In late 1993 and early 1994, several Toledo Christians were looking for a refreshing change in their Sunday morning worship. They belonged to local Toledo churches but were tired of traditions and rituals they were a part of Sunday after Sunday. So the group left their traditional churches to drive 1 ½ hours each way to Kennsington Community Church in Troy, Mi. Kennsington was a Willow Creek affiliated church. At this new church they learned how successful the Willow Creek style was catching on and decided to start their own church using this same style. Timberlake had its first service on Easter Sunday that year with about 20 in attendance.

For the first several years, Timberlake met in the auditorium at Springfield High School in Holland, Ohio. They had a 22-foot commercial trailer that was kept in storage during the week and then brought to the school every weekend and unloaded. It was packed full of sound equipment, nursery equipment, tables, signs, and everything else that was needed to transform the school into a church each Sunday. We were meeting in an auditorium that seats about 800 people with attendance hovering around 90 people. In the fall of 2001, after meeting in the school since 1994, the Leadership Team decided it was time to move to a more permanent location.

After much prayer and hunting, Timberlake relocated to the Strawberry Meadows shopping plaza just up the street from the high school. After extensive remodeling during the whole month of December, we held our first service in this 3,000 square foot facility in January of 2002. The Lord blessed our step of faith and within a few months we had to add a second service on Sunday mornings due to crowding. In October of 2003 we added a third service on Saturday night and God continued to bless us with growth.

In August of 2004 we acquired an additional 2,000 square feet right next to our present space and took almost 2 months to renovate that space. The additional space was used to create restrooms, offices, a larger entryway, nursery, and kid’s area. The original 3,000 square feet was used to expand our auditorium to seat about 200 people and enlarge our stage area. We were also able to go back to a two-service schedule on Sunday mornings. God has continued to bless our ministry and we are currently averaging around 200 people each weekend. We look forward to what God has in store for Timberlake in the coming years!

© 2008 Timberlake Community Church