Welcome Home on Dover Street
Lakewood Church of the Nazarene has stood at 1755 Dover Street in Lakewood, Colorado for three quarters of a century. The congregation still greets newcomers with two simple words: Welcome Home. The motto is more than a slogan. It captures the posture of a multicultural, multigenerational church that gathers people from Chuukese islands, Latino families, longtime Lakewood residents, and first-time visitors all under one roof on the western edge of the Denver metro.
The building is a working one. On any given week you may hear English praise songs drifting from the sanctuary at mid-morning, Spanish prayers echoing through the hallways in the early afternoon, and Chuukese hymns filling the Fireside Room later in the day. Saturday nights bring a different rhythm entirely: casual seating, modern worship, and an open roundtable where hard questions are welcome. Across these gatherings the church operates as a single body committed to a single Nazarene calling: making Christlike disciples in a community that looks like the city around it.
Three Sunday Mornings, Three Languages
Sunday is the busiest day on Dover Street, and the church holds three back-to-back services to reflect the linguistic diversity of its neighbors.
The English service begins at 10:30 a.m. and centers on expository preaching led by Lead Pastor Brian Troxell, currently working verse by verse through the book of James. Music is led by Worship Pastor Sarah Troxell, a trained music educator who shapes Christ-centered worship each week alongside the church choir.
At 2:00 p.m. the sanctuary is reset for the Spanish-language service, a full worship gathering for Spanish-speaking families in the Lakewood area.
At 3:00 p.m. Chuukese believers take over the Fireside Room for the Micronesian service, conducted primarily in Chuukese by Pastors Austino and Doreen Ready. The Micronesian community also gathers for an additional teaching time on Sundays at 4:00 p.m. and for a Wednesday evening meeting at 6:30 p.m. in the same Fireside Room, providing a weekly rhythm of Bible study, discipleship, and pastoral care for families from the Federated States of Micronesia who have made their home in the Denver metro.
For those who cannot attend in person, the English Sunday service is livestreamed on YouTube, and giving is available online through the church's Realm giving portal.
Emerge: Saturday Nights on Dover
In addition to the three Sunday services, Lakewood Naz hosts a Saturday night gathering called Emerge. The Emerge community meets at 6:00 p.m. on Saturdays in the church building at 1755 Dover Street, and it is designed as the generational heartbeat of the congregation - a continuous loop of mentorship linking early childhood through retired adulthood.
The atmosphere is deliberately relaxed. Visitors are encouraged to come exactly as they are; the seating is casual, the lighting warm, and the welcome low-pressure. Worship is modern and immersive, using the space itself to create a reflective environment. Teaching is conversational and practical, with room for honest questions. After the formal gathering there is intentional community time so that families and individuals can build relationships that last beyond a single weekend.
Emerge also produces the Emerge Podcast, hosted by Associate Pastor Michael Arseneau and Mia Arseneau. The podcast markets itself as a thinking space for anyone tired of surface-level Christian content. Episodes trade polished monologues for theological wrestling, exploring how scripture meets messy real-life realities. Merchandise for the community, with proceeds supporting Emerge ministries, is sold through a Bonfire store linked from the church site.
The Roundtable: A Thinking Space for Faith
The most distinctive ministry at Lakewood Naz may be the Roundtable, a Wednesday evening small-group experience that feeds directly into the Saturday Emerge service.
The Roundtable meets at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesdays in small groups of roughly six to eight people. Each week the group gathers around a passage of scripture with the church's pastors serving as both host and participant rather than top-down teacher. The model is rooted in Associate Pastor Michael Arseneau's Master of Divinity thesis at Vanderbilt Divinity School, which drew on Deuteronomy 17 and the language of a kingdom of priests to reimagine how a congregation reads the Bible together. The full thesis is available through the church's online profile for anyone who wants to follow the theological reasoning.
In practice this means Roundtable participants arrive having read the text, and the leader arrives having done the same homework. The conversation is then shaped by Socratic-style questions rather than answers. Race, gender, class, and sexuality are among the topics welcomed as formative rather than avoided as uncomfortable. The questions, doubts, and insights that surface in the Roundtable directly shape the sermon preached at Saturday's Emerge service, so that participants move from passive pew-sitters to active co-authors of the church's communal worship.
The Roundtable is open to anyone, regardless of where they are in their faith. The church's own description puts it plainly: people do not have to leave their brains at the door to find sanctuary. Whether faith feels rock-solid, completely fractured, or somewhere in the messy middle, every perspective is treated as necessary to the community.
The Pastoral Team
Lead Pastor Brian Troxell began his role at Lakewood Naz in October 2024, but his roots in the building go back much further. His father served on staff in the 1970s as the youth, college, and worship pastor, so Brian grew up steeped in the Lakewood Nazarene story. After marrying Sarah in 1996 and answering a call to ministry at Southern Nazarene University, Brian spent eight years as a youth pastor in Duncan, Oklahoma and Colorado Springs, fifteen years as lead pastor of Woodland Park Church of the Nazarene in Colorado, and almost five years at One Church of the Nazarene in Houston before returning home.
Sarah Troxell serves as Worship Pastor. A trained music educator, she leads the music ministry with an emphasis on technical excellence and on building a worship team that is both musically gifted and spiritually grounded. She and Brian have four children, and the family serves Lakewood together.
Associate Pastor Michael Arseneau brings an academic and archaeological background to the team. He studied at Trevecca Nazarene University and Vanderbilt University and is completing a ThD in Ecclesiology and Biblical Studies at NNU. His fieldwork documenting excavation trenches and ancient ruins in Israel provides vivid historical context for his teaching. Before moving to Colorado he served as senior pastor of Newberg Church of the Nazarene in Oregon. At Lakewood he leads the Emerge Ministry and chairs the Roundtable process.
Carol Alberts has served as Children's Director for eighteen years, creating a safe, engaging, Christ-centered environment for kids from nursery through fifth grade. Mike Colby has served as Youth Director for eighteen months, leading a multicultural group of sixth through twelfth graders with energy, authenticity, and a relational approach to discipleship.
Pastors Austino and Doreen Ready serve as the church's Micronesian Pastors, providing spiritual leadership, discipleship, and care within the Chuukese community of the greater Denver area. Their ministry is marked by warmth, hospitality, and a commitment to sharing the hope of the gospel across cultures and generations.
Beverly Garmon has served as Office Administrator for eighteen years, greeting callers, managing finances, and keeping day-to-day operations running smoothly. The office is open Monday through Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Nazarene Beliefs and the Heart of the Church
Lakewood Church of the Nazarene is part of the global Church of the Nazarene, a Christian denomination rooted in the historic teachings of Jesus and the message of the Bible. Across the world Nazarene churches share three core values: Christian, Holiness, and Missional.
The Christian value places Jesus Christ at the center of everything the church does. The Holiness value reflects the Nazarene conviction that God continues to transform hearts, shaping people marked by love, humility, and integrity. The Missional value holds that the church exists not only for itself but to serve others and share hope with the world around it.
At the center of the church's life is a simple goal: making Christlike disciples. The church holds that following Jesus is not only about what people believe but about who they become and how they live, growing into people who love God more deeply and care for others more faithfully in everyday life. The church celebrates being both multicultural and multigenerational, and values innovative approaches to ministry, relevant teaching, and a strong online presence that helps people stay connected wherever they are.
The motto captures the posture: Welcome Home.
Kids, Students, and the Next Generation
Children and students are woven into the life of the church, not parked on the sidelines. The kids ministry serves children from nursery through fifth grade, with a nursery specifically for ages zero to three. Children meet on Sundays at 9:30 a.m. in the Children's Church Room and again on Wednesdays at 6:30 p.m. in the same space. The ministry aims to help kids learn the story of God and understand that they are a valuable part of God's Kingdom.
Youth ministry serves sixth through twelfth graders. The youth group is multicultural and meets on Sundays at 9:30 a.m. in the Youth House and Wednesdays at 6:30 p.m. in the Youth House as well. Beyond weekly gatherings, the youth calendar includes retreats, mission projects, parties, and summer camp.
The Emerge community is explicitly intergenerational. Children, students, parents, and retired adults all share the Saturday night service together, and the Roundtable model is designed so that multiple generations can wrestle with scripture side by side.
Choir, Women's Bible Study, and Men's Breakfast
Music ministry extends beyond the Sunday service through a dedicated church choir. The choir rehearses on Wednesdays from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. in the Choir Room, gathering for a time of musical excellence and fellowship with like-minded musicians.
Women's Bible Study meets on Tuesdays from 9:30 to 11:00 a.m. in the Fireside Room. The group gathers for breakfast, fellowship, and a weekly time in the scriptures, and welcomes any woman who wants to join.
Men's ministry shows up most visibly in periodic Men's Breakfast gatherings hosted at the church on Dover Street, where men from across the congregation gather for food, fellowship, and conversation.
Sunday School for Every Age
At 9:30 a.m. every Sunday morning, before the main English service begins, the church opens Sunday School classes for all ages and interests. The classes meet in various rooms around the building and offer an opportunity for adults, youth, and children to grow in community and dig deeper into the knowledge and walk of God.
Seventy-five Years in Lakewood
Lakewood Church of the Nazarene is marking seventy-five years of ministry on Dover Street, a milestone that places the congregation among the longer-tenured Nazarene churches in the Denver metro. Pastor Brian Troxell's family connection to the church, with his father on staff in the 1970s, is itself a reminder of the generational reach of the work done here.
The church describes itself as a place where people feel known, supported, and encouraged as they explore faith and grow spiritually. That intention shows up in the practical rhythms of the week: a Spanish-language service for Latino neighbors, a Chuukese service for Micronesian transplants, a Saturday night community for those who think faith should engage the life of the mind, and a Wednesday Roundtable where questions are welcomed rather than shut down.
On Dover Street the welcome is sincere and the doors stay open across languages, generations, and stages of doubt.