Life.Church set to open new satellite in Norman
NORMAN — Brian Bruss looked at the huge portable baptistry set up in the sanctuary of Life. Church Norman, and he couldn’t help but smile.
Life.Church’s newest satellite is set to open its doors for worship for the first time on Sunday, and Bruss had not expected to join in the Baptism Sunday events set to take place at other Life.Church campuses that same day.
Then almost two dozen people signed up to be baptized.
“I can’t believe we’re baptizing 21 people on our first weekend. It’s exciting,” Bruss said Wednesday.
Bruss, campus pastor for Life. Church Norman, said the unexpected baptisms are evidence that numerous people were anticipating the arrival of Life. Church to this college town.
He said a core group of 150 people from other Life.Church satellites committed to help launch the new satellite. Bruss said the group recently held a get-together on the University of Oklahoma campus, and they found that many OU students were pleased to learn that Life. Church will have a presence in Norman.
Bruss said Life.Church members are planning to help freshmen move into their dorms on Move-In day at OU. He said the new satellite also has established partnerships with other organizations in the area like True North Ministries and Love Works, as well as Autism Oklahoma. Also, the plan is to establish relationships with other houses of worship in the area, he said.
Watching church grow
Bruss, 42, said he has been with Life.Church for 21 years and was the Rev. Craig Groeschel’s first hire after he initially started the church in 1996 in Edmond.
He said he started out as a worship pastor at Life.Church Oklahoma City. Eventually, he became a campus pastor at other locations, including Life.Church
Northwest Oklahoma City and more recently Life.Church Rio Rancho in New Mexico. Life. Church is part of the Evangelical Covenant Church (ECC) denomination.
Bruss said it’s been amazing to watch the church grow and now, to lead the launch of the Norman satellite.
He said the Norman location is Edmond-based Life. Church’s 10th satellite in the Oklahoma City metro area and its 18th satellite in Oklahoma.
Life.Church has nine other locations in other states, including Arkansas, Texas, Tennessee, New York, Florida, New Mexico and Kansas.
Bruss said Life.Church broke ground on the Norman satellite in September 2016. He said in the meantime, he and members of the Norman satellite’s core team visited with Life.Church Stillwater leaders to learn about what it’s like to be a church in a college town. Bruss said the Stillwater satellite opened in the Oklahoma State University area 10 years ago.
He said he is not sure how many people to expect for the first Sunday, but his core group comes from the Life.Church satellite in Moore. He said he has heard that other people will be coming from satellites in south Oklahoma City, Shawnee, Mustang and Midwest City.
Bruss said he also knows of people from smaller communities like Noble, Tecumseh and Little Axe who have said they plan to attend the Norman church.
Those that do visit can expect to see a typical Life.Church layout, including an open and expansive lobby area where viitors are welcomed with refreshments, a sanctuary with state-of-the-art audio visuals, offices, a separate Life Kids area for children, plus classrooms for older youths.
Joking, Bruss said he recently noticed that the predominant color in the Life Kids’ color scheme seems to be orange as in Oklahoma State University orange.
But he said Norman staff members will wear crimson T-shirts to tie in with OU’s school colors. This is a departure from the norm because one of Life.Church’s predominant colors is another shade of red.
“The shirts are crimson on purpose,” he said, smiling.