The Grove Church

The Grove Church is in Washington state. Their domain is grove.church. I worked with two main creative leads during the engagement. Evan Westerfield (ewesterfield@grove.church) ran the media side when I came on. Eli Angulo (eangulo@grove.church) stepped in as Creative Director in June 2024. Aleah Loffer (aloffer@grove.church) came in on the kids ministry side for events like the Back to School Bash. The brand colors and fonts were specific (Museo Sans Rounded and a brand green at #019447), and Grove kept that brand discipline tight across every piece.

How we started

The earliest project on record is the New Series called Three Years that Changed the World, kicked off by Evan on February 1, 2024. From there we ramped quickly. Easter design work in mid-February, a Shuttling logo design, QR code cards, a Missions Map, and the new Not It sermon series in early March. By April we were working on entrance and exit signs, a Grove Men lanyard, and Grove Kids signage. The subscription was in full swing by spring.

The work

Grove ran multiple ministry tracks at once and I covered most of them. Sermon series art across Three Years that Changed the World, Not It, Never Gonna Give You Up, Suit Yourself, and others. Kids ministry signage, touch cards, A-Frame parking signs for the Back to School Bash, and a major Discipleship Booklet that Evan handed off as a "big project" in August 2024. Youth ministry assets including a YTH Sunday push, Move Up Sunday, and the eventual final youth ministry sign in February 2025. Outreach events like iHeart Summer Fest, Fight Hunger, and Respite Day. A standalone Breakfast Club piece. Holiday and seasonal cadence around Easter, Thanksgiving, and the new year.

The work pace tightened in the second half of the year. Eli came on as Creative Director on June 11, 2024 and we ran straight from his first projects (a new series called Never Gonna Give You Up, an iHeart Summer Fest print job) through Christmas. There was a stretch where projects piled up faster than I could comfortably ship, and I had to plan around a holiday schedule and a New Year's schedule with him directly.

A specific moment

The handoff from Evan to Eli is the moment that captures Grove best for me. On May 29, 2024 Evan emailed, "I wanted to email and let you know that effective June 11 I will be stepping into another role at the church and not have my hand in media anymore. Eli Angulo, who I think you've worked with on a couple projects will be taking over as Creative Lead. I'll make sure to brief him on our process and do everything I can to make the transition as smooth as possible. So as of June 11 he will be the one reaching out on all future projects, I'll also be cc'ing him in projects up until that point so he can get an idea of how that works. I've really enjoyed working together so I'm bummed about stepping out of that, but excited for this new role." That is the cleanest internal handoff I have ever experienced as a vendor. Evan did exactly what he said he would do. Eli was up to speed by the first project he sent solo. No drop in quality, no confusion about brand assets, no missed deadlines. That is how a church should run a vendor transition.

In their words

"Again it has been a pleasure working with you!!" Eli Angulo, Creative Director, The Grove Church, February 13, 2025 (Final Project email)

Where things stand

The engagement wrapped in February 2025. Eli's "Final Project" email on February 13 was a vertical 33.5x80 inch youth ministry sign for Wednesday Night YTH and Sunday Breakfast Club. We iterated on the brand green tweak and the orientation correction (the sign was vertical, not horizontal), and shipped. The Grove Church is a past client and one of the proudest engagements on my list. The brand work was tight, the team was respectful and clear, and the relationship closed on a thank-you note rather than a budget cut. That's a rare and good way to end.