Our goal is January 2027. The specific date has not been set yet. If more time is needed to prepare for the transition, we will push the start date out as necessary.

9am and 11am. Each service will be about 1 hour and 15 minutes, which is the same length as our current single service.

No. The services will be the same, including the songs, sermon, and worship style. The only difference will be the start times.

Yes! However, we may need to make slight adjustments depending on the number of children and volunteers available. For example, we may need to start with limited children’s ministry in one of the two services and then build to full capacity when we are able. See Volunteering & Service Teams section.

It is true that with two services you will not have the same opportunities to connect with everybody across the whole church on Sunday mornings. While we understand and recognize this loss, we also recognize that it is difficult to do that with one large worship service.

Covenant has always emphasized the importance of community. Here are a few of the ways we cultivate connection across the whole church:

• Our small group ministry is our most important context for creating and fostering community. Your small group is where you can know and be known by a close group of people. If you’re not yet in a group, go to org/groups.
• Church-wide events such as our annual “Come Together” event, our annual Missions Dinner, our Thanksgiving Evening Service, and our regular men’s and women’s fellowship events help unify the church throughout the year. Depending on future staffing, we may be able to increase the number of church-wide events.
• Volunteer teams are a wonderful way to meet other members. If you are feeling disconnected, we strongly urge you to join a team!

We would ask that you spend some dedicated time on your own and in your small groups seeking the Lord together. Pray for unity, clarity, wisdom, provision, and creativity. Begin asking God for direction—is He calling you to serve? Be open to His direction and leading.

We are adding a second service to accommodate our growing church family and to create more space for visitors.

• Covenant’s mission is to “bring gospel restoration to people’s deepest needs and our broken world.” This includes shepherding the flock God has already given us and extending grace to those who do not yet know Him. You may have noticed that God has been actively bringing new people through our doors, including those seeking answers and those curious about the gospel. We want to remove every unnecessary obstacle to their coming and staying! Loving our neighbors inevitably calls for sacrifice—whether of our comfort, convenience, or personal preferences—for the good of the kingdom.
• From a practical perspective, our single service has almost reached capacity. On any given Sunday, families arriving near the start time struggle to find seats together, parking overflows into neighboring lots, and our overflow room is regularly in use. Moving to two services directly addresses this bottleneck while enhancing the quality of our ministry. Two services will allow our nursery, children’s ministry, and sanctuary to feel more intimate and conducive to deeper relationships. It also offers much-needed scheduling flexibility for families with young children or varied morning routines. For specific attendance/parking data, see question #17.

There are two primary reasons we did not build a larger sanctuary:

• The Session had a limited footprint for the new building, given the size of the land and minimum size requirements for the parking lot and dry/wet retention areas.
• One of the fundamental design requirements the Session gave the Building Committee was to adequately balance “transcendence” (a sense of awe, majesty, and worship) and “immanence” (a sense of closeness, community, and intimacy). Within the fixed space constraints, we could have built a bigger sanctuary, but it would have reduced the size of the foyer, negatively affecting our vibrant fellowship after services and during special events.

Yes! This has been a part of the Session’s long-term vision for Covenant. When we decided to build a larger foyer/smaller sanctuary, the Session intentionally chose to transition to two services sooner (if needed), rather than sacrifice the fellowship and community that a larger foyer enables.

Yes. During most of the 1990s in our old facility, we had two (even three for a while) Sunday morning worship services before we built our new sanctuary/gym. Then, from 2012 to 2018, we had a Saturday evening service and a Sunday morning service every weekend.

In our new facility, we went to two services on Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday in 2025 and Easter Sunday in 2026. Those three double-service-Sundays not only allowed us to accommodate larger numbers of people (which we absolutely needed), but also to “test the waters” and learn what it would take to run two services.

Our church has a history of doing everything we can to accommodate the growth that God brings us.

Yes, we have considered planting a daughter church, but we don’t believe it’s wise right now to carve off a portion of our congregation and send them out to plant a daughter church.

There are two key reasons:

• First, each time we’ve planted a local daughter church (examples: Northside Presbyterian Church in Melbourne and New City Church in Palm Bay), we’ve done so by sending out a church planter whom we had first brought on staff for several years to apprentice and prepare before launching out with a portion of our congregation. We currently do not have a church planting apprentice, partly due to budget constraints, and partly because the “supply” of potential church planters in Florida is rather sparse at the moment.
• Second, our church has gone through several challenges and transitions since 2020, all while being significantly understaffed. We need to rest, heal, and accommodate the “ordinary growth” that God has been bringing us. We need to prioritize rebuilding our staff, strengthening our discipleship ministries, and gaining momentum in our outreach ministries, before sending a portion of our congregation to plant a new church.

That said, we are passionate about church planting and are currently supporting several plans in Florida and around the world. We hope to plant again in Brevard County when the time is right.

If we were to make this change with the current number of volunteers, then no, we don’t have enough hands to help with two services. But we believe that many in our congregation will step up and use their gifts and abilities as members of the Body of Christ.

Covenant has seen God continually provide, not just financially, but also through faithful and eager volunteers. Look at our church history! When we needed to downsize our property from a “school+church” facility to just a “church” facility, God provided the funds and people at just the right time. When we were in “mobile church” mode for a few years, meeting in school cafeterias, God energized His people to solve problems, fill in gaps, and cultivate a can-do attitude, even though we faced many moments of near chaos. We often asked, “Will we have enough volunteers to carry us through these challenges?” And through six years of difficult and often scary transitions, God provided time and time again.

God loves to provide for His people, but He often does it in a way that calls forth faith, dependence, and a spirit of action from us. Let’s trust God while also making ourselves available to fill in gaps and use our gifts, as the Holy Spirit leads us.

This transition creates a fresh paradigm for service and engagement: Moving to two services unlocks new opportunities for members to serve in the church regularly without having to miss any worship services.

For example, you may want to serve weekly in one service and worship in the other. Or you may want to serve once or twice a month (on rotation) in one service but still worship on the same day that you serve. Regardless of how often you serve, we encourage you to worship with God’s people every Sunday.

• First Impressions (parking, greeters, coffee, etc.): 48
• Children (nursery, children’s worship, etc): 42
• Operations (security, medical, etc): 6
• Worship (praise team, tech): 19

In total, we need 115 volunteers to cover both services.

Please fill out our Two Service Volunteer Interest Form. Thank you so much!

To ease overcrowding before moving to two services, we are expanding the worship “overflow space” in the Youth Room. We may also reserve a small section of the sanctuary for visitors. Have other ideas? Let us know! Email twoservices@covenantpalmbay.org.

Here is a snapshot of recent data provided by our Deacons that highlights the trends driving this decision:

• Attendance Growth: Average attendance grew by over 10% from Q2 2025 to Q2 2026.
• Spikes Over 500: In all of 2025, attendance exceeded 500 people 11 times. By mid-August 2026, we’ve already hit that milestone 12 times.
• Sanctuary Capacity: Sanctuary seating currently averages 76% capacity—even with an average of 30 people in the overflow room. Peak weeks reached 85% capacity (about 90% without overflow). In church ministry, 80% capacity creates a “crowding factor” that actively discourages visitors and restricts future growth.
• Parking Constraints: On an average Sunday, both our main lot and the adjacent dentist’s office lot are completely full. Late arrivals are forced to park on the grass, along the curb, or at Pineapple Cove.

Why do these numbers matter? Consider a young family arriving a few minutes late. Driving through a full parking lot and then having to park over at Pineapple Cove means a nearly quarter-mile walk with their children to reach our doors. We want to eliminate these friction points to ensure a welcoming first impression for everyone. If someone decides not to come back to Covenant, we do not want the reason to be that there was “no room for them in the inn.”