Cockrum Launching a “Radically Different” Church in the Heart of the Granite State

Fellowship Church team members serving at Police Night Out

Aaron Cockrum is planning “to do something radically different” in central New Hampshire.

When he and his wife, Linda, a chaplain with Marketplace Chaplains, decided that God was leading them and their three children to uproot their comfortable lives in Greenwood, MO, and plant themselves 1,400 miles east in the rocky soil of the Granite State, it was because they had already given their lives over to the Solid Rock, a popular name for Jesus Christ (see 1 Cor 3:11.) Beginning with public worship services this month, they and a small group of likeminded Christ followers are planting “a church FOR the city, not just IN the city” of Hooksett, a small middleclass bedroom town on the Merrimack River between Manchester and Concord.

One of the first tasks for the former union ironworker foreman, who calls himself an “undeserving yet completely grateful and forgiven sinner,” was visiting town leaders, police and fire department staff, and others to discover ways that he and his soon-to-be congregation, which is called Fellowship Church-Granite State, could “serve their community.” The response they received was thankfulness because, as Cockrum described it, “the town officials said they never had a church ask how they could help the community.” Fellowship’s desire, he added, is to “change this view of the church from simply a building to a vital piece of the community.”

Cockrum is often asked, “What does it mean to plant a church?” and “Where is your building?” “Planting a church,” he responds, “simply means: a group of people gathering together to create a new church with the intent to share the gospel.” He acknowledged that, while there are other churches in the area, including another Southern Baptist group, Harvest Baptist Church, on the other side of town, “there simply aren’t enough churches to meet the needs of a city the size of Hooksett” (14,871, 2020 census.)  

Trunk or Treat outreach event that drew over 2,000 attendees

He and his small group have been networking with other evangelical pastors in the region. They welcomed visiting mission teams who painted and repaired baseball fields. They hosted “Family Night Out” events at the town hall, which provided a place for families to gather and play games, do crafts, and hear the gospel. Fellowship also partnered with five other churches to host a “trunk or treat” event that drew over 2,000 people and they are hosting an Easter egg hunt for the community where they will distribute 10,000 eggs to build relationships.

Fellowship’s vision for the city comes, not surprisingly, from the Bible, which says, “Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile and pray to the Lord on its behalf; for in its welfare, you will have welfare” (Jer 29:7, NASB.)

“While this is not the permanent home for Fellowship’s believers, God’s desire is still for them to seek the welfare of Hooksett.” His foremost desire is for his neighbors to discover and develop meaningful relationships with Jesus Christ, which “begins with relationships with those in the community.”  

Fellowship Church–Granite State found its beginnings in “the ashes of brokenness in Kansas City, MO.,” when Cockrum, an atheist, was on the verge of divorce. “Not long after I turned 40, I fell to the lowest point my life has ever been. I was blind to the fact that my wife of ten years was unhappy with the husband and father I was­—or that I actually wasn’t. I didn’t realize how withdrawn from my family I had become until she told me she wanted a divorce. I was crushed,” he revealed in an online post.

Cockrum, 45, sought “any help I could find,” which turned out to be a pastor who talked about forgiveness and Jesus. Over the next couple of months, he “kept attending church, even though I had no idea why. My wife and I kept going to counseling and church. We found a way to forgive ourselves and each other for what had happened and made major life changes for the good. We are happier now than ever. Two months after my first time going to that church, I asked the pastor to pray with me to ask Jesus to forgive my sins and I accepted him as my savior,” he wrote.

Pastor Aaron preaching at Christmastime

Nowadays he describes himself as “a man changed by the grace of God, a man who answered the call of God to take the gospel to the people of New Hampshire.” A “Southern Baptist by conviction,” the church planter found not only a faith in Christ, but eventually a call to pastoral ministry. After a successful career at Lico Steel in Kansas City, he enrolled in Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and received a Master of Divinity in 2022.

Fellowship Church in Greenwood ordained Cockrum to the gospel ministry and the family moved to Hooksett in August 2021. He has been “living out the vision of the church” as the church planting intern at FaithBridge Church, Manchester, where Rich Clegg is the pastor.

Clegg also leads New England Baptists in the state as a member of the Baptist Churches of New England staff.

The Cockrums “radically different,” community-focused church in the heart of the Granite State is about to become a reality for all to witness. Sunday, March 26, 2023, which he called “merely another means of engaging the local community with the gospel,” marks the “beginning of the next phase” for Fellowship Church-Granite State. The inaugural worship will be held at 9:30 am at the Hooksett Town Hall.  

Almost six years after their journey began, Cockrum said, “It is amazing to see how God has been a part of it all along the way.” Two weeks before Easter will be the church’s “official launch.” Fellowship’s story, he tells anyone who will listen, will be “a testimony that God will be glorified in all that he does. It will simply remind us of God’s glory, goodness, grace, and providence—time and time again.”

A Massachusetts native and a New England Baptist since 1970, Dan Nicholas is the BCNE managing editor.