Our StoryBuilt from the ashes. Reimagined for connection.
How a fire, two years, and a whole lot of stubborn hope became The PHNX.
01
THE FIREMay 7th, 2023.
We lost everything.
It was a Sunday. And by the end of it, the building we had called home since 2012 was gone.
The fire took the building. It took the equipment. It took the physical place we'd poured eleven years of our lives into. And honestly? Standing there watching it, we didn't think about the stuff.
We thought about the people. We thought about how we could continue to rally everyone together Monday morning. And we thought about whether we could hold it together for a community that counts on us.
We didn't sleep much that night. But we showed up at 5am the next morning anyway. Because that's what you do. That's what our people had always done. And we weren't about to stop now.
02
THE REBUILD104 weekends away from our home. Not one complaint.
Gateway Family Church (our home church) opened their doors to us the very next day. And then from there and for the next two years, every Sunday after the service let out, we'd set up the entire sanctuary for us to use for the week. We pulled gym equipment out of closets, trailers, and shipping containers, setting it all up inside the worship sanctuary, and stacked and stored 100+ church chairs.
Then every Friday, before the weekend started, we'd flip it back and break down every piece of gym equipment. Dozens of kettlebells, dumbbells, rowers, heavy rubber mat flooring, medicine balls, bikes, ski-ergs, boxes, TV’s, and more… enough equipment for a 250+ member gym.
We’d run our week of classes, improving peoples lives, then on our last class of Friday we would haul it all back out to wherever it came from, and pull every single sanctuary chair back in so the church looked exactly like a church again by Sunday morning. Not once in a while. Not most weekends. Every. Single. Weekend. For two years. 104 times.
104
WEEKENDS OF SETUP AND TEARDOWN
2
YEARS OF REBUILDING WHILE STILL SERVING
0
DAYS WE STOPPED SHOWING UP
Here's the thing about that season that we didn't expect — we got closer. Not despite the hard, but because of it. Our community didn't shrink. It got tighter. People showed up who we didn't even know were paying that close attention. Friends moved flooring. People said "we've got it" and meant it. It was the kind of thing you can't make up. You either have people like that around you, or you don't. We did.
We're still grateful for that every single day.
03
FINALLY HOME104 weekends away. Then we came home.
What most people don't know is that we designed it, developed it, and built it, all while still setting up and tearing down inside the church every single week. There was no pause button. No season where we got to just focus only on the build or only on the business or only on ourselves. We were managing construction decisions, dealing with delays, making calls we'd never made before and then showing up Friday night to haul gym equipment out of a trailer anyway.
The delays were real. There were stretches where we didn't know when it was going to end. It’s easy to handle hard when you can see the finish line. It's the seasons where the finish line keeps moving that really test you.
But then the doors opened. And we were finally able to walk in.
And honestly? It felt like coming home after two years away on a long trip. Because that's exactly what it was. This was all of ours, something we had designed and fought for and believed in even when we weren't sure we should keep believing. And suddenly it was real. It was done. The weight that had been sitting on our shoulders for 730 days just lifted.
What used to be just a gym is now something we never could have planned. Multiple businesses operating under one roof. Local owners. Real people building real things. And on the weekends, a private event venue that Trussville didn't have before and genuinely needed.
We're humbled by what came to life here. And we don't take a single event, a single booking, a single person who walks through those doors for granted.
139 Railroad Street — Grand Opening 5/23/25
04
WHY THE VENUEThis isn't just
a side business.
It's the mission.
People ask us sometimes why we do the venue side of things. Like… you were gym people, why the events?
And the honest answer is that it has never really been about a “gym” or a “business”. It was always about people. Changing lives. Community. Giving folks a place to belong and a reason to show up for each other.
A wedding is that. A baby shower is that. A birthday party, a corporate dinner, a graduation, all of it is people choosing to celebrate each other. And we get to be the place where that happens. We don’t take it for granted.
We're not a corporate venue with staff rotating in and out. It's us. Andrew and Candace. Reading your message, responding to your questions, checking your date personally. We care what your event looks and feels like because this place was built on caring, and we're not about to stop now.
This journey has stretched us in ways we didn't see coming. There were long days, closed doors, and seasons where keeping going felt like a lot to ask of ourselves.
But what came out the other side is something we're genuinely proud of. Not because of the building — though it's beautiful — but because of what it represents. Faith. Community. People choosing to show up for each other even when it's hard.
This isn't just our dream. It's a reflection of every single person who walked with us through the fire and into this next chapter.
We're so glad you're here.
Welcome to our family.
Founders, The PHNX Collective · Trussville, Alabama
Andrew & Candace Rape
WANT TO BE PART OF WHAT’S HAPPENING NEXT?Come see it
for yourself.
Whether you're planning a wedding, a birthday party, a baby shower, or a corporate event — we'd love to show you around and talk through what your event could look like here.