The Church at BattleCreek
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The Church at BattleCreek is an American evangelical Christian church located at 3025 N. Aspen Ave. in Broken Arrow, Tulsa County, Oklahoma. It was founded in 2003 and is notable for its rapid growth. Its name is derived from the planned community in which it is located.
[edit] History
In 2002, approximately 100 remaining members of Gracemont Baptist Church in Broken Arrow, OK, asked Dr. Alex Himaya to accept a position as Senior Pastor and to help revitalize the church. Due to a series of events the Gracemont congregation had experienced a serious decline in membership. At the time the remaining members of the congregation found themselves in possession of a large meeting space (originally built as an Outlet mall but acquired by Gracemont during a period of growth in the 1980s) and an equally large mortgage.
Dr. Himaya agreed to accept the position with the understanding that the church would essentially dissolve and reorganize as a new congregation with a new name, new ministry efforts, and a strong emphasis on evangelism. According to TCABC, Dr. Himaya set the direction for the church during an initial meeting when he stated: "Tulsa does not need another church. What Tulsa does need is a safe environment where the unchurched can come and hear the life-changing truth that Jesus Christ cares for them and died for their sin." [1] Soon after, the congregation incorporated as "The Church at BattleCreek."
The Church at BattleCreek held its initial public service on August 14, 2003. As of the church's third anniversary in August 2006, it was reporting weekly attendance at two Sunday morning services of over 1600 people, including over 700 children and teenagers. The church had also retired its mortgage debt and the staff of the church had expanded to include five full-time pastors, and several other full and part-time employees. Additionally, TCABC was operating a daily preschool and providing meeting space and financial support to Christian congregations for Arabic and Spanish speaking people in the Tulsa Metropolitan Area. In 2007, the church began construction of a 2,500 seat auditorium with state of the art audio-visual capabilities.
[edit] Affiliation
The Church at BattleCreek is part of the Southern Baptist Convention. However, in general TCABC employs more of a non-denominational approach and does not necessarily emphasize its Baptist affiliation.
