The Church of the Highlands is moving out of a Huntsville movie theater and into a newly completed building at 3301 Whitesburg Drive Southeast.

The first services in the new 1,400-seat building this morning are at 8 a.m., 9:45 a.m. and 11:30 a.m.

Pastor Chris Hodges will be preaching on livestream from the main Grants Mill campus in Irondale to all the branch campuses, including the new one in Huntsville.

Worship services had been held since Sept. 10 at AMC Movie Theater, 1485 Four Mile Post Road Southeast, which was the second Huntsville location for the church. Construction for a permanent home for the new branch campus began last year.

“It’s incredible to see what God is doing in Huntsville, and we’re thrilled to be a part of it,” said Senior Pastor Chris Hodges, who founded the Church of the Highlands in the Birmingham area in 2001, meeting at Mountain Brook High School until the completion of the main campus on Grants Mill Road in Irondale in 2007.

The Church of the Highlands opened its first campus in Huntsville at Columbia High School on Feb. 2, 2014. That congregation grew rapidly, so the church purchased land and built a 1,400-seat building few miles away in Madison. That permanent location, now called the Madison Campus, opened July 21, 2019.

Huntsville has become the second-largest branch of the Church of the Highlands, with 4,500 in total Sunday attendance.

“Our second location provides additional opportunities for people to worship and serve their friends and neighbors,” Hodges said. “We’re thankful for the amazing partnership with the community.”

The main campus at Grants Mill Road in Birmingham is the only branch with larger attendance than Huntsville. The Grants Mill campus hosts four services each Sunday, with attendance of more than 6,000.

The Madison campus pastor is Jason Morgan, and the new Huntsville campus pastor is Allen Pedram, who had led Madison since it opened in 2014 at Columbia High School. Although each branch campus has its own pastor and praise band, the sermons are livestreamed to the branch locations from the main campus at Grants Mill Road.

The Church of the Highlands meets weekly in 23 locations throughout Alabama and two in Georgia, and its Grandview campus in Birmingham hosts a Spanish-language service, plus a service in the adjacent Chapel.

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