Pinelake Church will open an Oxford campus this year with services being held at the Oxford Conference Center. Oxford will mark the fifth site for Pinelake, joining Clinton, Madison, Reservoir and Starkville. Executive Pastor of Ministry Jeff Redding said the opening is due in part to large amount of urging for an Oxford location and the chance to reach out to college students.
“When we launched our third campus, in Clinton, we really loved what we saw God doing for college students,” he said. “We had parents calling us asking if we could get a launch in Oxford. The Glory of God is the reason we came up there, and there’s an incredible opportunity there.”
There will be a soft launch for the church starting on April 5, Easter. Following that, the soft launch will continue with services on April 12, April 19, June 7 and July 12. All services will be held at the OCC at 10:30 a.m. The official public launch will be on Aug. 16 with services continuing every Sunday afterwards. While the possibility of relocating from the OCC remains, Redding said the church is happy with the location going forward.
“We’ll start meeting in the Conference Center and don’t have a definite timeline when to be out. We’ll just see where God leads us to another space, and for the foreseeable future we will be at OCC.”
Pinelake offers groups and services for all ages, ranging from Lil’ Lakers (toddlers), Pinelake Kids (school children), Pinelake Students (middle and high school) and Pinelake College Ministry. There are small groups that meet every Sunday night as well.
The other locations have sent missionaries to a variety of locations including Botswana, Canada, China Dubai, France and India, but it’s what the church plans to do locally that most excites Redding.
“Most of our campuses have a care center and we look forward to having one (in Oxford),” he said. “That way we can help the less-fortunate and help the community.”
A core group meeting will be held on March 1 at 6 p.m. at the OCC. Pinelake Senior Pastor Chip Henderson will lead the core in worship. For more information, go to their website and click the Oxford tab.
Michael Quirk is a HottyToddy.com staff reporter and can be reached at michael.quirk@hottytoddy.com.
