Gateway Church (Texas)

Gateway Church
Country United States
Denomination Non-denominational charismatic
Website www.gatewaypeople.com
History
Founded April 2000
Clergy
Senior pastor(s) Robert Morris

Gateway Church is a non-denominational Charismatic Christian church located in Southlake, Texas. In 2014, Outreach magazine named Gateway as the 3rd largest church in the US.[1] The church estimates it has 36,000 active members.[2] In 2014, the church averaged 27,271 weekly attendees, with 50,605 attending over Easter weekend, a total of 3,528 professions of faith, and 1,772 water baptisms.[3] The church is home to the Christian recording artist and Dove Award winner Kari Jobe, who works as a worship pastor.[4] It is also home to Gateway NEXT, the children's worship group who won Gateway's most recent Dove award for the album "Look Up," produced by Josh Alltop. Since 2010 the church is a partner of Lagoinha Church of Brazil.

History

On September 16, 1999, Pastor Robert Morris began to plan a Bible-based, evangelistic church in Southlake, Texas. Morris hoped to serve Northeast Tarrant County, the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex and beyond. Gateway’s first service was on Easter morning, April 23, 2000, at the Hilton Hotel in Grapevine with approximately 180 people in attendance. A few weeks later, the church began meeting on Saturday nights at Christ Our King Church in Southlake. In July 2001, Gateway Church began meeting at the A World of Learning daycare facility in Grapevine, during which time the church grew to five services with over 2,000 people attending weekly. [5]

Senior Pastor

Robert Morris is featured on the weekly television program, The Blessed Life, produced by the church. He is the author of 11 books including The Blessed Life, From Dream to Destiny, The Power of Your Words, The God I Never Knew and The Blessed Church.[6] Morris is also part of the advisory counsel for The Vernon Wells Perfect 10 Foundation.[7] He is also the Chairman of Board of The King's University, an Overseer of New Life Church in Colorado Springs and an Apostolic Elder of Trinity Fellowship Church in Amarillo, Texas.

Senior Pastoral Team

Pastor Tom Lane serves as Lead Executive Senior Pastor of Gateway Church, overseeing the church ministries on a weekly basis working with the Senior Pastoral Team.

The Senior Pastoral Team consists of Thomas Miller, Steve Dulin, David Smith, Todd Lane, John Spurling, Kevin Grove, Gayland Lawshe, Allan Kelsey, David Leuschner and Bobby Bogard, each of them oversee multiple areas of ministry through a group of Executive Staff.

Campus Locations

The church currently conducts 23 weekend services at 5 locations across the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. An affiliated church plant called Gateway Scottsdale opened in Scottsdale, AZ in August 2012.

Southlake Campus

In 2008, the church began work on the new campus located on State Highway 114 between Kimball Ave and Carroll Blvd. The initial phase includes a 4,000 seat sanctuary, which opened on November 13, 2010 with more than 6,000 people in attendance. In 2013, the church reported that the Southlake campus averaged 13,710 per weekend.[8] The campus serves as the church's central ministry facility.[9]

North Richland Hills Campus

In November 2007, Gateway opened a new campus in North Richland Hills, TX. The building is almost 50,000 square feet (4,600 m2) in size and sits on approximately nine acres. Weekend services at the NRH Campus are a mirror of those at the main Southlake Campus with live worship and personal ministry, but with the message delivered via live video from the Southlake Campus. In addition to facilitating five weekend services, the NRH campus also serves as multi-purpose facility with an emphasis on ministry to Jr. and Sr. High students.[5] Pastor Byron Copeland serves as the Campus Pastor. The NRH campus is also home to Gateway's Messianic Jewish ministries. The Messianic congregation is said by the church to be the largest in the United States, with some services reaching over 1,000 people.[3] The average weekend service attendance in 2013 at the North Richland Hills campus was said to be 3,829.[3]

Frisco Campus

In April 2010, the overseers of Northstar Church in Frisco, Texas asked Gateway to assist them in a transition process following the resignation of their senior pastor, Blaine Bartel.[10] Gateway provided video messages and worship teams for the church before announcing that Northstar would become a Gateway extension campus on June 10, 2010.[11] As with the NRH campus, the weekend services are a mirror of those at the Southlake Campus with live worship and personal ministry, but with the message delivered via live video from the Southlake Campus. In addition to facilitating five weekend services, the Frisco campus serves as a multi-purpose facility with an emphasis on ministry to Jr. High and Sr. High students. Pastor Randy Cochran serves as the Campus Pastor. In 2013, the Frisco campus averaged 2,258 people per weekend according to the church's annual report.[3]

North Fort Worth Campus

The fourth campus of Gateway Church started weekend services in a temporary location at Fossil Ridge High School in August 2012. A permanent location at the intersection of Beach and Basswood opened in July 2013. As with the NRH campus, the weekend services are a mirror of those at the Southlake Campus with live worship and personal ministry, but with the message delivered via prerecorded video from the Southlake Campus. On October 7, 2012, the North Fort Worth location began offering a third service to help meet the growing congregation size. The North Fort Worth Campus currently offers five services to serve their congregation. Pastor Marcus Brecheen serves as the Campus Pastor. In 2013, the North Fort Worth campus averaged 3,046 people per weekend.[3]

Grand Prairie Campus

In early 2013, it was announced that Shady Grove Church in Grand Prairie, Texas, would become a campus of Gateway. The transition started in March 2013. The Grand Prairie location seats around 1,500. The campus is off of 161 (The President George Bush Turnpike) and Carrier Parkway. Pastor Mark Jobe served as the Campus Pastor. In 2013, the Grand Prairie campus averaged 988 people per weekend.[3]

Gateway Church Scottsdale

In Fall 2011, Gateway announced that Pastor Preston Morrison (former Young Adults Pastor) was planting a new "Gateway Church" in Scottsdale, Arizona. The church launched in August 2012. This is different from a campus as Morrison will be the senior pastor that will be preaching with a staff team and independent eldership.

Ministries

The King's University at Gateway

Launched in September 2012, The King's University at Gateway offers full accredited undergraduate and master degree with a doctorate degree plan within two years. When initially launched, the Southlake campus was an extension campus located at the former Southlake church building on Southlake Blvd. On November 14, 2013, there was a special Dedication Service and Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony at The King's University at Gateway making it the official location for King's University founded by Jack Hayford. Dr. John Spurling serves as the President.

Gateway Live

Gateway Live is Gateway's online webcast of most services at the North Richland Hills and Southlake Campuses. gatewaypeople.tv

The Blessed Life TV Show

Gateway produces a weekly television program called The Blessed Life. This program airs on the Daystar Television Network, Golden Eagle Broadcasting, and Trinity Broadcasting Network and features sermons and worship from past Gateway Church services.[12]

Gateway Worship

Gateway Worship, the worship band that leads worship at the Gateway Church, had some success in 2008 with their live album Wake Up the World. The album reached #2 on Billboard's Top Christian Albums Chart. Gateway's live album God Be Praised was released on November 9, 2010,[13] with Japanese, Korean and Portuguese versions released in 2012. In 2012, Gateway Worship released an EP, Great, Great God Gateway's live album Forever Yours was released on October 9, 2012. Gateway's Compilation Album Gateway Worship The First 10 Years released on March 18, 2013.

In 2012, Gateway Worship released two worship albums in various languages. In addition to the above mentioned God Be Praised, a compilation album titled The Lord Reigns was released in Portuguese, Spanish, German, Korean, Japanese and Mandarin. Gateway has also released several devotional albums and training videos

References

  1. ↑ "Outreach 100 Largest and Fastest Growing Churches in America" (PDF). Outreach. Retrieved October 20, 2014.
  2. ↑ ((cite web|title=About|url=http://gatewaypeople.com/content/about-pastor-robert-morris
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 Johnson, Gunnar. "Gateway Church 2013 Annual Report - Every Number Has A Name". Annualreport.gatewaypeople.com. Retrieved May 14, 2014.
  4. ↑ Kari Jobe, Dove Award Winner
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 "Gateway Church | we're all about people". Gatewaypeople.com. May 10, 2014. Retrieved May 14, 2014.
  6. ↑ "About Pastor Robert". Gateway Church. Retrieved February 27, 2014.
  7. ↑ "Vernon Wells Project".
  8. ↑ Johnson, Gunnar. "Gateway Church 2013 Annual Report - Every Number Has A Name". Annualreport.gatewaypeople.com. Retrieved May 14, 2014.
  9. ↑ "Gateway Church Opens New Campus". Retrieved November 5, 2010.
  10. ↑
  11. ↑ "Gateway Church Extension Campus". Gatewaypeople.com. Retrieved May 14, 2014.
  12. ↑ The Blessed Life program Information
  13. ↑ BillboardAllmusic

External links

Coordinates: 32°56′21″N 97°07′17″W / 32.939123°N 97.121525°W