Gateway Church (Texas)

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

Gateway Church is a non-denominational, evangelical, charismatic Christian church based in Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas. In 2015, Outreach magazine named Gateway as the fourth-largest church in the US.[1] The church estimates it has 36,000 active members.[2][3] In 2015, the church averaged 28,313 weekly attendees, with 51,859 attending over Easter weekend, a total of 2,854 professions of faith, and 2,485 water baptisms.[4] The church is home to the Christian recording artist and Dove Award winner Kari Jobe, who works as a worship pastor,[5] as well as Mark Harris (formally of 4Him), Rita Springer, and Tim Shephard. 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. The church has numerous national and international partnerships with other churches.

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, then moved to an old movie theater in Grapevine, where Uncle Julios now sits. 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. [6]

Pastor Robert Morris has been accused of misusing scripture to say that people must tithe to their church if God is to bless them, saying "This is what the tithe does. When we give our firstfruits to God, the rest of our fruits (money) are redeemed". Some argue that what he says is referenced in the Bible, others contend that this is a form of Prosperity Theology.[7]

Morris was also criticized for inviting Mormon Glenn Beck to speak at the church.[8]

Pastors

Robert Morris is featured on the weekly television program, The Blessed Life, produced by the church. He is the author of several books including The Blessed Life, The God I Never Knew, Truly Free and Frequency.[3] Morris is also part of the advisory counsel for The Vernon Wells Perfect 10 Foundation.[9] 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. He received an honorary Doctorate of Letters from The King's University.

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

The Senior Management Team consists of Jimmy Evans, Thomas Miller, Mark Harris, Steve Dulin, John Spurling, Kevin Grove, Gayland Lawshe, Allan Kelsey, David Leuschner, Josh Morris, Craig Terndrup, Mallory Bassham, Brad Henderson, Mike Foltynski and Bobby Bogard, each of them oversee multiple areas of ministry through a group of Executive Staff.

Pastor Tom Lane served as the Lead Executive Senior Pastor for over 10 years before passing the baton to his son, Todd, and is now focused on developing Apostolic Ministries and leading the newest Gateway Church campus located in Dallas.

Campuses

The church currently conducts 27 weekend services at six locations across the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. An affiliated church plant called Gateway Scottsdale opened in Scottsdale, Arizona in August 2012.

Southlake

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 2015, the church reported that the Southlake campus averaged 13,612 per weekend.[10] The campus serves as the church's central ministry facility.[11]

Josh Morris and Allan Kelsey partner as Campus Pastors in addition to other Senior Leadership responsibilities.

North Richland Hills

In November 2007, Gateway opened a new campus in North Richland Hills, Texas. 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.[6] 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.[4] The average weekend service attendance in 2015 at the North Richland Hills campus was said to be 3,621.[4]

Frisco

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.[12] Gateway provided video messages and worship teams for the church before announcing that Northstar would become a Gateway extension campus on June 10, 2010.[13] 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 Jelani serves as the Campus Pastor. In 2015, the Frisco campus averaged 2,901 people per weekend according to the church's annual report.[4]

North Fort Worth

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 2015, the North Fort Worth campus averaged 6,395 people per weekend.[4]

Grand Prairie

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 2015, the Grand Prairie campus averaged 1,784 people per weekend.[4]

Dallas

In October 2015, it was announced that a former extension campus of Prestonwood Church in North Dallas, Texas, would become the newest Gateway extension campus. The first service will be held March 5, 2016. Pastor Tom Lane is the campus pastor.

Gateway Church Scottsdale

In Fall 2011, Gateway announced that former young adults pastor Preston Morrison was planting a new Gateway Church in Scottsdale, Arizona. The church launched in August 2012. This is different from a campus as Morrison is the senior pastor who preaches with a staff team and has an 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's 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 W. Hayford. Dr. John Spurling serves as the president.

Gateway Live

Gateway Live is Gateway's online webcast of most services at the Southlake Campus.

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.[14]

Gateway Worship

Gateway Worship, the worship band that leads worship at the Gateway Church, had some success in 2008 with their live album as it reached No. 2 on Billboard's Top Christian Albums Chart. Gateway's live album God Be Praised was released on November 9, 2010,[15] with Japanese, Korean and Portuguese versions released in 2012. The live album, Walls, which was released on October 2, 2015, reached No. 1 on Billboard's Top Christian Albums Chart.[15]

References

  1. ↑ "Outreach 100 Largest and Fastest Growing Churches in America". Outreach. Retrieved October 17, 2015.
  2. ↑ "Gateway Church wants 100 percent of its members to vote". Retrieved July 26, 2016.
  3. 1 2 "About".
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Johnson, Gunnar. "Gateway Church 2015 Annual Report - Every Number Has A Name". Annualreport.gatewaypeople.com. Retrieved February 28, 2016.
  5. ↑ Kari Jobe, Dove Award Winner
  6. 1 2 "Gateway Church | we're all about people". Gatewaypeople.com. May 10, 2014. Retrieved May 14, 2014.
  7. ↑ Morris, Robert. "Pastor". Ministry Today. Retrieved August 14, 2015.
  8. ↑ John Ankerberg. "Why is Gateway Church in Dallas, Texas allowing Glenn Beck to give his testimony?". John Ankerberg Show.
  9. ↑ "Vernon Wells Project".
  10. ↑ Johnson, Gunnar. "Gateway Church 2014 Annual Report - Every Number Has A Name". Annualreport.gatewaypeople.com. Retrieved May 14, 2015.
  11. ↑ "Gateway Church Opens New Campus". Retrieved November 5, 2010.
  12. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20100420054711/http://www.northstarchurch.cc/progress.html. Archived from the original on April 20, 2010. Retrieved June 17, 2010. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  13. ↑ "Gateway Church Extension Campus". Gatewaypeople.com. Retrieved May 14, 2014.
  14. ↑ The Blessed Life program Information
  15. 1 2 BillboardAllmusic

External links

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

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