THE ROCK CHURCH CELEBRATES 10 YEAR ANNIVERSARY
The Rock Church
618-533-3700
515 Airport Rd, Centralia, IL
Celebrating 10 years under its current name this April, The Rock Church continues its life and legacy as a continuously growing, non-denominational community-based resource.
Having begun as a satellite branch of Orchardville Church, The Rock set out on its own in April of 2015, with church administrator Steve Upchurch taking on the role of head pastor.
In the ten years that followed, The Rock has grown its congregation to roughly 500 people, while offering several faith-based programs for children, teens, adults, and seniors, as well as Celebrate Recovery and Alcoholics Anonymous.
In addition to in-person sermons, one of the largest changes at The Rock over the last 10 yeas is the over 19,000 square foot addition to its facility at 515 Airport Road.
“Within a year of becoming The Rock, we decided to build what we call The Rock Family Life Center,” said Upchurch. “It’s a little over 19,000 square feet, and we use it all the time.”
Upchurch said the facility isn’t just used for church-related events, however, as The Rock has lent their space to several organizations within the community.
“We allow any community-based project or event to use the facility for free. When we talked about building this, we agreed that we shouldn’t just keep it for ourselves,” said Upchurch. “The Teachers Union, Centralia Police Department, BCMW have all used the building. We’ve done After Prom events, too. There are events going on here about every week.”
Yet despite the decade of continual growth and advancements, which includes a staff of four additional full-time pastors, Upchurch said The Rock’s message and mentality have always remained the same.
“We are a non-denominational church. A more accurate description would be that we are interdenominational,” Upchurch explained. “Pentecostal, Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, Lutheran – you name it, we’ve got it.”
“When people walk through the doors, knowing we are a non-denominational church, they know they will be sitting by someone that maybe doesn’t see eye to eye with them on small things. But we all get along, and we always have. We are just a very friendly, very open, and very spiritual church.”
