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. They were joined by three other families from The Coastlands in Santa Clara, California, who also believed they were to move and partner in this new work. For the first year they visited other churches and got to know local pastors and the community, while holding services in their homes.
The Adventure held its IPO (Initial Public Opening) 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 2015, the Adventure added an extension campus in American Fork in 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.
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, where the Adventure had planted a church—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." We have seen God impact many lives in mighty ways over the past 20 years, and we invite you to be part of all God has planned for the world through Adventure Church! See a recap of our celebration and memory videos below.
