East Pointe began in August of 1988, with just a handful of people who were following a God-sized vision to plant a church in the Jacksonville area. The first services were held in the clubhouse of an area apartment complex. Not long after, God opened up the door to begin meeting in the library of Arlington Country Day School.
God continued to carry out His vision for East Pointe and provided a church building located on Merrill Road in Arlington.
After many fruitful years of ministry at our location on Merrill Road, the Lord made it very clear to us that it was time to move. He guided us to a wonderful, growing area on Kernan Boulevard in East Arlington. Our members were filled with excitement and anticipation for the direction the Lord was leading. Even as we temporarily worshiped in the Landmark Middle School, our entire church could sense that God was about to do something powerful and unusual. We had no idea of the magnitude that God’s future blessings held.
When our beautiful new facility at 270 N. Kernan Boulevard was completed, we began to realize where God was taking us. Virtually hundreds of guests and new members flooded into our new facility!
It soon became evident and overwhelmingly clear that we must expand our worship services and facilities to accommodate the many who were faithfully coming each week.
God continued to further His plans as He led East Pointe to acquire an additional 5 acres of land and begin construction on an Activities Center to house many of our current ministries as well as develop a Sports and Recreation ministry.
In January of 2001 we moved into our newly completed Activities center and have seen God do exciting things in the lives of adults and children as a result of sports ministry through Upward.
As a result of quick growth in church membership and attendance exceeding auditorium and Sunday School facilities, we began our expansion program in August, 2003.
Original building design provided for auditorium expansion by removing back auditorium walls and also removal of east side offices and north side classrooms. Expansion of the auditorium increased seating capacity by 60 percent. Front lobby space was increased and additional restrooms were included. (Veiw of new front lobby and left hallway)
Existing rooms were remodeled and new state-of-the-art lighting and sound systems were installed. (View from inside auditorium looking out towards the outer east hallway).
Construction was completed in March, 2004. The new auditorium allows for future opportunities for expanded worship and Wednesday evening dinners. The larger stage, new sound booth and lighting enhances our time spent worshiping. (View of auditorium from the rear sound booth).
Our new expanded lobby and additional restrooms lends itself well for the large flow of attenders transitioning between services. (View of new lobby and information station).
The expansion project also included addition of six modular buildings for administration and Sunday School classrooms. (View of playground, Pre-school modular on the left, gym on the right and in the background several Sunday School modular buildings).
New signage and front lighting have been added providing a beacon of invitation for our neighbors to visit with us. (View of front driveway facing the church on the left and the gym in the background).
God’s vision for East Pointe continues to move forward. We have begun to plan for additional use of our EP campus through site planning of our property and future buildings. We hope you will come along with us on the journey that God has laid out before us.
