Vision and Imagination inspired the purchase of 8.5 acres of land near a dirt road named Daniel’s in the early 1980s. Soon after that, the Horizon Community Church began. As the vision grew, the merger of Horizon Evangelical Friends Church, and the Pilgrims United Church of Christ became a reality. 

Rev. Jeff Moran
Rev. Moran was born in Steubenville, Ohio. While attending Asbury College, Jeff felt that God was calling him into fulltime pastoral ministry. As a result, he graduated from Asbury in 1971 and attended Asbury Theological Seminary for one year. In 1974 he graduated from the Methodist Theological School in Ohio with a Master of Divinity degree.

Pastor Jeff served United Methodist churches in Eastern Ohio from 1972 through 1988, and then came to Fort Myers, Florida in 1988, serving Horizon Evangelical Friends Church. In 2003, Jeff became the co-pastor of the Church of the Cross with Rev. Butler.

Jeff and his wife Marti Johnson Moran were married in 1969. They are the parents of a daughter, Kelly Willis and a son, Jeff Moran, Jr. The Moran's have six grandchildren: three girls and three boys.

Rev. Michael Butler
Rev. Butler has lived in Florida since the age of nine.
He is the son of a pastor and was raised in the Baptist Church in his home town of Pensacola, Florida. After graduating from the University of West Florida in 1977, he attended and graduated from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky in 1979.

Pastor Butler served as an associate minister in the areas of youth, recreation, education, and senior adults before becoming a pastor in 2001. In 2003, he became co-pastor of the Church of the Cross.