Prestonwood Baptist Church

Prestonwood Baptist Church
Location	6801 W. Park Blvd Plano, Texas 75093
Country	United States
Denomination	Baptist
Associations	Southern Baptist Convention
Membership	45,000+
Weekly attendance	Approximately 17,000
Campuses	2
Website	prestonwood.org
History
Founded	1977
Founder(s)	Bill Weber
Architecture
Completed	1999 (Plano Campus), 2006 (North Campus)
Clergy
Senior pastor(s)	Dr. Jack Graham
Pastor(s)	Michael Neale (worship), Mike Buster (executive), Neal Jeffrey (pastoral & preaching), Gilberto Corredera (Prestonwood en Español - lead pastor), Orbe Perez (Prestonwood en Español pastor - Lewisville Campus)

Prestonwood Baptist Church is a Baptist multi-site megachurch based in Plano, Texas. It is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention. It is one of the largest churches in America, with a membership of over 45,000 and a weekly attendance of around 17,000.

The Plano campus covers an area of 140 acres (0.219 sq mi; 0.567 km²), and includes a 7,000-seat worship center, a school offering Pre-Kindergarten through Grade 12 (including a football stadium, a baseball field, and a fieldhouse for basketball and volleyball), a fitness center with outdoor sports fields, a café, a library, and a bookstore.

In 2006, the church expanded to include a second campus of nearly 128 acres (0.200 sq mi; 0.518 km²) in Prosper. The North Campus also has a school (K-10 as of fall 2020 with plans to expand one grade each year, so that the Class of 2023 will be North's first graduating class).

History

Dr. Jack Graham is the Senior Pastor of Prestonwood Baptist Church

Prestonwood was founded on February 6, 1977, in North Dallas, as a mission church of Northway Baptist Church. Under founding pastor Bill Weber, the new church grew considerably, and in 1979 moved into a permanent facility near the corner of Arapaho and Hillcrest Roads in Dallas.

By 1988, Prestonwood had grown to 11,000 members. In October of that year, Dr. Weber resigned and was replaced in mid-1989 by Dr. Jack Graham as senior pastor of Prestonwood. By this time, Prestonwood was considered a "megachurch" because of its rapid expansion into one of the fastest-growing churches in the United States.

By the mid-1990s, it became apparent that the church had outgrown its north Dallas home; the facility was landlocked with no ability to expand. In 1994, the church's leadership began plans for a 7,000-seat worship center in Plano. Services were first held on May 2, 1999. The church continued to expand its facilities throughout the next decade. Soon after the opening of the new worship center, the first phase of the new Prestonwood Sports and Fitness Center was completed. In August 2003, the church completed the second phase of the building, which featured a new chapel, a 100-foot-tall (30m) "Faith Tower" topped by a cross, a student ministry area, restaurant and commons, additional space for Bible fellowship and administrative offices. Two years later, the Prestonwood Christian Academy Upper School opened on the west side of the church campus.

The church reached the 46,000-member mark in 2019, with regular attendance at worship services averaging around 17,000.

Sexual assault allegations

In June 1989, a youth music minister at Prestonwood Baptist Church admitted to church officials that he had molested at least one student in the late 1980s; he was terminated immediately. Since church officials failed to report it to the authorities (as was required under the State Family Code), he was able to go on to become a youth music minister at a Baptist Church in Clinton, Mississippi, where he was later accused of abusing young boys again.

In May 2008, an associate minister at Prestonwood was arrested for soliciting sex from a 13-year-old girl. Two days later, Senior Pastor Jack Graham addressed the scandal from the pulpit. In his address, Dr. Graham said the accused associate minister had been terminated.

In March 2013, a decade-long church member was ordered off church premises and reported to the police as a 'suspicious person' after inquiring about the earlier incident.

Campuses

Prestonwood operates two church campuses: Plano (the Plano Campus, which houses full services in both English and Spanish, as well as smaller fellowships to other ethnic groups) and Prosper (the North Campus). The Lewisville branch of the Spanish services are held at Northview Baptist Church, an existing and independent Southern Baptist congregation.

External links

• Official website