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Moving from Blackhawk Avenue

We Know Where We’ve Been…
Imagine What’s Next

Blackhawk Evangelical Free Church was founded in 1965 when a group from Bethany Evangelical Free Church on the near east side decided to plant a west side church. They purchased a small church building on Blackhawk Avenue.

After significant growth, the church relocated to the current site in 1986. When Chris Dolson became Senior Pastor in 1994, Blackhawk church attendance was close to 300.

Breaking ground on Whitney Way

During the next ten years the church continued to grow. Our worship attendance has doubled since 1999. After adding on in 1997, our facility is 45,000 square feet on 1.9 acres of land. We have 90 parking spaces. We can squeeze 450 people into our sanctuary and 300 into our gym.

In December 2000 the congregation supported a proposal from the elders to “relocate as one church to one location that has room for continued growth.” A site team was formed to begin the search.

In Spring 2002 we launched a campaign to raise finances for relocation. This campaign “Responding to God, a Journey of Faith” raised a little over 2 million dollars over a three-year commitment period.

On July 28, 2002, the site team and elders proposed purchasing 39 acres, 1.5 miles west of the beltline on Mineral Point Road. The congregation overwhelmingly approved the purchase.

As of Fall 2007, we have a Sunday attendance of about 3000 (our sanctuary seats 400). We plan to move sometime this fall into our new facility (see current photos) where we can continue to “build a community to reach a community.”

Before any construction began on the new facility, Pastor Chris walked on the plot of land and talked about the past and future of Blackhawk Church. Our video team recorded this in an outstanding presentation which you can view here (requires QuickTime).

The future…Imagine Who…Imagine How…