identifies as a battleship rather than a cruise ship, an army rather than an audience, and missionaries rather than club members. The text emphasizes Holy Spirit filling, leading, and empowering, and frames the church as a mission and equipping center rather than a museum. The closing line is a prayer that nothing short of His kingdom come and His will be done in our world as it is in Heaven will satisfy the congregation.
Children: From Nursery Through RockStars
The children's wing covers children from six weeks old through fifth grade, with programming during both Sunday morning services and Wednesday nights. For children ages six weeks through five years, the nursery and preschool ministry provides loving care so that parents can attend the service without distraction. Sylvia Barahona oversees this area.
Rock Island, the program for children from age six through fourth grade, runs during the 9:45 AM service and includes real worship, interactive Bible story time, and small groups. Brennan Cowing leads Rock Island. Children in third through fifth grade can apply to become RockStars, a serving team for kids who want to be part of how the ministry runs.
Club 58 picks up where Rock Island leaves off. Fifth through eighth graders join the main service for worship and are then released to the Student Center Auditorium for a lesson of their own. The Children's Ministry also organizes Parents' Night Out evenings, hosts birthday parties in the Rock House and Noah's Playpark, and offers Child Dedication services for families who want to mark their commitment to raise their children in the Lord. Child Dedications require parents to take a one-time, one-hour Spiritual Parenting class taught by Sylvia Barahona. A Daddy and Princess Ball is held each fall for daughters ages five through twelve and their fathers or father figures, with dinner, dancing, dessert, a horse-drawn carriage ride, and a blessing ceremony.
Abide Youth
Abide Youth is the ministry for students in sixth through twelfth grade, and its stated aim is for students to abide in Jesus in every area of life. The verse that anchors the ministry is John 15:4, and the rhythm of the program reflects that. On Sunday mornings, fifth through eighth graders start in the adult service for worship at 9:45 AM and then head to the Student Center Auditorium for Club 58. High school students join the main service for worship and are dismissed to the Chapel for Abide HS, a small-group setting focused on teaching the Word.
On Wednesday nights, the Student Center Auditorium hosts Abide Youth at 7:00 PM, with pre-service prayer at 5:00 PM, a study hall at 5:30 PM, and a pre-service hangout at 6:00 PM. Separate discipleship groups meet on Monday nights for high school boys, led by Jaden Henry, and high school girls, led by Olivia Luman and Olivia Henry. A youth worship discipleship group led by Colten May runs on Wednesday afternoons.
Abide Youth also runs an annual summer camp in partnership with Basecamp, a winter retreat, and a yearly LOCKOUT event.
Family Discipleship Groups
Small group life at The Rock centers on Family Discipleship Groups, or FDGs. These are mid-sized groups that meet in homes and focus on six key practices: love, fellowship, group teaching, outreach and gospel-sharing, breaking of bread, and prayer. The stated vision is to see Colorado transformed through discipleship groups, and the stated mission is to raise up disciple-making believers who follow Jesus by experientially learning to walk in His ways.
Groups meet at different times throughout the week and are scattered across Castle Rock, including the Meadows, Plum Creek, North, Central, and a nearby group that meets in Parker. There are groups for high school boys, high school girls, single women, ladies, men, families with children, adults, and adults geared toward seniors. The church's goal is for these groups to multiply as disciples make new disciples, and a recurring theme in pastoral teaching is that following Jesus in a group is the church's basic operating rhythm.
Food Bank, Blessing Room, and Local Outreach
Compassion is a major emphasis at The Rock, and the church runs several practical ministries that serve Douglas County and beyond.
The Rock Food Bank distributes groceries on the first and third Saturday of each month from 9:00 to 11:00 AM, typically serving 100 to 150 families per Saturday with multiple days' worth of food and other necessities. The Food Bank is a partner of Food Bank of the Rockies, and Spanish-language intake forms are available. Volunteers can serve Saturday mornings or help with mid-week preparation. Donations of frozen and refrigerated foods, canned goods, dry goods, toiletries, gift cards, and similar items are welcomed year-round.
The Blessing Room is stocked with clothes, home goods, and other essentials for families in need. It is open on Saturdays from 9:00 to 11:00 AM and by appointment.
Feed the Families meets on the second Saturday of each month from 10:00 AM to noon, preparing and freezing meals that go to families with foster children, adoption situations, unexpected life events, or crisis situations.
Each year on Thanksgiving Day, the church hosts a Community Thanksgiving Meal that includes a dine-in option and a carryout option earlier in the day. The meal is open to the whole community.
Care Portal is a partnership between The Rock and Douglas County that connects church volunteers with specific, tangible needs in the community, such as furniture, clothing, or short-term housing supplies for a family coming out of crisis.
The Emergency Response Program is staffed from December through March to provide shelter or supplies if severe winter weather or other emergencies leave people in need.
Counseling and Healing Heart
The Rock Care network supports members through major life events such as births, adoptions, hospitalization, illness, or the death of a loved one. Pastoral care requests can be submitted through the church's Care and Support office.
Counseling is offered through Pastor JR Polhemus and a team of trained counselors. Healing Heart Ministry offers a separate prayer-focused track for people processing deep emotional wounds, with both in-person and online appointments available by emailing the Healing Heart team. The Healing and Prophetic Rooms offer individual prayer ministry for those seeking healing, freedom, or a prophetic word, and are open to people of any faith background.
Castle Rock Christian Learning Center
A Christian preschool operates as a ministry of The Rock. The Castle Rock Christian Learning Center serves children from 30 months old through junior kindergarten (about six years old) and focuses on the spiritual, academic, emotional, and social development of the whole child. The curriculum centers on Bible story time, crafts, and other activities that introduce young children to foundational truths of who God is and how much He loves them. The preschool is a separate nonprofit organization but operates as part of the church's family ministry.
The Rock also partners with Castle Rock Christian Academy, a K through 9 Christian school that is overseen by a board of local pastors including Pastor Mike Polhemus. CRCA exists to partner with parents in providing a Christ-centered education.
Pastors and Ministry Leaders
The senior pastors are Mike and Kristi Polhemus. Pastor Andrew Nemeth serves on the teaching team and frequently writes the weekly email. Pastor Marcus Meier oversees worship and missions and teaches the Foundations Class. Pastors Matt and Dana Candler lead the Lighthouse Prayer Room and Healing Heart Ministry. Pastor JR Polhemus leads the counseling ministry. Pastor Jaden Henry leads Abide Youth. Sylvia Barahona leads children's ministry. Brennan Cowing leads Rock Island. Colten May leads the youth worship discipleship group. Lindy Mariotti coordinates local outreach, the food bank, the blessing room, and Feed the Families.
Giving and Lighthouse Coffee
Generosity is described as an expression of joy and thanksgiving rather than obligation, and tithing is taught as a helpful guide. Giving can be done in service using the envelopes in the seat backs, online through the church's Pushpay page, by text message to (833) 622-1354 with the message therockgive, or through stock, crypto, property, or other non-cash gifts arranged by emailing the church.
Lighthouse Coffee is open six days a week inside the building and serves as both a meeting place and a small business. Pastors often mention the coffee shop by name as a place where neighbors can connect.
The Rock operates with office hours Monday through Thursday, 8:30 AM to 4:30 PM. The mailing address is 4881 Cherokee Drive, Castle Rock, Colorado 80109, and the main phone line is 303-688-0777.