Phos FAQ

One of our teens is doing a School Newspaper Feature on Phos and she asked me to answer these questions so I thought I'd go ahead and post my answer to her questions for others to see 'cause these are pretty typical of what many want to know.

So, thanks to Maddie for asking.

1. What prompted the launch of Phos Hilaron Church (ph-church)?
Starting a church had never showed up on my life radar as something I’d want to do or be interested in doing until a friend brought it up. About 4 years ago Rick Lucas, husband of former OCHS teacher Lucy Lucas, spoke with the Pastor of the church where I was Youth Minister about the possibility of releasing me to start a new church. When our Pastor came to me and mentioned the idea I had zero interest as I was very focused on working with teenagers in the great church where I was working. So, I did nothing and just ignored the request for several months until another friend approached me from out of the blue about the same notion of starting a new church. I was also involved in course work with Fuller Seminary out of California and was having my eyes opened to the huge need for new churches to reach people who don’t have a church home in the U.S. All these events conspired to opening my heart to the possibility and to listening to see if God was really trying to tell me something. And, so I began to listen and to learn more about the need for new churches focused on giving people outside the existing churches a place to belong.

So, after lots of praying, asking, studying, and research I knew that this would be the next step in my life journey. From High School Teacher at OCHS, to Youth Minister to Lead Pastor of Phos Hilaron Church – what a crazy ride!

So, it came out of the blue and over a 3 year period I sensed it as a call from God to take action and launch this new movement call Phos.

2. What does PH stand for?
PH stands for ‘Phos Hilaron’ and has a double meaning for us around Phos. Phos is the Greek root word for light and Hilaron is the greek root for our word ‘hilarious’. So, literally, it means Dancing Light and reminds us that Jesus said that His followers would be light in the world showing people the path to a full on relationship with God.

The second meaning is that the ‘Phos Hilaron’ is the name of the first song (hymn) that we have any record of from the earliest followers of Jesus. The legend goes that when the early church would gather in the dark trying to avoid being found out from the authorities who would persecute or kill them that someone would go to the tomb of Christ where a light was perpetually burning and bring torch lit there into the gathering and as that light approached the believers would sing the Phos Hilaron. So, our name reminds us of our mission today and it also reminds us that we’re connected back over 2,000 years to the very first followers of Jesus Christ.

3. A lot of people like the idea, but why is the church held in a movie theater?
We meet in a movie theater because we’re committed to being a church that gathers and serves right where the community goes to live and work and play. So, we gather there because it’s at a well known community crossroads location and because we can allow guests to bring their drinks into the theater that we use as a Sanctuary. We want people to be invited into a discussion about God and the life that He has for us the way we’d have coffee at Starbucks or at our kitchen table, so we needed a venue that helps people feel warm and invited to the discussion.

4. What is a service worship that happens once a month at ph-church?
A ‘Service Worship Experience’ (SWE) happens about once a month around Phos when we go out into the community to serve to meet a need that the community or a person in the community has. Romans 12:1-2 says that we should ‘offer ourselves as a living sacrifice and that it would be a reasonable act of worship’. So, we’re trying to help people reconnect to God through serving others as an act of worship. The team that launched Phos studied long and hard about what the early movement that Jesus established did and was like and we’re re-imagining church to reflect that more closely.

So far, our Service Worship Experiences have had us at Briar Hill Park, Wendell Moore Park, Apple Patch Community, Angel Tree, Jefferson Street Homeless Shelter and more. These are great ways for families to serve together to make a difference and for students to rack up Community Service Hours for school clubs like Beta Club.


Jeff Fuson serves as Point Leader for Phos Hilaron Church near Louisville Kentucky. Jeff's # 1 passion is being a husband and daddy. A close second is seeing people grow spiritually. As a Professional Speaker Jeff also serves as a Keynote Speaker & Trainer crafting & delivering high impact keynote addresses & training events for Entrepreneurs, Banks, Credit Unions, and small to medium sized non-profit & for profit enterprises. He's got one incredible wife and 3 awesome children.