Pinelake Church

Pinelake Church is the largest evangelical Christian Southern Baptist church in Mississippi [1] with six campuses in the central part of the state: Clinton, Madison, The Reservoir (Brandon/Flowood), Starkville, Oxford and an Online campus. An Average of 11,500 people attend services each Sunday,[2] with thousands more online.[3]

Pinelake Church
Pinelake Church Logo. Learn. Live. Lead. (graphic by Pinelake Church)
LocationBrandon, Mississippi Clinton, Mississippi Madison, Mississippi Starkville, Mississippi Oxford, Mississippi and the Online Campus
CountryUnited States of America
DenominationSouthern Baptist
Weekly attendance11,500 (as of August 2020)
Websitewww.pinelake.org
History
Founded21 March 1971 (1971-03-21)
Architecture
GroundbreakingNovember 2000
CompletedEnd 2003
Clergy
Senior pastor(s)Pastor Chip Henderson, and Executive Pastor Tim Smith (Pastors in Charge)
Laity
Music group(s)Pinelake Worship

History

Pinelake Church was established in February 1971 in a home on Bay Park Drive in Brandon, Mississippi. The first worship service was held on March 21 as Rankin Baptist Chapel with 32 people in a mobile chapel on Spillway Road.

JC Renfroe, Director of Mission for the Rankin County Baptist Association, served as the first Interim Pastor from 1971 until February 10, 1974. The church's first full-time pastor, Gary Watkins, served from February 17, 1974, until 1976. Subsequent pastors were Lannie Wilbourn, who served from August 1977 until July 1995, and Tommy Politz, who served from March 1997 until July 1998.[4]

Chip Henderson took over as pastor in January 1999, and the church began to grow quickly. In February 2000, church leaders began to look for a new location. In November 2000, the church purchased 170 acres of land on Lakeland Drive. The church began to build a new facility on the land, and opened this new campus with services in November 2003.

Through 2004 and 2005, weekly attendance increased by 1,500 people, bringing the Sunday attendance to more than 4,000.

In the fall of 2006, the church opened a second campus in the Madison/Ridgeland area, meeting in Ridgeland High School. More campuses followed: in Clinton in January 2009, in Starkville in 2011, in the Gluckstadt community of Madison County In April 2012, and in Oxford in 2015.

The church has also spent money to train new ministers, expand its global mission, and develop resources. It runs an 11-month Ascend internship program and a Church Planting Residency.

Ranking

In 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2016, and 2018 Pinelake was ranked one of the fastest-growing churches in America by Outreach magazine. Outreach also named Pinelake to its "100 Largest Churches in America" list in 2009 and 2011 through 2020. In mid-2020, it was ranked the 18th-largest church with some 11,400 in attendance each week,[2] down from 12,000 the previous year.

References
  1. JOHNSON, TAYLOR. "Massive Churches in Every State". Stacker. The Stacker. Retrieved 29 May 2019.
  2. "Outreach 100: Pinelake Church". outreach100.com. Retrieved 2020-08-25.
  3. Pinelake Church, official site.
  4. Buckner, Bob. A History of Pinelake Baptist Church, 1971-2003.

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