Who We Are:

ourHISTORY

High Pointe Baptist Church has a rich and diverse history, which is reflected in the diversity of its people.  Whereas many churches today split in order to make two congregations, High Pointe is a merger of two congregations that made up one church.

 Christ Memorial Baptist Church:  1975-1998

           In order to tell the story of High Pointe, we must begin with the founding of Christ Memorial Baptist Church as an independent Baptist Church.  The first services of Christ Memorial were held on November 2, 1975, in the Cook Elementary School.  There were eleven people in attendance, including founding Pastor James Weaver, and the total offering at that first meeting was seventeen dollars.  After six months the church purchased a house with two and ¾ acres of land located at 1701 Kramer Lane.  This house was converted into a chapel and by God's grace the church grew rapidly in this meeting place until December 31, 1976, when the first service was held in a newly constructed auditorium.  After a year of continued growth it became evident that this new auditorium would very soon be too small.

           On April 5, 1981, another new auditorium was dedicated and occupied.  The continuing outreach and growth of the church soon revealed a real need for ministering in other than the worship service, so in 1984 a Family Life Center was constructed and dedicated.  Its 18,000 square feet housed classrooms for children, a complete gym, and full food service facilities.  Shortly after completing the Family Life Center, a house and lot ("West Annex") were purchased and remodeled to accommodate the need for additional educational space.

           In January 1987, Pastor Charles Bullock, answered a call to fill the vacancy created by the resignation of Pastor James Weaver.  Under the leadership of Pastor Bullock, the ministry of Christ Memorial continued to flourish.  The education ministry was expanded, the size of the Sunday school doubled, and a school for training Christian workers, The Central Texas Bible Institute, was organized and put into operation.

           In just five short years the missions budget of the church increased six hundred percent, which allowed the church to extend its outreach far beyond the local community.  Christ Memorial began receiving missions funding through Faith Promise.  As a result, the church was able to sponsor missions conferences during the 1990s and hundreds of thousands of dollars were raised to support a variety of missions efforts.  Missions endeavors included a pastors' conference sponsored by Christ Memorial to all the evangelical churches of Bulgaria from 1990 - 2000.  Charles Bullock and invited guests taught the evangelical pastors of Bulgaria who had never received formal training under the iron curtain.  By God's grace Christ Memorial also sponsored the publishing of the first Bulgarian bible after the fall of communism and distributed copies of the Bible in Bulgaria with the help of Dr. Margaret Nikol.  The church also established and began funding a seminary in Santa Clara, Cuba to train the nationals for ministry, and the first class graduated in the summer of 2003.

           Throughout the history of Christ Memorial, many of its staff and members have left to pursue full time ministry.  Some left to pursue seminary, while others are now serving as pastors and missionaries.  One of its staff left to begin a new church plant in southwest Austin.

           In the late 1990s Christ Memorial made some dramatic and significant changes, which shifted the direction of the church away from its moorings in the Independent Baptist Church tradition.  The first of these changes was leaving its Independent Baptist Church roots to become a cooperating church in the Southern Baptist Convention.  Another indicator that the church was moving away from its Independent Baptist moorings was the shift away from single pastor leadership with deacon assistance to a plural elder leadership.

Trinity Covenant Baptist Church:  1990-1998

           Trinity Covenant Baptist Church first assembled as a congregation in 1990.  In November of 1991 Jason Sidler was called to pastor the new church.  In 1994 Trinity Covenant miraculously purchased 15.5 acres of land on Yager Lane for only $49,000.00, through an FDIC auction.  The Trinity Covenant building, now High Pointe's Jourdan Crossing building, was built in 1995 by its members and with help from the Baptist Men of Texas.

 High Pointe Baptist Church:  1998-Present

            In late 1997 Christ Memorial purchased fifty acres of land on Dessau Road between Braker Lane and Parmer Lane.  At that time Trinity Covenant Baptist Church, located at 12224 Jourdan Crossing and led by Pastor Jason Sidler, approached Christ Memorial about the possibility of a merger.  The merger took place in March of 1998, and the name of the new church became High Pointe Fellowship Church.  Pastor Sidler remained on staff as associate pastor of the newly merged church. The name was later changed to High Pointe Baptist Church in order to more appropriately associate itself with its Baptist beliefs and association.

            During the merger the leadership decided to move away from the traditional Sunday School program and established cell groups or small groups, which more appropriately reflected the house churches of the books of Acts.  Through these small groups the church aimed to minister to the spiritual and material needs of its members and to reach out to the unbelieving community of Austin.  This shift away from Sunday school to small groups eliminated the need for classroom space which the traditional Sunday School program required.

            Plans to build a new sanctuary began immediately after the merger.  After viewing multiple plans the decision was made to go with a traditional structure, so that all those who passed by would know that the edifice on top of the hill was a Baptist Church.  The building was completed and dedicated April 15, 2000.

            On July 17, 2004, Charles Bullock resigned as pastor of High Pointe Baptist Church and a year later in July of 2005 the church voted unanimously to call Juan Sanchez, the former pastor of Rikers Ridge Baptist Church in Madison, Indiana, as its teaching pastor effective August 1, 2005.

            High Pointe Baptist Church once again finds herself as the recipient of God's blessings as we continue to grow together.  It is our utmost desire to see all peoples become whole-hearted followers of Jesus Christ to the glory of God.  We continue to meet for worship each Sunday to honor God by proclaiming His word and applying it to our lives, and many people continue to respond to the Word of God and have their lives transformed by the Spirit of God.  We pray that until the Lord returns many more will respond in like manner.  To God be the glory for the great things He has done!