After seven years of preparation, Pinelake Oxford has a new home.

The church held a ribbon-cutting ceremony Thursday to celebrate the opening of the new 58,000-square- foot building, which will be the church’s new permanent campus.

The church has been meeting at the Oxford Conference Center since 2015.

“It’s awesome today to finally stand up here because we’ve been praying for a lot of years about getting here today,” Oxford Campus Pastor Jody Schmelzer said at the ceremony.

“It has been amazing to witness God do incredible work within our faith family. Now that we have a permanent space to gather together for worship and extend our reach into the community of Oxford, we fully believe our best and most fruitful years are ahead,” Jody said.

Since Easter Sunday of 2015, the church has grown exponentially, as the number of attendees have risen from roughly 300 to 1,500 people at Sunday services combined. The new building will accommodate those growing numbers with a 900-seat worship center, education spaces for children, students and adults, flex space, and smaller, more focused worship areas.

The campus sits on a 12-acre site with outdoor space designed for ministry and community gatherings.

“When we decided to build a campus in Oxford, we knew it would require sacrifice, dedication and prayer,” Senior Pastor Chip Henderson said. “Through this season, God has used this time to strengthen our core, open our hearts and trust that He will provide. We look forward to investing in the future of Oxford as kids, college students and families come to trust Jesus.”

In September of 2021, Pinelake broke ground on the property across from MTrade Park to establish a home as a base for Pinelake’s ministry in Oxford.

With the help of ICM Construction and ICM President Casey Rogers, the church’s grounds moved 29,000 cubic yards of dirt onsite and installed 500 tons of steel.

“We are so excited to deliver this beautiful building to Pinelake Church on time and under budget,” Rogers said. “This would not have been possible without the true team approach and dedication of the church staff, trade partners and hundreds of workers that all came together for one common goal.”

Longtime Pinelake members, Heather and Daniel Lenard were at the ribbon cutting Thursday and spoke about how excited they were that the new building finally came together.

“There’s been a lot of people week to week behind the scenes that have been making Pinelake Oxford a reality,” Heather Lenard said. “It’s a really amazing thing to see and stand in now.”

Pinelake Oxford is newly located at 5202 George G. Pat Patterson Pkwy and holds worship services at

8, 9:30, and 11 a.m. each Sunday.