Reaching Neighborhoods and Nations in Huber Heights
Pastor Will Massaro, lead pastor of Trails Church, Huber Heights, his wife, Alyssa, sons, Liam, Luca, and newborn Lottie. Lottie was named in honor of missionary Lottie Moon.
Early in his career, Pastor Will Massaro felt God calling him to either the pastorate or the mission field.
Today, as lead pastor of Trails Church, a young church plant in Huber Heights, Massaro gets to do both right in his own neighborhood. He leads his church and works to reach the Meskhetian Turkish community that has settled in the Dayton area.
“I just had this desire to be a pastor,” he said. “I knew that God might call me and my family to missions someday. To have the opportunity to kind of do both – be a missionary to this community and to be a pastor of this small flock that God has entrusted to me as a church planter seems like an opportunity to do both.”
The seeds for Trails Church were planted at its sending church, Forest Ridge Baptist Church, Dayton, where Massaro served as associate pastor.
“Forest Ridge is a small Southern Baptist-on-every-corner kind of church building,” he said. “We could fit 100 people, and we had 100 people.”
After deciding against building a new building or starting an additional service, church leaders chose to send out a group of 20 people 20 minutes north of the church in the Huber Heights area.
“We had a community group that was already meeting in the Carriage Trails area. We talked to our elders about that and everyone was excited about it,” he recalled.
After a year of preparation, Trails Church launched in the spring of 2024 with a core team of 16 at the YMCA in Huber Heights.
In the past 10-11 months, Massaro says the church has experienced slow and steady growth.
“God has really blessed us. We have brought in a few members here and there. We went from 16 to 23 now with two in the membership process,” he said.
The church also witnessed the salvation of its first two new believers in December 2024.
A couple from Pennsylvania moved to Huber Heights and although they weren’t believers, they visited the church at the YMCA.
“I walked them through the gospel and they believed in Jesus, right in my living room and then we baptized them just last month and they became members last week,” he said. “So we’re really excited. It’s a great encouragement to our church.”
In addition to new believers, Massaro says many unbelievers have heard the gospel for the first time since the launch of Trails Church, and believers are growing in three community groups that meet throughout the week.
As the church moves toward its first anniversary, Massaro has goals for his congregation.
“I’d like to just continue to be faithful,” he said. “I don’t necessarily have numeric goals but we would like to see new believers come and hear the gospel and respond to the gospel.”
He hopes some of those new believers come through outreach to the Meskhetian Turkish population in Dayton.
“We have strong desires to reach out to them,” he said. “I’m sitting in a house right now that if I stand on my porch, I cannot see another American. It is one hundred percent Turkish. So we kind of jumped into this community with the desire to be able to reach the Turkish community.”
Massaro hopes to train his church in evangelism and how to engage with those in Islam. “You know, just prepare our team for what we believe God has called us to do, which is to reach out to the nations around us.”
During the Week of Prayer for North American Missions, please pray for Will Massaro and Trails Church as they strive to reach Huber Heights and the Meskhetian Turks in their area.
Prayer Requests:
Pray for the Massaro Family: Will, Alyssa and their three children, Liam (4), Luca (2), and Lottie (3 months). Please pray for Will and Alyssa’s marriage to stay strong under the stress of church planting while raising three young children.
Pray for Trails Church: Please pray for unity and a shared vision and mission for the church.
Pray for the Meskhetian Turkish community: Please pray for the Lord to open opportunities to share the gospel and open hearts to receive the gospel.
Today, as lead pastor of Trails Church, a young church plant in Huber Heights, Massaro gets to do both right in his own neighborhood. He leads his church and works to reach the Meskhetian Turkish community that has settled in the Dayton area.
“I just had this desire to be a pastor,” he said. “I knew that God might call me and my family to missions someday. To have the opportunity to kind of do both – be a missionary to this community and to be a pastor of this small flock that God has entrusted to me as a church planter seems like an opportunity to do both.”
The seeds for Trails Church were planted at its sending church, Forest Ridge Baptist Church, Dayton, where Massaro served as associate pastor.
“Forest Ridge is a small Southern Baptist-on-every-corner kind of church building,” he said. “We could fit 100 people, and we had 100 people.”
After deciding against building a new building or starting an additional service, church leaders chose to send out a group of 20 people 20 minutes north of the church in the Huber Heights area.
“We had a community group that was already meeting in the Carriage Trails area. We talked to our elders about that and everyone was excited about it,” he recalled.
After a year of preparation, Trails Church launched in the spring of 2024 with a core team of 16 at the YMCA in Huber Heights.
In the past 10-11 months, Massaro says the church has experienced slow and steady growth.
“God has really blessed us. We have brought in a few members here and there. We went from 16 to 23 now with two in the membership process,” he said.
The church also witnessed the salvation of its first two new believers in December 2024.
A couple from Pennsylvania moved to Huber Heights and although they weren’t believers, they visited the church at the YMCA.
“I walked them through the gospel and they believed in Jesus, right in my living room and then we baptized them just last month and they became members last week,” he said. “So we’re really excited. It’s a great encouragement to our church.”
In addition to new believers, Massaro says many unbelievers have heard the gospel for the first time since the launch of Trails Church, and believers are growing in three community groups that meet throughout the week.
As the church moves toward its first anniversary, Massaro has goals for his congregation.
“I’d like to just continue to be faithful,” he said. “I don’t necessarily have numeric goals but we would like to see new believers come and hear the gospel and respond to the gospel.”
He hopes some of those new believers come through outreach to the Meskhetian Turkish population in Dayton.
“We have strong desires to reach out to them,” he said. “I’m sitting in a house right now that if I stand on my porch, I cannot see another American. It is one hundred percent Turkish. So we kind of jumped into this community with the desire to be able to reach the Turkish community.”
Massaro hopes to train his church in evangelism and how to engage with those in Islam. “You know, just prepare our team for what we believe God has called us to do, which is to reach out to the nations around us.”
During the Week of Prayer for North American Missions, please pray for Will Massaro and Trails Church as they strive to reach Huber Heights and the Meskhetian Turks in their area.
Prayer Requests:
Pray for the Massaro Family: Will, Alyssa and their three children, Liam (4), Luca (2), and Lottie (3 months). Please pray for Will and Alyssa’s marriage to stay strong under the stress of church planting while raising three young children.
Pray for Trails Church: Please pray for unity and a shared vision and mission for the church.
Pray for the Meskhetian Turkish community: Please pray for the Lord to open opportunities to share the gospel and open hearts to receive the gospel.
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