In January of 1999, Pastors Eric and Jodi Van Rhee and their four children, ranging from newborn to seven years old, moved from California, with God's vision to plant a church and reach people for Christ in the Salt Lake Valley, along with three other families from The Coastlands Foursquare Church in Santa Clara, California. For the first year they visited other churches and got to know local pastors and the community, while holding services at home.
The Adventure held its first public service in January of 2000 at a Hampton Inn. For the next couple of years the church began to grow and outgrow one facility after another, and within its first three years, the Adventure met in ELEVEN different locations, finally settling in its current main campus location in Draper in 2003.
In 2014, The Adventure sent Kevin and Shienna Kligmann to the Philippines to reach the people of Bataan for Christ. Since that time, they have planted eleven churches, and are in the process of building an orphanage. In 2015, the Adventure added an outreach to Utah County. Throughout the years, the Adventure has seen the Lord’s faithful hand in the lives of countless people in Salt Lake and Utah Counties, and around the world!
In January of 2016, Jodi, who had been the Worship Pastor and Co-Pastor with Eric, became the Lead Pastor, as Eric set his sights to globally reaching people for Christ— particularly in the Philippines, as well as Taiwan and China, where he was working with a Chinese film maker with HUGE plans to spread the Good News of Jesus throughout the world by means of film and media.
However, only a few weeks later on February 18, 2016, tragedy struck the Adventure and Van Rhee family as Eric unexpectedly went to be with the Lord. The Adventure went through a season of deep grief and change, but carries on in the original vision Eric and Jodi and their team have always had—that of seeing the broken made whole, the bound set free, the spiritually dead come to life in Christ, and people released in the calling and purpose for which they were created!
In January 2020, The Adventure celebrated 20 years of "Loving God and Loving People." See a recap of our 20 year celebration and memory videos below. We have seen God impact many lives in mighty ways over the past 20 years and beyond, and we invite you to be part of all God is doing in the world through Adventure Church!
