Southland Christian Church (Lexington, Kentucky)

View of Southland Christian Church from the corner of Brannon Road and U.S. Route 68

Southland Christian Church is an evangelical Christian church whose first campus is located in an unincorporated area of Jessamine County, Kentucky, which is just outside Lexington, Kentucky, United States. The church, which has a Nicholasville mailing address, is located at the corner of U.S. Route 68 (Harrodsburg Road) and Brannon Road. The church has four additional campuses—one in Danville, one at the former site of Lexington Mall on Richmond Road in Lexington, one in Georgetown north of Lexington, and one in Richmond, KY which launched in 2020. It is associated with the Christian churches and churches of Christ. Its current Senior Pastor, Jon Weece, came to the church as a teaching pastor in 2000, and became Lead Follower in 2003.

Size and facility[]

Southland Christian Church is considered a megachurch. It is one of Kentucky's largest churches, averaging over 12,000 in attendance per weekend in 11 services—two in Nicholasville, three in Lexington, two at its Danville, Kentucky campus, two at its Georgetown, Kentucky campus, and two at its Richmond, Kentucky campus. The church also has a substantial ministry to the poor through its Helping Through Him ministry, including an on-site warehouse at the Nicholasville campus.

History[]

The church started in 1956 as a mission of Broadway Christian Church in Lexington. The founding pastor, Wayne Smith, came from Unity Christian Church (near Cynthiana, Kentucky), and held the first service with 172 people in attendance. The church was originally located on Hill 'N Dale Drive (near Southland Drive) in Lexington, Kentucky. In 1981, the church had grown substantially and relocated to a 20-acre (81,000 m²) site across the county line in neighboring Jessamine County. It has since expanded its property to 115 acres (0.47 km²).

The founding Senior Pastor, Wayne Smith, announced in 1995 that he would retire. At the time of his retirement, average church attendance was in the thousands. A pastor search committee was formed, and steps were taken to find a replacement for Wayne Smith.

However, after Smith announced his retirement and in the midst of the search, Mike Breaux, pastor of Canyon Ridge Christian Church in Las Vegas, Nevada, was invited to preach one weekend. Soon after that weekend, the pastor search committee suspended the search process and hired Mike Breaux as Senior Pastor. He then became the church's second senior pastor. During his tenure the church grew to an attendance of more than 7,000 persons a week. Jon Weece joined Southland as a teaching pastor in 2000, sharing in the responsibilities of a church with six weekend services. After a building program that reduced the weekend services from six to five, Breaux moved to Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, Illinois, in 2003.

Weece, a former missionary to Haiti, became the third senior pastor on September 1, 2003. Still in his twenties at the time, he was one of the youngest megachurch senior pastors in the United States. Under Weece's leadership, the Southland services have grown to an attendance of over 12,000 each weekend.

In 2009, Southland opened its first satellite campus in Danville, KY. An additional satellite campus is planned for the former Lexington Mall site on Richmond Road in Lexington.

In 2010, Southland purchased the former Lexington Mall to begin construction on a new "Richmond Road" campus. The campus opened in January 2013.

In 2015, Southland began holding services in Georgetown, KY at Lemons Mill Elementary.

In 2018, Southland announced a launch of a new campus in Richmond, KY in 2020.

Beliefs[]

As a Restoration Movement church, Southland's beliefs are similar to other churches' in the movement, although local congregations are independent and may vary slightly from each other. Southland members include a large number of people with roots in denominations outside the Restoration Movement, including a significant number from Baptist and Wesleyan/Methodist traditions among others. As such, the church also has strong influences from, and often even identifies itself with, Protestantism.

Southland's mission statement is that they are courageous followers of Jesus who love God and love people in their communities, in their city, and in the world. Southland is a church of people who believe the best way to live life is with Jesus, in community, and on mission.

For a list of beliefs you can go to https://southland.church/about/beliefs

Worship services[]

While the worship music is live at each campus, the teaching is usually live at the Nicholasville campus in Nicholasville, Kentucky and then streamed live to the Lexington, Danville, Georgetown, and Richmond campuses. Because of this, all campuses are able to have the same teaching schedule and same service times. Currently, all five campuses have Sunday morning services at 9:30 am, and 11:15 am and the Lexington campus has a 5:00 pm evening service in which there is a live teaching. All services are contemporary in style and casual in dress.

Southlandonline.tv[]

Southland's services can be viewed live online at SouthlandOnline.tv every Sunday at 10:00 am and 11:30 am and at 10:00 am each Sunday on ABC 36 which broadcasts throughout the East Central Kentucky Region.

External links[]

Coordinates: 37°58′11″N 84°35′35″W / 37.96980°N 84.59316°W / 37.96980; -84.59316