Our Story

In 2003, Dan and Amanda Ghramm, with their son, Elijah, moved to Cleveland to pastor in a church in a west suburb of Cleveland. They bought a home on the west side of Cleveland not realizing that God was preparing them for something big in the city.

They had always planned to move out of Cleveland to be closer to where Dan served as a Pastor. He knew God would have him one day be a lead pastor but never expected to be planting a church. God used those years living in Cleveland to grow a love for the people of the city and to prepare them with the skills necessary to start a new church. Every time they thought about moving, God did not give them peace. They weren't sure why until much later.

Dan and Pastor Alex Ennes served on staff together until 2006 when God led Alex to plant Gateway Church in Downtown Cleveland. Dan thought Alex was a bit nuts but still kept in contact. When Alex approached Dan in July of 2008 with the idea of planting a church, Dan thought Alex was really nuts. However, he agreed to meet with Guy Stevens, the director of NEO 360, a trans-denominational church planting organization in northeast Ohio. This meeting led to a commitment to pray about it and to begin the church planter assessment process.

After some (ok, a lot) prayer God made it clear that a new church was needed in West Cleveland, right in the Ghramm's back yard. It was during this time the vision for Gateway West became a much clearer reality.

After completing the assessment and training process, and being joined by best friends Dale and Lottie Krabill, a launch team was assembled February and March of 2009. God made it clear that they were to focus on a specific group of neighborhoods surrounding R.G. Jones Elementary (a Cleveland public school), where the church now meets.

God began opening doors as the Launch Team developed a launch strategy during the spring to implement at the beginning of the summer. Their goal was to be involved in the community as possible. With the help of missions teams from the area and around the country, they painted houses, cleaned a creek, gave away cookies, painted fences, march in a parade, supported a blood drive, put on two community festivals, held preview services, and mailed invitations to 19,000 homes. All of this led up to a launch on Sunday, October 11, 2009.

God has blessed us greatly through the launch process. We have seen seven people make decisions to follow Jesus and ten get baptized. We have averaged almost 100 people a week in worship services since the launch. We are committed to loving God, living in community with each other and serving the City.

This is only the beginning of the journey that God has us on. We look forward to what He has for us next.