The Porch is Streaming Downtown This Summer!

Downtown Dallas, Here We Come!

The movement is growing – The Porch is expanding south and coming to downtown Dallas! Maybe you’ve heard us talk about the upcoming launch over the past couple weeks and wondered what it means, or maybe this is the first time you’ve heard anything at all about it. Either way, we’re excited to let you know that The Porch Downtown is happening this summer, hosted at the South Side Ballroom.

What is The Porch Downtown?

The Porch has always been a movement of young adults looking to change the world. It’s not just a gathering; it’s a mission. Our reasons for expanding downtown are the same as why we meet in North Dallas – so that young adults can connect with others, connect with God, talk about life’s most important questions, and learn to live out the abundant life that God desires for them. The Porch Downtown will provide the same opportunity for young adults in their 20s & 30s to come just as they are, but not leave unchanged. Like The Porch Fort Worth does, we’ll have live worship onsite, then stream the message from the North Dallas campus.

When and where is The Porch Downtown meeting?

The Porch Downtown will begin on Tuesday, June 7th at 7:30 pm at the South Side Ballroom (1135 South Lamar
Dallas, Texas 75215) and will continue every Tuesday through the end of the summer.

Why are we launching a new Porch campus?

Well, it’s not really “new,” and it’s not really “another” Porch. This is true because the same work that started to influence Dallas through The Porch eleven years ago has now spanned many miles and countries, and has impacted downtown Dallas strongly along the way. For years, many young adults from Downtown and Uptown have fought traffic on Tuesday nights to gather at our main campus. Our research shows that as many as half of the current Porch Dallas attendees live near downtown Dallas. In heading downtown, we haven’t added another Tuesday night Porch; we’ve just added a new section of seats to the existing Porch—only 10 miles further south.

Who is The Porch Downtown for?

The Porch Downtown will definitely make it easier for some of you to attend the Porch because it's closer to where you live or work. But it shouldn’t stop there! We want to open an opportunity for many people who have never been to The Porch to start coming, whether it’s because they live further south or because they haven’t been interested in coming to a church. We also hope that it becomes easier for you to ask a friend to join you – please invite them!

This prayer has been at the heart of The Porch since the beginning: “Lord, enable your servants to speak Your Word with great boldness. Stretch out Your hand to save every young adult in Dallas.”

The Porch Downtown allows us to be in the heart of our city. It will be at the intersection of our ministry partners, the marketplace, and even more Millennials. We also hope that having a new meeting place downtown will free up some space at our main campus for more friends to join us in North Dallas.

Porch-goers are of course welcome at any of our gathering spots. Although in the interest of building meaningful relationships and being known and loved by others, we would encourage you to be consistent at whichever location makes the most sense for you.

In short, we’re starting The Porch Downtown because:

• There is a strong, consistent desire for it among young adults in the city.

• There is a trusted group of volunteer servant-leaders who have shown their willingness and ability to carry the weight of the ministry.

• Most of all, because God desires to reconcile young adults in Downtown to Himself in a loving relationship, and we humbly hope that He would use our efforts to do so.

What can you do?

First and foremost, please pray that God would be the enabler and accomplisher of The Porch’s ministry in Downtown. The Scriptures say that “unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labor in vain” (Psalm 127:1). May we never labor in vain in Downtown, North Dallas, or Fort Worth!

Second, please share this news with any young adult you know, but especially those from South Dallas and the rest of the southern corridor to Uptown, from West Dallas / Oak Cliff to East Dallas / Mesquite.

Third, you can let us hear from you. You can reach us at theporch@watemark.org, and we’d love to get to know you!

Lastly, on behalf of the entire faithful and passionate Porch Downtown team, I’d like to extend a very warm, very personal, and very old invitation to you about the Christ who has saved and changed each one of us so incredibly: “Come and see!” (John 1:46)

– Ryan Wall