Our Story

Donnie and Amy grew up in different parts of the country, Donnie in Fayetteville and Amy all over the South. She lived in Arizona, New Mexico, West Texas, and Arkansas. God, in His sovereignty, brought them together while they were attending the same church in college. They were married in 1998 and the Lord has blessed them with three wonderful children: Titus, Anna, Christian. 
Donnie has served in ministry since 2000. He has served as a student pastor for 8 years in Arkansas, Florida and Texas. Before moving to Fayetteville to church plant, he served for 6 years as executive pastor at a church in east Texas. Donnie has earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from the University of Arkansas and attended Southern Seminary.

While serving as executive pastor, the Lord began to “stir the waters” (Psalm 107) in both Donnie and Amy about planting a church. Much of this leading came from a very personal battle that the Griggs have been on since January 2010 with their oldest son who battled brain cancer (Medulloblastoma). After battling on and off for 9 1/2 years, Titus went to be with Jesus on August 25, 2019.  If you are interested in hearing more about Titus and his journey, click here for a link to his "Celebration of Life" service which beautifully honored his amazing life and displayed the power of God. Truly through this journey, the Griggs and those at VCC have learned that "In our weakness, He is made strong."  Also they are learning to lean hard into God, to trust Him with everything and that He is enough. They recognize now more than ever,  life is short and people are hurting. As a result of this journey, the desire of their hearts and those at VCC is to be a Gospel-centered church that displays the love of Jesus to everyone so that others can experience that love for themselves.

Every Sunday evening a faithful few gathered to sing, pray and share in what God was doing.

On a snowy evening of November 16, 2014 Vertical Community met with a small group in a neighborhood pool house in Springdale to begin casting the “Love is Why” vision that God was birthing. Having been broken themselves, Donnie and Amy continually prayed for God to bring broken people to be able to minister to and then those would eventually do ministry out of that brokenness healed. Every Sunday evening a faithful few gathered to sing, pray and share in what God was doing. By March of 2015 it became necessary to find a place with more room so VCC moved to meeting on Sunday mornings at the Courtyard Marriott in Fayetteville, with the children’s ministry being housed across the street at a local daycare that was gracious enough to offer their building for the church to use. For about a year the VCC family faithfully tore down and set up the “church in a box” as they grew and many hurting came and began the healing process.

After searching for a more permanent location one opened in a very popular place in town, directly across from the new Whole Foods in Fayetteville. The place needed a LOT of work and the VCC family stepped up and spent the better part of the summer creating a space that many say feels like home when they walk in. In September of that year a dedication/prayer service was held asking God to use the people and the place to glorify His great NAME.

​God continued to move at Vertical and we found ourselves once again needing more space. In March 2018, we were able to move into our new worship center, which allowed our former worship space to be turned over to our VC Kids ministry, which doubled their former space.

 The heartbeat of Vertical Community Church is to be a Great Commission church that MAKES DISCIPLES AMONG ALL NATIONS and has JESUS-CENTERED MESSAGES along with AUTHENTIC COMMUNITY that leads to TRUE WORSHIPPERS who PRAY BOLDLY and SERVE SELFLESSLY!

​A missionary who was visiting VCC commented that authenticity oozes out of the people and it's true. Some of those were the hurting that are finding healing in Jesus and in turn learning to help others in their journey. It's a beautiful thing, and we believe what is meant by I John 4:12 – “No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us.” We would love for you to prayerfully consider being a part of Vertical Community Church.

The heartbeat of Vertical Community Church is to be a Great Commission church that MAKES DISCIPLES AMONG ALL NATIONS and has JESUS-CENTERED MESSAGES along with AUTHENTIC COMMUNITY that leads to TRUE WORSHIPPERS who PRAY BOLDLY and SERVE SELFLESSLY!