{"id":1228,"date":"2023-09-02T12:12:52","date_gmt":"2023-09-02T12:12:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cccfornews.com\/index.php\/2023\/09\/02\/opening-at-new-church-of-highlands-campus-draws-almost-3000-attendees\/"},"modified":"2023-09-02T12:12:52","modified_gmt":"2023-09-02T12:12:52","slug":"opening-at-new-church-of-highlands-campus-draws-almost-3000-attendees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cccfornews.com\/index.php\/2023\/09\/02\/opening-at-new-church-of-highlands-campus-draws-almost-3000-attendees\/","title":{"rendered":"Opening at new Church of Highlands campus draws almost 3,000 attendees"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Worshipers attend the opening worship service at the Alabaster, Alabama, campus of the Church of the Highlands on Sunday, Aug. 27, 2023. <\/span> | Church of the Highlands <\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Nearly 3,000 people attended the opening of the new permanent location of a satellite campus for the prominent Alabama-based megachurch Church of the Highlands.<\/p>\n

The Alabaster campus<\/a>, which was founded in 2015 and had been meeting at a local middle school, held the first worship services for its permanent location on Highway 119 last Sunday.<\/p>\n

Highlands Senior Pastor Leadership Team member Layne Schrantz told The Christian Post that the opening Sunday saw 2,980 attendees spread over three different worship services.<\/p>\n

Schrantz said the location was chosen because it is \u201ccentrally located in the community,\u201d believing that \u201cso many people in\u201d Alabaster \u201care on fire for God and eager to serve their community in the name of Jesus.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt allows us to expand both our service to the community and what we offer to those who call Highlands home,\u201d he said, noting that Highlands was \u201cgrateful for the partnership\u201d with Thompson Middle School and was \u201cpleased\u201d that they \u201cwere able to invest in it by making improvements beyond our weekly rental.\u201d<\/p>\n

Regarding other developments with Highlands, Schrantz shared that the church was set to open a second satellite campus in Huntsville. The scheduled opening date for the second Huntsville location is Sept. 10, though the congregation will be meeting at a local movie theater until their campus is completed next year.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have seen such tremendous growth,\u201d Schrantz commented. \u201cIt\u2019s incredible to see how God is on the move.\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n

Church of the Highlands was founded<\/a> in 2001 by Pastor Chris Hodges, who also helped to establish the Association of Related Churches, which has reportedly helped plant hundreds of churches.<\/p>\n

In 2019, Highlands opened its first campus outside of Alabama when it launched a satellite location in Columbus, Georgia, with Kyle Jackson serving as campus pastor.<\/p>\n

According to a welcome video released at the time, Jackson said<\/a> that the Columbus campus emerged from small groups that were meeting in the area, namely for prayer.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith the Auburn and the Opelika campuses being a 45-minute drive away, even though it was in a different time zone, we had a lot of people sort of driving and going to church and hosting small groups over here and praying together, and we just started to demand a campus over here,\u201d Jackson said in 2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are a church of prayer, and it matters. The harvest that we are going to see is because of the seeds that have been planted through prayer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Church of the Highlands has grown to over two dozen campuses.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Follow Michael Gryboski on Twitter <\/a> or Facebook<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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