By Chris Yow
Editor
SPRINGVILLE — Popular churches tend to grow. In the case of Church One Eighty in Springville, the demand has become so great that a brand new campus is set to open in Pinson.
Pastor Gresh Harbuck said his goal has always been to have multiple campuses for the ministry, mainly just to help reach more people. Not only more people, though, but different kinds of people.
“There are a lot of different demographics in Pinson than Springville that we’re looking for. We would love for the church to become very multi-racial. Pinson is a great location to allow that to happen,” Harbuck said. “We’ve done a lot of demographic checks, and if you drop a pin in Springville, then look in a 6-mile radius, there are 14,000 people. If you drop a pin in Pinson and look at a 6-mile radius, there are 66,000 people.”
Harbuck said the number of churches is about the same, and he hoped adding his church to the mix might give people another option.
“After talking with everybody involved, and looking for the right fit for us, we settled on Pinson because it was the ideal location,” Harbuck said. “It’s the perfect location because it’s far enough away that we won’t have a lot of congregation members jumping between the campuses, but it will at least be close enough I can drive.”
Harbuck will preach at both campuses. He added he thinks Pinson will be great because of the way they “do church” at One Eighty.
“We’re very contemporary, geared to the 20 to 40 year olds. We don’t do any traditional services. We have a full-blown worship team that is very contemporary,” he said. “We’re probably a little edgier than somewhere like Church of the Highlands. Very casual dress, really loud worship.”
Thing is, though, Harbuck insists the church isn’t just a place to come and feel good.
“We are absolutely Bible-based,” he said. “We believe the Bible is the inspired word of God, and it’s true from cover to cover. That’s what we’re going to teach and preach.”
But just because it’s a Bible-teaching church doesn’t mean the church is normal.
“When they get to church, it should be the most exciting day of the week. It should be fun, exciting, but most of all — Biblical. A lot of Christians act like you’re not allowed to have fun. I’m going to have fun. I want smiles on their faces when they leave the doors, but I want them challenged as well,” Harbuck said.
The Pinson campus is scheduled to open around the second week in March in the shopping center with Food Giant, but could be before or after by a week or two. Small groups have already started in the area, and anyone who is interested in being part of the launch team can contact Harbuck at 205-238-8075.