Norman church to mark 50 years
NORMAN — Times were tumultuous across America in 1968 when a retired missionary helped birth a congregation that became Wildwood Community Church, 1501 24th Ave. NE.
Over the next 50 years, that small church grew into a flourishing congregation with a reach that now extends around the world.
Wildwood will mark its anniversary with celebratory services on Sunday, Sept. 23 and 30. Service times are 9:45 and 11 a.m.
“We’ll look back at our history, and we’ll look ahead to where we’re going,” said the Rev. Mark Robinson, the church’s pastor.
Currently, Wildwood has more than 1,100 members, serves its neighbors through a variety of community outreach programs and supports two dozen missionaries in Central America, South America, Eastern Europe, Asia and the Middle East, Robinson said.
The Rev. Bruce Hess, the church’s former senior pastor, said as farreaching as Wildwood has become, the church’s origins were humble.
The church started as a small Bible study that retired missionary Dick Gerbrandt established with University of Oklahoma students at a time when the nation was torn by demonstrations and protests about the Vietnam War, civil rights, gender equality and other issues. At first, they moved from home to home, finding meeting spaces in living rooms and garages.
In 1973, the young church purchased property at 905 E Rock Creek Road and in 1974, Lyle Cunningham became the first full-time pastor, serving through 1978. In 1976, the congregation moved into its first place of worship.
In 1979, Hess was called to Wildwood as the congregation’s third pastor, and the church family continued to grow.
Less than a decade later, the church purchased its current location, the former Redlands Racket Club building on 24th Ave. NE. The building is nestled on 12 acres and is surrounded by woods. Over the years Wildwood’s congregation has renovated and expanded the building to include an elaborately themed 20,000-squarefoot children’s ministry space.
Growing and expanding can be challenging, but Wildwood has sought to keep its core focus, Hess said.
“Our aim has been to keep Jesus at the center of it all,” he said. “It’s always been about him, not about personalities or individuals. You always have differences of opinion, but when, as a church family, you keep the focus on him all the way through, that helps a lot. It’s the most strategic element of all.”
After 37 years, Hess passed the baton of senior leadership to Robinson and assumed the role of Wildwood’s teaching pastor, and Wildwood’s staff now includes 26 full- and part-time employees.
Robinson said Wildwood is looking toward the future with a vision statement it refers to as the Four Fors: “For the Church; For the Community; For the Nations and For the Next Generation.”