Our History
Potter's House Fellowship had its start in 1997 as a simple Bible study lead by Founding Pastor Robert Morgan. People as far away as Pensacola, Ft. Myers, and Ft. Lauderdale attended the Bible study. Weeks later an organizational meeting was conducted. It was decided the church would be called “Potter's House Fellowship”, and services began in mid November.
The congregation met in Pastor Morgan's home for the first year. He led the worship from his piano and posted worship choruses on a bulletin board. Sermons were preached from a hall table used as a pulpit. Most baptisms were actually performed in a horse trough, although a swimming pool and the Hillsborough River were also used.
The church moved into the Springs Theater in time for the first anniversary service in November 1999.
Church members worked diligently to set up for every service and break down afterwards. The church grew quickly, following significant media coverage on TV and in the Tampa Tribune and in addition extensive advertisement. A staff was developed that worked well together and saw many added to the church membership.
The church moved to a building on Howard avenue in January, 2002.At that time Associate Pastor Brei Taylor and Elder Sue Love were added as staff members. They worked as an Associate Pastor and minister of worship respectively, and contributed greatly to the well-being of the church. Since then Pastor Brie and Elder Sue founded a sister church to PHF called Oasis Fellowship, located on the outskirts of Castleberry, Florida, www.oasisfellowship.net. In the summer of 2004, God led the church to its current location at 3702 W. Kennedy Blvd.
2004 saw the arrival of Pastor Steve Andrews. Pastor Andrews served as an associate pastor to Pastor Morgan, after a traumatic transition in his personal life and ministry. On August 7th, 2005, Pastor Morgan announced his resignation as Senior Pastor of Potter's House Fellowship to assume the role of Founding Pastor. Pastor Steve Andrews was elected as Senior Pastor on January 29th, 2006 and installed on February 5th.
2006 “The Year Of Great Things” brought new and glorious changes to the church. One of the many changes was the expansion of the churc 2007 was “The Year Of Outpouring”. In that Outpouring more ministry is being given to the hurting and marginalized bringing them back to the heart of worship, receiving healing and reestablishing them into the Kingdom of God. The church is walking into new levels of worship like some haven’t seen in years, and others have never known. God is truly fulfilling the vision He gave Pastor, “My vision is to grow a lively, vibrant, cross-cultural, multi-racial, intentionally radically inclusive, and affirming expression of the Christian community.” We invite you to experience what God is doing at h’s vision to reach around the world. Thus the name of the church was changed to “Potter’s House International Fellowship” a local church with a world vision.With that the structured Missions Program was set in place to help support other radically inclusive ministries internationally.
The church also branched out into the community with the AIDS/HIV Ministry, providing testing and counseling, establishing the church as an official community testing site.
2007 was “The Year Of Outpouring”. In that Outpouring more ministry is being given to the hurting and marginalized bringing them back to the heart of worship, receiving healing and reestablishing them into the Kingdom of God. The church is walking into new levels of worship like some haven’t seen in years, and others have never known. God is truly fulfilling the vision He gave Pastor, “My vision is to grow a lively, vibrant, cross-cultural, multi-racial, intentionally radically inclusive, and affirming expression of the Christian community.” We invite you to experience what God is doing at Potter's House International Fellowship