Our History  |    The Memorial Stained Glass Window  |    What We Believe  |    Our Staff

1964

The first service was held in August 1964, in a renovated stock barn on Mistletoe Lane and 39 people joined together to become Trinity Methodist Church. With a vision and an energetic Senior Pastor, Reverend Don M. Pike, the church grew too big for the barn. Services for the 78 were held at C.C. Duff Elementary until Trinity’s members of 350 outgrew that and the new church was built on the corner of Norwood and Park Row. In 1970, Reverend John Ogden was appointed to serve Trinity. The membership had grown to 650. There was a great deal of growth and staff was added as well as additional buildings for Sunday Schools and other Educational needs. In 1976, Reverend Warren Olliff was appointed to Trinity and membership had grown to 1100. Reverend Bob Richmond was appointed to Trinity in 1980 and with the continued growth it became necessary to hold Sunday School classes at both worship services. In August of 1984 Trinity celebrated our 20^th Anniversary, which coincided with Methodism’s 200^th year and the 2,000 member to join Trinity!

.

.

1985

Reverend Richard Jenkins was the Senior Pastor in 1985 and he hosted a Gathering of all the members with charter members, former pastors, special guests, and staff at the Arlington Convention Center. In 1987, Reverend James R. Porter was appointed to Trinity. Under his leadership, Trinity adopted a “Trinity Visions” program to reach out to nurture the church and the unchurched. Trinity also became actively involved in community ministries, including Arlington Charities, Arlington Night Shelter and Arlington Woman’s Shelter. Reverend Porter also developed a radio ministry. A new Sanctuary was built and membership had grown to 3000. In 1992 the properties across Park Row were purchased for Sunday Schools and Youth Ministries.  There were great things happening during this time.

.

.

1994

In 1994, Reverend Jim Chandler was Trinity’s Senior Pastor. The pipe organ was dedicated in 1998 and the Resurrection Cross was dedicated in memory of Ed Richardson, by his wife, Edna Richardson; a long time member and active in many areas of Trinity.

.

.

2001

In 2001, Reverend John Robbins was appointed to Trinity. There was a great dynamic going on at Trinity and this created a need for more space to worship. Trinity was landlocked at Park Row; due to this restriction, a committee was formed to find a more appropriate property.

.

.

2006

In 2006, with many prayers and a God intervention, the 29 acres at the corner of West Green Oaks and Pioneer Parkway was purchased. We called our new home The Promise Land. In 2007, Reverend Scott Youngblood was appointed to Trinity and was responsible for overseeing the construction of our present site. He served on the building committee and was a frequent visitor during the many stages of growth of the building. In October 2012, the first services were held at our new location. The new church was amazing and brought in many visitors who had watched it being built.

.

.

2013

In July 2013, Dr. Dean Posey was appointed to serve at Trinity. Since then we have seen many changes at Trinity. The growth of our Sunday Schools, the development of the South 15 fields for the Sport’s Ministry and the plans for the NW Quadrant to build a Chapel, a Columbarium, a Labyrinth and an outdoor amphitheater.   It continues to be an exciting time at Trinity.

The beautiful stained glassed window in the Sanctuary was given in honor and memory of Orville Niblack by his family.

There is an interesting motivation behind this gift. Orville and Saunda enjoyed visiting churches on their travels and they had a passion for the stained glassed windows in these churches and would look for them in the different locations.

When you look at the window in the Sanctuary it has three circles. This represents God with three bands of light and reminds us that He brought light into the world. Jesus represents the Son who welcomes all to Him and to our church. The Holy Spirit is represented by the ascending Dove and is present in all believers.

This is a custom design and hand painted by Dennis Roberts, at D.H.S. Studios in Fredericksburg, Texas.

“What we believe” sections are usually full of bullet points and read somewhat like an owner’s manual.  Unfortunately most of our lives don’t look anything like that.  Sure our lives are filled with facts and figures, dates and times; but we have to write all those down to remember them.  The important stuff we don’t need to write down.  What we love, what we hate, what we fear, our biggest hopes—we don’t keep those in palm pilots or calendars or cool cell phones.  We live in stories, not bullet points.  At Trinity United Methodist Church we place our hope and belief in the story presented in the Bible; a story into which God invites us to live.  If, after reading this story of our beliefs, you would like a more “traditional” list of beliefs, we invite you to read about the historic doctrines of the United Methodist Church.

We believe that an imaginative, amazing God created the earth and all of the beauty encompassed by nature and the universe around us.  This creative activity occurred through God’s spoken word, revealing the power and holiness of language and communication.  We’d rather use that gift of language to enjoy the beauty around us than argue about how exactly it happened.  After creating the planet we live on and all that we see around us, including the stars in the heaven, the grass beneath our feet and the animals by our sides, God created humankind.  Humanity was created in God’s image, that we might always remember our Creator and model our lives after that love.

Of course, humans being humans, we do not always model that love perfectly.  We mess up … we hurt one another and ourselves … and we call this sin.  Sin is the betrayal of God – it is the opposite of love.  Sin came into the world as soon as did humanity, and it continues to pervade our world today.  Surprisingly, though, God did not turn away from humanity.  Despite all of the betrayal, hurt and evil caused by humanity, God continued (and still does today) to love us and accept us as we are.  This was made most evident through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Jesus lived approximately 2000 years ago in what is now the Middle East.  He was a great prophet and teacher of what God was doing in and around the world.  But more importantly than that, Jesus was also the son of God.  In the face of betrayal by humanity, God chose to come and experience life as a human – to cross the great divide between heaven and earth – so that we might know God more fully and more intimately.  Jesus’ message was one of reaching out to the poor, the oppressed, and the abandoned.  Being God in the form of humanity, he miraculously cured the sick, fed the hungry, and even overcame death by bringing people who had died back to life. 

Because Jesus wanted to protect the oppressed and thereby bring vitality back into the Jewish religion, he upset many people.  And people, acting as they do, tortured and killed Jesus by hanging him on a wooden cross.  However, the story did not end there.  For, on the third day after being hung on the cross and later buried in a tomb, Jesus conquered death once more – this time by becoming resurrected himself.  Through this impossible act of love, God overcame evil and forgave humanity once and for all.  As a result, we can rest assured that nothing we do is beyond the forgiveness of God.

After he rose from the dead, Jesus appeared to a great number of people and ensured that his teachings would live on.  These people who followed him became known as Christians, and we continue in that tradition today.  Jesus eventually ascended into heaven, but not before helping his followers to experience how God lives and works through humanity every day.  This is through the activity of the Holy Spirit.  Thus, God is made known to us in three forms – as God in heaven who creates life, as Jesus who came to teach us about God’s love, and as the Holy Spirit who guides us to model that love today.  We call these three forms the Trinity, and it is from this that we take our name for this church.

Because God continues to work through us today, and because we continue in the tradition of the first Christians by gathering together to worship and study about God, we believe the story is not over.  It lives on through us, and our lives make sense only as part of that great story.  Thus, we do not simply follow a set of rigid beliefs – instead we follow something larger.  We follow a movement – the movement of God.  And in so doing we help to reveal God’s love to the entire world.