Community Church of Portage Lakes sits on Cormany Road in Coventry Township, just outside Akron, Ohio. From the parking lot to the lobby coffee bar, the church makes room for a steady stream of Sunday gatherings, midweek Bible studies, student events, and mission trips that reach from a back yard in Aliquippa, Pennsylvania to a host home in Costa Rica. Their stated identity is plain: we're broken people seeking a better life with Jesus. Around that identity they have built a large network of age-specific ministries, more than thirty community groups, and a detailed Statement of Faith that holds the Bible as their final authority.
Two Sundays, Two Sounds
The church meets on Sunday mornings at 9:15 and 11:00 AM. Both services carry the same biblical teaching from the pastor, but the music is different enough that regulars know which one fits them. The 9:15 service leans blended traditional, led by the church choir and a praise team through a mix of timeless hymns and more upbeat modern songs. The 11:00 service moves into a fully contemporary style with drums, electric guitar, and a worship band. Newcomers don't have to guess at the dress code. The "Plan Your Visit" page puts it plainly: you don't have to dress up - wear what's comfortable. Grab a free coffee in the lobby and you're welcome to bring it into the worship center.
Sermons follow a teaching arc drawn straight from a passage of Scripture. Recent series include The Way the World Works, Modeling Maturity, and Faith to Move, with sermons working through Ecclesiastes, Proverbs, and Job in a stretch on wisdom and meaning. Messages can be caught up on later through the message archive, listened to through the church podcast on Apple and Spotify, and watched on the church's YouTube channel. Sermon notes for the current message are posted online so small groups can dig in during the week.
Planning a First Visit
The church reserves several front-row parking spots just past the main entrance overhang specifically for first-time guests, so finding a place to park is not a stress point. From there a welcome team walks visitors toward the lobby, where the coffee bar serves free cups (donations welcome) and the Kids Check-In desk handles children from nursery through fourth grade. A text-alert signup form is available so visitors can stay in the loop after they leave.
Children are welcome to stay with parents in the service, but the children's wing is set up to make drop-off easy. Nursery care is available for children under two years old. Kids' Church serves ages two through fourth grade during both services with secure check-in and background-checked leaders. Middle and high school students have a community group of their own during the 9:15 service in the Student Ministry Center behind the balcony; during the 11:00 service they are invited to join the rest of the congregation in the worship center.
Giving is presented during the service as an act of worship, but visitors are explicitly told not to feel obligated. The service is also streamed into the cafe across the hall so parents who step out can still follow along, and a nursing and mother's room is available in the nursery for families who need it. The church's kids environments are designed to be fun, secure, and age-appropriate, with all leaders background-checked and a secure check-in process for peace of mind.
Kids@Community: Birth through 4th Grade
Kids@Community is led by Kids & Families Pastor Todd Hixenbaugh, whose week is built around staffing children's programming on Wednesday nights, Sunday mornings, and Tuesday afternoons at Coventry Elementary, where the church runs an after-school Bible Club. Todd also recruits and trains the volunteers who make those rooms run, and during the 9:15 service he tells stories to the children gathered in the worship center. He also oversees a College Ministry on Tuesday nights at his house for 18-to-25-year-olds - a kind of side gig he genuinely enjoys, even if his neighbors seem to think there's a party every week.
Sunday mornings put children into Sunday School classes led by teachers who partner with parents to shepherd their children in the faith. Wednesday nights are reserved for Kids' Club, which meets at 6:30 PM during the school year and is divided by gender, with activities and discipleship aimed at laying a strong foundation in Christ. The year is also punctuated by family-friendly events that pull in neighbors: Vacation Bible School, the annual Show Choir Camp, the Princess Ball, Family Skate Night at Springfield Roller, Reptile Night, Parent Night Out, the Splash Night, the Dad Collective, and the church summer picnic. Through it all Todd frames the work with a simple aim: helping the next generation know Jesus.
Students@Community: 5th through 12th Grade
Joseph Furno has been the Students Pastor since 2014 and oversees everything for grades six through twelve, from Sunday school and small groups to midweek gatherings. His work is shaped by three core values: Following Jesus, Being Family, and Sharing God's Love. Amanda Howatae serves as the Middle School Director, planning weekly lessons, building up team leaders, and organizing middle-school-specific events like Pineapple Sunday. Amanda came to faith at Community Church on an Easter Sunday after years of nudging from family, and now pours herself into students in the age range where she once struggled most.
The heartbeat of student ministry is the Sunday Night Gathering (S.N.G.). Middle school arrives at 5:00 PM and high school at 7:00 PM, with worship, games, food, a meaningful message, and small breakout groups to talk it through. On Wednesdays the W.N.G. (Wednesday Night Gathering) runs Community Groups of ten to twelve students, split by grade and gender, focused on Bible study, prayer, and faith-building friendships. The second Wednesday of each month is Rec Night, when the gym opens up for dodgeball and hang-out time and students themselves take a turn sharing their testimonies and the gospel.
Beyond the weekly rhythm, students look forward to summer trips. Wildside Middle School Camp at Round Lake Christian Camp in Loudonville brings together nearly 400 campers from churches across the area through Ripple Effects, with a full week of worship, small groups, and a powerful silent time called "20 Minutes" that often becomes the pivot point of the trip. The RUOK Middle School Retreat and the Costa Rica Mission Trip round out the summer.
Since 2016 the church has partnered with Students International in Heredia, Costa Rica for a relationship-based ministry that integrates volunteers into ongoing local outreach, including sports ministry, tutoring and education, microfinance and job training, and community development projects. Team members stay in host homes with Costa Rican families, sharing meals and daily life. Joseph recalls one student returning and saying, I don't feel like we did anything special or different than what we do at home - which is, he says, exactly the point.
On Wednesday mornings during the school advisory period, Joseph runs Ignite Bible Study at Coventry High School. It started with thirty-five to forty students, but the group grew so quickly that it had to move from a computer lab into the school theater, with some weeks topping 160 students. Topics are chosen by the students themselves: forgiveness, faith, the life of Jesus, and how to live with love and character.
Women's Ministry
The women's ministry exists to encourage women in all walks of life to glorify God, and to know Christ and His life-changing power, and is coordinated by Sandy Rybka. The work rests on Colossians 2:2: hearts encouraged, knit together in love, "to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God's mystery, which is Christ."
Bible studies run throughout the week. Monday Night Bible Study meets in the Chapel from 6:30 to 8:00 PM. Tuesday Morning Bible Study gathers in Room 128 from 9:30 to 11:15 AM. Wednesday Evening Bible Study meets in the Chapel from 6:30 to 8:00 PM, September through May. The Monday Prayer Group meets weekly in the Conference Room from 12:30 to 1:30 PM. The Mom Collective is a special space for mothers of young children; it meets the third Tuesday of each month from 6:30 to 8:30 PM in the Chapel, with a membership model that includes access to meetups, resources, and encouragement. Scholarships are available, and newcomers are welcome to visit before joining.
Come and Connect meets the first Wednesday of each month in the Conference Room from 4:00 to 5:30 PM - not a formal study, but a place where women eighteen and older can talk through life and faith. Prayers and Stamping gathers in the Chapel on the first Tuesday of each month at 1:00 PM. Just One More Chapter! Women's Book Club meets in the Cafe the fourth Tuesday of the month from 6:30 to 8:30 PM. Crochet with Sheri runs twice a month (first Thursdays at 6:00 PM and third Wednesdays at 10:00 AM) in Room 128. Sisters in Christ meets Mondays at 1:30 PM in Room 128.
Special events include the IF Women's Conference (held in the church gym with a simulcast, with men from the church serving breakfast and lunch), the Women's Fall Craft Event, the Women's Pinterest Party (a craft-and-fellowship afternoon that rotates through projects like sublimation coasters, sugar scrubs, and handmade cards), and the Ladies' Prayer Walk. The women's ministry also opens up to a slightly younger audience: the Pinterest Party welcomes girls sixteen and older, and the IF Conference is open to women from sixteen and up.
Men's Ministry
The men's ministry is led by Mark Brunty, an elder whose primary areas include high school youth ministry, men's fellowship, and for now, the college group. The ministry is shaped by Proverbs 27:17: Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another. Its goal is to encourage the men of Community Church and their friends to grow in godliness and to support one another in their spiritual walk and service.
Bible studies meet on Tuesday mornings in Room 128 from 6:30 to 8:00 AM, year round. Men's Fraternity meets every Thursday from 6:00 to 7:30 PM in the Parlor. The Man Cave meets at the Howatae home every Tuesday from 7:00 to 8:30 PM. The Dad Collective meets monthly on the second Sunday from 6:00 to 7:30 PM, with a location confirmed each month.
Galvanized - Healing & Recovery is a 12-step addiction recovery group with a Christ-centered perspective for men struggling with addictions, sin, or relationship with God. It meets every other week on Tuesdays from 7:00 to 9:00 PM. Fellowship events include the recurring Men's Breakfast, the Wild Game Dinner, an annual Whirlyball outing, golf outings, and the No Regrets Men's Conference - a simulcast event with nationally known speakers that the church hosted for the first time recently, with follow-up studies offered afterward so the conversations could continue past the breakfast.
Encore: The Seniors Ministry
Dave Schroyer serves as the Worship & Seniors Pastor, and the seniors community - called Encore and made up of people 50 and older - gathers around a shared conviction: you're not done growing - and you're not alone. The ministry runs seasonal Bible studies in the Chapel (spring, summer, fall, and winter), each typically six to ten weeks long with a printed study guide that has become a favorite. The Seniors Fall Bible Study meets weekly on Thursdays from 10:00 AM to noon.
On the second Saturday of every month the group meets for a luncheon with a meal and entertainment - sometimes fun, sometimes educational, often both. The annual summer picnic has moved indoors since the renovation added air conditioning to the gym, and the meal is a highlight: Bill Bender prepares teriyaki chicken, barbecue chicken, and far more food than is strictly necessary. The picnic has become a moment to share ministry updates from across the church - "If someone asked what was happening at our church, they could say, 'Let me tell you what I have seen and experienced.'"
Encore also runs a visitation team that reaches out to seniors who are homebound or in assisted living, with phone calls, short visits, and prayer. The Legacy Grandparenting Summit gathers older adults who want to think about passing their faith to the next generation. The Gospel Hymn Sing, hosted twice a year, has become a deeply meaningful tradition for the seniors community.
Community Groups
The community groups are the everyday engine of the church. The page that lists them explains the work simply: Community Groups are where we build relationships, study God's Word, and walk through life together. More than thirty groups meet across the week, with options for men, women, students, seniors, mixed adults, and special interests.
Sunday morning groups meet during the 9:15 service: Cross Talk in Room 128, Crossroads in the Parlor, First Foundations in the Gym, Homebuilders in the Chapel, Pursuing the Journey in the Conference Room, and the Middle School and High School Sunday Morning Community Groups in the Student Ministry Center. Christian Heirs meets in the Chapel at 8:00 AM. The Choir rehearses on Wednesday evenings at 7:00 PM and again on Sunday mornings at 8:45 AM in the Worship Center.
Tuesdays add GriefShare from 1:30 to 3:30 PM in the Chapel, the Tuesday Morning Bible Study for women from 9:30 to 11:15 AM in Room 128, the Men's Tuesday Morning Bible Study from 6:30 to 8:00 AM, and Galvanized every other week from 7:00 to 9:00 PM. Wednesdays add the Women's Evening Bible Study, Crochet with Sheri, Come and Connect, and the student groups. Thursdays add the Men's Fraternity, the Seniors Fall Bible Study, GriefShare from 6:00 to 8:00 PM in the Chapel, Veterans in Christ (third Thursday of every month, 6:30 to 7:30 PM in the Lobby), and the Girls Deeper Discipleship Group, which meets at the Howatae home on selected Thursdays each fall and walks through "Thirty Truths for Common Lies." Deeper Discussion: Media and Technology brings middle and high school guys together in the Student Ministry Center every Thursday evening to talk honestly about screens, music, games, and how to walk in faith in a media-saturated world.
Missions Near and Far
Ten percent of general donations goes to supporting local, national, and international missionaries. The missions page makes the heart of it plain: we're passionate about making Christ known to everyone in our home town and around the world. The text of Matthew 28:19 - "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" - sits at the top of the work.
Local partners include Summit County Safety Forces Chaplaincy Center (Chaplain Glen George, who was sent to Ground Zero and continues annual disaster-response training), Aaron and Katie Golby with CRU in Northeast Ohio, The Way Out Prison Ministry, Stony Glen Camp, South Street Ministries (with The Front Porch Cafe in the Akron inner city), Pregnancy Solutions, Haven of Rest Ministries, Christian Service Brigade, Emerge Counseling Services, and Tim and Judi Walton with CRU at the University of Akron. The church also runs an ongoing EMS Donations outreach that delivers individually wrapped snacks and small bottles of water to the Coventry Sheriff's Department and Fire Department each month.
National partners include Craig Peters with Equip Ministries International, Clark and Dani Ramsey at Rosedale Community Center in Appalachia, and Paul and Robin Hardway with CRU in Orlando. International partners include Jason and Maria Woolford with Mission Cry/CRI, Reuel and Christine Tica with BEMA in the Philippines, Matt and Emily Musser with Ethnos360 in the Asia/Pacific region, Lyle and Stacey Wyse with Wycliffe Bible Translators (supporting Bible translation through aviation), Summit Missions International, The Gideons International - Akron South Camp, Child Evangelism Fellowship, Tuvya and Ellen Zaretsky with Jews for Jesus, Richard and Rachel Sharp with Operation Mobilization, John and April McDuffee with SEND International in Madrid, Dan and Lucia Brubaker with Wycliffe in Mali, Rick and Susan Nivens with Wycliffe in Indonesia, and Vlademir and Rosa Silveira with BEMA in Brazil.
Every summer the church sends short-term teams out as well. In a recent July a twenty-four-person team spent a weekend in Aliquippa, Pennsylvania, serving three houses. Jerry Fox, who led the team, wrote that the projects mattered but were not the point - the real ministry happened as the group prayer-walked through neighborhoods, listened to a bedridden woman named Louise share her life, sang "Happy Birthday" to a teenager at his own front door, and stopped to pray with a family that had just lost a brother. In Costa Rica, Joseph Furno's team partnered again with Students International, staying in host homes and learning that "ministry is first about people." Costa Rica trip fees are tiered to keep families involved, and scholarships and fundraising support are available for anyone who needs help.
Seven Pillars of Community
The beliefs page anchors the church around a mission statement: to know Christ, His life changing power, and to make Him known. From there, seven Pillars give shape to life together. We Worship: coming together to sing God's praise, study His Word, give tithes and offerings, and share communion, putting God in His rightful place as Lord of our lives. We Pray: communicating with God the Father in praise, thanks, and requests, and listening to His Spirit. We Fellowship: enjoying the presence of God through Scripture and spiritual disciplines, and enjoying the presence of other followers of Jesus. We Testify: giving honor and glory to God by proclaiming His wondrous works, and sharing the Gospel so others may desire what we have found. We Disciple: seeking to become more like Jesus by studying His life in Scripture and learning from other Christ-followers, then exemplifying Him to those around us. We Forgive: asking God for forgiveness and forgiving others, just as God has forgiven us. We Serve: working for the benefit of God's global kingdom and caring for the physical, financial, and emotional needs of others, then guiding them to the deeper spiritual need beneath.
What We Believe
The church's Statement of Doctrine is detailed and conservative. Scripture is verbally inspired by God, inerrant in the original manuscripts, and the supreme and final authority in faith and life; the Word of God supersedes any earthly law that is contrary to the Holy Scriptures. God is one, holy, eternal, self-existent, and self-revealing in three distinct persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The church confesses the virgin birth, perfect deity and humanity, substitutionary atonement, bodily resurrection, visible and imminent premillennial return, glorious reign of Jesus Christ, and His eternal reign with the Father in the New Heaven and the New Earth. The Holy Spirit is personal; He convicts the world of sin, regenerates, indwells, baptizes, seals, and sanctifies all who become children of God through faith.
Humanity was directly created in God's image, but sin brought spiritual and physical death with no possible means of self-recovery. Salvation is by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, who gives believers eternal life, perfect righteousness, sonship in God's family, and security from condemnation. The church teaches a call to holy living that separates from the world's evil ways and seeks the things that are above, walking as He walked. They believe in the personality of the Devil, the archenemy of God and man, and in eternal conscious punishment of the lost in a literal hell of torment. The church is an elect company of believers chosen to glorify Christ by an aggressive effort to disciple all nations through the preaching of the Gospel.
Christ has gone to prepare a place for the saved; souls go to be with Him at death; bodies will be resurrected or transformed at His second coming, with rewards according to works. Stewardship rests on tithes and offerings. The two ordinances given by the Lord are baptism by immersion and the Lord's Supper (Holy Communion). On marriage, the statement of faith teaches that marriage is the exclusive covenantal union of one genetic man and one genetic woman as a lifetime commitment, "ordained and defined by God and cannot be redefined by any other authority." The elder board is the church's final interpretive authority on the Bible's meaning and application for faith, doctrine, practice, policy, and discipline.
Elders and Staff
Pastor Mike Rybka has been the Lead Pastor since January 2009 and also serves as an elder. He came to the church with his family after a strong sense of calling to return to his Akron roots and describes the work as a mix of studying, teaching, preaching, leading the elders and staff, and engaging in pastoral ministry and counseling. Don George serves as Executive Pastor and helps carry the men-of-God vision through the No Regrets Men's Conference and other men's ministry work. The student side is led by Joseph Furno (Students Pastor) and Amanda Howatae (Middle School Director). Children and families are led by Todd Hixenbaugh (Kids & Families Pastor). Dave Schroyer serves as Worship & Seniors Pastor, anchoring both the Sunday worship teams and the Encore seniors ministry. Sandy Rybka coordinates the women's ministry, and Mark Brunty leads the men's ministry.
The elder board is made up of Mike Rybka, Bill Buffington Jr., Dave Bradford, Louie Obreza, Mark Brunty, Richard Arny, Terry Smith, and Jerry Fox. Terry has been part of Community Church since 1974 and serves as church treasurer; he also teaches an adult ABF class and leads with an interactive, participatory style that he says lets him learn as much from his students as they learn from him. Jerry is the elder liaison to Youth Ministry and Missions Ministry, a thirty-two-year public school math teacher who loves nothing more than a serious question about God. Mark's primary areas include high school youth ministry and men's fellowship. Richard focuses on Women's Ministry and the Deacons, who serve the congregation and the surrounding community.
Community Christian Preschool
Community Church of Portage Lakes hosts Community Christian Preschool, a weekday preschool program that shares the campus and serves young families in the Portage Lakes area. Debbie Allen serves as Preschool Director and is part of the church staff. The preschool operates as a separate ministry with its own site, and families interested in enrollment reach it directly through communitychristianpreschool.org.