The Church of the Highlands, Alabama’s largest church, is trying to keep up with Huntsville’s growth.

That includes beginning worship services this Sunday, Sept. 10, at AMC Movie Theater, 1485 Four Mile Post Road Southeast at 8 a.m. and 9:45 a.m., which will be the second Huntsville location for the church. Construction for a permanent home for the campus is underway on Whitesburg Road, three miles away from the AMC Theater. It’s scheduled to open in the spring of 2024.

“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.

“With the tremendous population growth in the Madison and Huntsville cities we are very excited to create more room to serve families and reach more people with the gospel of Jesus Christ,” said Church of the Highlands Associate Pastor Layne Schranz.

For more stories about the Church of the Highlands, click here.