Loft Worship Center
REGIONAL CHURCH A great opportunity soon presented itself. Between 1980 and 1992 the church undertook five building campaigns to accommodate the expected growth from year to year. So, when the landlocked Panther Creek location was outgrown, a decision had to be made. Be content with the status quo or break free from the size restrictions and become a regional church. Since expanding outreach for Christ was the vision, the Moving in Faith capital campaign became the vehicle. Land was purchased in the heart of The Woodlands Town Center and in 2001, the move to the current campus on Lake Woodlands allowed for explosive growth and developing ministries. As the church continued to grow, Dr. Robb and the building committee would see a need for additional space and then begin to plan. Developing new worship venues was a primary focus.
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When space became available across the campus in an old warehouse, they decided to build The Loft Worship Center for people who might be new to the faith – a seeker church. The Imagine Campaign started with the goal of building The Harvest Worship Center to accommodate contemporary services. In addition, the leadership had decided to plant a church in the newly developed Woodforest community. The REACH building campaign came out of the need to expand the children’s space and provide better children’s security. It was also time to build a worship center for The Church at Woodforest. It was also a priority to find entry points to bring the community inside the church. The committee decided to build the Safari Stop to bring in families, the Fireside Cafe to bring in business people, and a Recreation Center and
gym. Space was created so the church could provide programs to people with Special Needs, culminating in a recent partnership with The Brookwood Community. The hope was that people outside the church would come in and see the church as a place where people share life together and talk about difficult things. And they would come back to learn more. After 43 years of planning and building, and building again, the church currently has a membership of 14,000 people. That’s thousands of people who can now develop a closer relationship with Jesus because Dr. Robb and the members of The Woodlands UMC had the vision and the passion to plan and create a place where the love of Jesus could flourish. u