Some churches are built to gather. Others are built to grow. And a few – like Open Arms Community Church – are built to go.
Free Spirit Redeemer’s Chapel, Open Arms’ latest church plant in Custer City, will soon open its doors to new congregants. Located at 68 Minard Run Road, the new house of worship is rooted in a humble yet strong blue-collar community. It will feature powerful Christian rock music, redeeming testimony and Scripture-centered teaching each Friday evening.
Free Spirit will begin with a soft launch at 7 p.m. this Friday. Its first official weekly gathering will take place on Good Friday, April 3, at 7 p.m.
“We’re hoping this church will be like no other,” said co-pastor Shawn Pierce. “While the mission remains to make disciples for the glory of God’s kingdom, the people we’re after are the ones just like us: those who may not feel like they fit anywhere else.”
Everyone fits in God’s kingdom, said Open Arms lead pastor Zoe Hatcher, who has helped guide the launch of Free Spirit Redeemer’s Chapel as part of the church’s ongoing mission to develop leaders and plant new churches.
“We see the church as a river, not a reservoir,” Hatcher said. “A river receives what God sends, develops it, and then releases it downstream into the calling God has placed on people’s lives.”
Free Spirit Redeemer’s Chapel represents the next step in that mission, which has included successful church plants in Port Allegany in 2013 and Lewis Run in 2024. The new church grew out of The Least of These Riders microchurch at Open Arms, where Pierce and co-pastor Rich Dennison cultivated a weekly gathering of Christian bikers into a congregation of its own.
“Rich has been my best friend for more than 20 years,” Pierce said. “We’ve played music together most of our lives, watched our children grow up, and walked through ministry side by side. Now we move forward together. What excites me most is creating a space every Friday night where people can gather, grow, and truly get to know one another.”
To Dennison, the Free Spirit Redeemer’s Chapel will be the ideal alternative for believers with tight schedules and those who may feel uncomfortable in a traditional worship setting.
“We also are an option for those leading various ministries on Sunday a chance to come and freely worship the Lord instead of serving,” Dennison added. “While Sunday is indeed the traditional day to serve and worship the Lord, each day and night is also a perfect time for that also.”
The goal isn’t simply to expand a brand or fill another building, Pierce said. It’s about something deeper: discipleship that multiplies in a community that needs it. Over nearly 15 years of leadership with Open Arms – including co-leading a microchurch and serving in worship ministry – Pierce and Dennison have grown not only in skill, but in their ability to hear and respond to God’s voice.
“We’ve been saying, ‘Here I am, Lord, send me,’ for years,” Pierce said. “At some point, you have to stop saying it and start living it.”
Now, they’re being sent.
Pierce said Free Spirit Redeemer’s Chapel aims to reach people in the Bradford and Custer City communities who may feel overlooked, disconnected, or unsure where they belong. For years, Open Arms has focused not only on bringing people into the church, but also helping them grow into a relationship with God and then sending them out to live that calling. That means raising up leaders from within people who didn’t arrive polished or perfect, but who are willing to be shaped, challenged and mobilized, Hatcher said.
“This is what it looks like to trust God with people,” she added. “Not to hold onto them, but to release them into what He’s calling them to do.”
Open Arms recently relocated to downtown Bradford at 71 Congress St., positioning itself more intentionally within the community it serves. Like any river, its mission continues to flow outward—carrying faith, leadership, and hope into new places, one calling at a time.
For more information, follow Free Spirit Redeemer’s Chapel on Facebook or visit Open Arms Community Church.
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