A Church on Ninety Acres off I-35
Community Church sits on more than ninety acres at I-35 and Seward Road, exit 151, on the eastern edge of Guthrie, Oklahoma. The campus is large enough to hold a Worship Center, a Community Kids building, an Annex behind the kids' building, multiple picnic areas, two playgrounds, a ball field, more than two miles of walking trails, and an 18-hole disc golf course with 24-hour lighted parking. Founding elder Don Faubion remembers dedicating those ninety acres to the Lord in the spring of 1998, and the property has been shaped ever since into a place where the church family worships, learns, and welcomes the wider Guthrie community in for recreation, food, and fellowship.
The church describes itself as a multi-generational, elder-led congregation with a simple motto: Love God. Love Others. Two Sunday services, Wednesday night programming for every age, a Mother's Day Out program that meets twice a week, a year-round care and support ministry, and a long list of local mission partners keep the staff and volunteers busy throughout the week. The pastoral team is led by Senior Pastor Bill Williams, who has served the church since 2000, alongside Associate Pastors Tyler Rudek and Josh McClennahan.
Sunday Mornings at Community
Community holds two Sunday services at 512 East Seward Road. The first gathering begins at 9:00 AM and runs until about 10:15 AM; the second begins at 10:45 AM and runs until about 12:00 PM. Both services are also livestreamed for those who prefer to worship from home, and the 9:00 AM service is broadcast online for anyone who cannot be on campus.
Each service includes a time of prayer, communion, preaching, and giving. Communion is open to everyone who attends and understands its place in the Christian faith; gluten-free wafers are available at the entrance to the Worship Center. Prayer Partners wearing name tags are stationed around the Worship Center before, during, and after each service, and a cross at the back of the room marks a place to stop and pray. Prayer requests can also be sent by email to prayer@communitychurch.tv.
Visitors are invited to come as they are. Suits, jeans, shorts, and everything in between fit right in, and parking attendants direct traffic to a general lot with designated handicap spots near the front door. Greeters are posted at the doors and will help first-time guests find their way. Each service lasts about an hour and fifteen minutes, and the music is described by the church as Spirit-filled and Christ-centered, drawing from contemporary songs and classic hymns led by a full worship team and supported by a production crew.
What about kids?
Children from birth through sixth grade are welcomed into Community Kids, which meets during both Sunday services. Parents check children in at kiosks in the front lobby or the west hall. Birth through kindergarten children go directly to age-appropriate classes in the Community Kids Building. First through sixth graders begin in the Worship Center with their families for the opening songs, then are dismissed to Community Kids for Bible teaching, small groups, games, and activities designed for their age. A duplicate tag system ensures children are released only to the parent or guardian who checked them in. Elementary-aged children whose parents want to attend a class, serve in another area, or simply stay on campus between services can join SWITCH, a staffed hangout with activities, fellowship, and a snack.
What about students?
Seventh through twelfth graders have their own track within the church. The Rooted Sunday class for students and young adults up to age 25 meets at 10:45 AM in Classroom M3 during the school year. The big weekly gathering, however, is Catalyst on Wednesday nights at 6:30 PM in the Worship Center. Doors open at 6:00 PM for games like nine square, and the evening moves into high-energy worship, Learning Lab activities, and small group discussions led by adult leaders.
What Community Believes
Community's beliefs are rooted in the sixty-six books of the Old and New Testaments, which the church holds to be the complete Word of God, inspired by the Holy Spirit, and the final authority in all matters of faith and conduct. The church confesses one God, Creator of all, holy, sovereign, and eternal, existing in three equal Persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Jesus Christ is affirmed in his full deity, his pre-incarnate glory with the Father, his work of creation, his virgin birth, his sinless life, his substitutionary death, his bodily resurrection, his ascension, his ongoing mediatorial work, and his personal return. The Holy Spirit is likewise confessed as fully God and as the one who convicts of sin, regenerates, indwells, seals, sanctifies, illuminates, and comforts believers, baptizing them into the body of Christ and distributing spiritual gifts as he wills. The church teaches that Adam was divinely created in God's image, that the disobedience of the first man brought guilt and depravity on all his posterity, and that salvation is by the sovereign grace of God through faith alone in the all-sufficient sacrifice and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Those whom God effectually calls are divinely preserved and will be perfected in his image.
Vision, mission, and values
Everything at Community flows from a single sentence: All would become fully devoted followers of Christ. The mission is Love God. Love Others. Eight guiding values shape the life of the church: believing that with God all things are possible, following God's Word and the Holy Spirit, worshiping in Spirit and truth through creative expression, connecting people through care, service, and groups, growing with intentionality in faith and biblical knowledge, serving the body of Christ joyfully and with integrity, stewarding God's resources with radical generosity, and empowering all generations to go into the world and be the Church.
Community Kids
Community Kids partners with parents to help children from birth through sixth grade know, love, and follow Jesus. The ministry meets during both Sunday services and again on Wednesday nights at 6:30 PM. Each age range has a dedicated space. Infants through 23 months are cared for in a nursery; twos through kindergartners learn foundational Bible truths through engaging lessons, worship, crafts, and play; first through sixth graders experience dynamic worship, biblical teaching, small groups, games, and activities designed just for them. The preschool areas are secured, and every volunteer has completed the church's screening and training process.
Lindsey McClennahan serves as Kids Director, working alongside a roster of adult volunteers and supported by the Family Discipleship Resources page, which recommends books, videos, songs, catechism apps, and family-friendly news outlets. Children's curriculum is drawn from The Gospel Project by Lifeway, and a SWITCH program fills the gap between the two Sunday services for kids whose parents are serving on campus.
Catalyst Students
Catalyst is the weekly Wednesday night ministry for seventh through twelfth graders. The vision is to equip a generation of kingdom builders who live with passion, purpose, and bold faith in their schools, homes, and communities. The night is built on four actions: worship, invite, serve, and explore. Students worship together, then move into Learning Lab activities and small group discussions facilitated by adult leaders. The door opens at 6:00 PM, the program runs from 6:30 PM until about 8:00 PM, and parents are pointed to a list of resources covering mental health, boundaries, podcasts, and recommended reading.
Darla Kilhoffer oversees both student and worship arts ministries. The student ministry also runs mission trips, summer camps, and other serve opportunities that change from year to year. On Sunday mornings, a Rooted class for students and young adults up to age 25 meets in Classroom M3 and walks through deep discipleship curriculum designed to help believers understand the whole story of Scripture, Christian beliefs, and Christian formation.
Women Living Real Life Together
The Women's Ministry at Community is built around the motto Living Real Life Together. Susan Swart, Director of Life Care Ministries and Women's Ministries, oversees a Wednesday Women's Bible Study that meets at 1:00 PM and 6:30 PM in the Annex, a Sunday morning Bible Study at 10:45 AM, a Hope and Healing gathering on Tuesdays at 6:30 PM, and a Single Mom's Ministry. A Women's Retreat is held in the spring and an evening called Bless Your Heart gathers women each fall. The ministry is intentionally intergenerational, with older women walking alongside younger women in Bible study, in prayer, and in everyday life.
Men Pursuing the Lord Together
The Men's Ministry exists to connect and partner with men who desire to love God and love others well. The stated vision is for all men to become fully devoted followers of Christ, and the mission is worked out through groups, activities, prayer, and the Word. Tyler Rudek and Josh McClennahan oversee the ministry, which includes a Communications Team, a Men's Prayer Team, a Safety Team that watches over Sunday and Wednesday services, a Service Team that takes on yard work and small house repairs for neighbors, and a Trees, Trails, and Disc Golf team that helps maintain the campus. There is also a Young Adults group led by Jeremy and Abby Stoner, designed for high school graduates as they transition into college and early careers.
Care, Support, and Recovery
Alberto Segura, Director of Pastoral Care, oversees a Congregational Care ministry with several specialized teams. The Homebound Care Team visits people in nursing homes and assisted living, the Hospital Visitation Team prays with people ahead of surgery, the Ministry Meals Team provides food after surgery or during extended illness, and the Care Calling Team places a monthly call to members who are seventy and older.
Three ongoing support groups meet on campus. The Grief Care Support Group gathers on Sunday evenings at 3:30 PM in the Annex behind the Kids Building and is open to anyone walking through loss. The Caregiver Support Group meets on the second and fourth Saturday of each month at 9:00 AM in the same space. First Responder REBOOT is a twelve-week, faith-based trauma healing course for law enforcement, firefighters, EMS, 911 communications, hospital emergency staff, and corrections professionals; more than 25,000 people have completed the course, and the Guthrie group meets on Thursdays at 6:30 PM online. Susan Swart, a Licensed Professional Counselor, also maintains a list of recommended books and resources for those navigating grief, mental health, or other life challenges.
Wonderfully Made
Wonderfully Made is a ministry designed for individuals with disabilities and their families. The program meets at 10:45 AM on Sundays and offers a safe environment, a tailored Bible curriculum, and meaningful activities so that parents and siblings can attend a service knowing their loved one is cared for. The ministry is led by Cody and Brookelyne Lawson.
Mother's Day Out
Community's Mother's Day Out is a faith-based early childhood program for infants through kindergartners that meets on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 8:30 AM to 2:30 PM. Director Rachel Rudek and her staff work to create a learning environment rooted in God's love, weaving Christian truths into everyday life experiences, classroom curriculum, play, music, art, and Bible stories. Tuition for the school year runs from $245 to $265 per month depending on age, with a $75 enrollment fee per child; summer sessions in June and July are available with a $40 enrollment fee and a $40 drop-in rate. The program also covers developmental milestones, social and school readiness skills, ABCs and 123s, and problem solving.
Beyond Our Walls: Local Partners
Community's local outreach is organized under the heading Beyond Our Walls. The Benevolence Ministry, led by Alberto Segura, offers financial assistance and counseling to families in crisis. The We Love Educators Ministry ministers to teachers and staff throughout the school year. A long list of local mission partners is supported through prayer, volunteers, and a second offering called the Dollar Club, in which every single dollar bill collected in the offering plate is redirected to one of the partners. Current partners include Crossroads Clinic, a pregnancy and sexual health resource center on East College Avenue; God's Food Bank on West Vilas; Hands of Jesus on West Noble Avenue, which provides food and clothing; Hope House Guthrie, a sober living facility for men on East Perkins; the Logan County Council on Aging, which serves a hot weekday meal at Highland Hall; Camp J.O.Y. (Jesus Others You), a summer camp for students ages 7 to 18; the First Capital Quilters Guild, which meets on campus monthly; Gideons International; the Guthrie Ministerial Alliance; the Langston Baptist Collegiate Ministry; SOAR Homeschool Co-op; the General Daniels Thanksgiving community meal; the Guthrie High School football breakfast; and Springs Christian Radio.
Operation Christmas Child
Every November, Community partners with Samaritan's Purse to collect gift-filled shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child. Jean Ingram coordinates the local effort, and the church typically sets a goal of several thousand boxes each year. Donors can pack a physical shoebox or build one online, and after the boxes are shipped overseas, local believers share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with the children who receive them and invite them into a discipleship course called The Greatest Journey.
The 90+ Acre Campus: Trails, Disc Golf, and Recreation
One of the most distinctive features of Community Church is the way it has opened its ninety-plus acres to the surrounding community. The 18-hole disc golf course officially opened mid-year 2024, and according to the UDisc mobile app, more than 5,700 games have been played on the course, with players ranking it in the top ten in Oklahoma. Each tee box sign carries the words Love God Love Others and a Bible verse, and a course kiosk holds a map, a list of beliefs and values, and a way to ask for prayer or to give financially.
Two-plus miles of walking trails wind through the property, alongside multiple picnic areas, a ball field, and two playgrounds. The recreation areas are open from dawn to dusk unless special permission is given, with 24-hour lighted parking available for disc golfers. The use of alcohol, illegal drugs, hunting, motorized vehicles off the parking lot, and audible music with vulgar or inappropriate words are not permitted, and all use is at the individual's own risk. Tournaments are hosted on the course throughout the year, and the church is already planning for the next phase of the campus vision.
The Pastoral Team and Elders
Community is led by a team of pastors, elders, and directional leaders. Senior Pastor Bill Williams and his wife Lauri joined the church in 2000. Before entering vocational ministry in 1997, Bill spent fifteen years in the air transportation industry, eventually serving as Director of North America for a major ground handling company. The couple have four adult children, four grandchildren, and Lauri recently retired from a long career in the medical field. Associate Pastor Tyler Rudek joined the Community staff in July 2016 after nearly a decade as a Student Pastor in other churches. He and his wife Rachel have three children, and Tyler is an elder alongside Bill. Associate Pastor Josh McClennahan joined the staff in January 2021, became Executive Director in 2022, and was named Associate Pastor in 2024. He and his wife Lindsey have two children.
Two additional pastors and elders round out the team. Alberto Segura, born in Zacatecas, Mexico, came to Guthrie as a teenager, where he met Jesus. He now serves as Director of Pastoral Care alongside his wife Mary. Don Riepe has been in ministry for more than fifty years, including service as a Senior Minister in Pauls Valley, a Campus Minister at the University of Oklahoma, and Senior Minister at Guthrie Christian Church. He and his wife Jody have two children and six grandchildren.
The directional leaders oversee major ministry areas: Darla Kilhoffer leads student and worship arts ministries; Erin Keller directs digital media, communications, and the Host Team; Lindsey McClennahan directs Community Kids; Rachel Rudek directs Mother's Day Out; Susan Swart directs life care and women's ministries; Caleb Williams directs operations and men's ministry. Six elders complete the board: Dave Albright, Don Faubion (a founding member who helped dedicate the ninety acres in 1998), Curtis Swart, Raymond Zinn, Brian Padgham, and Jeremy Stoner.
Worship Arts, Media, and Giving
The Worship Arts ministry leads the music and production of every service, supported by platform musicians, vocalists, audio engineers, lighting designers, and stage crew. The team's vision is to lead God's people into authentic encounters with him through Spirit-filled, Christ-centered worship that uses technology and music with excellence and creativity. Rehearsals and weekly gatherings are coordinated by Darla Kilhoffer and Caleb Williams, and a roster of recommended podcasts, YouTube channels, and worship-with-motions playlists helps families continue worshiping at home throughout the week.
Sunday services are livestreamed and archived on the church's YouTube channel, where the full sermon archive is available. A weekly podcast, available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, makes the previous Sunday's message available for those who missed it. The Community Church app, available for Apple and Android devices, provides sermon access, giving, event registration, and a way to request prayer. A free RightNow Media account is also offered to every member of the church family, giving access to a streaming library of more than 10,000 Bible study videos, leadership videos, and kids' shows.
Giving is part of the church's vision of radical generosity. Members and visitors can give in person by placing cash or checks in the offering basket or in a box at the back of the Worship Center, through the church app, online at the giving page, by texting GIVE and any dollar amount to 855-681-2800, or by mail to PO Box 1413, Guthrie, OK 73044. Banks' online bill pay systems can also generate a check to the church. Every dollar bill placed in the second offering basket goes directly to the Dollar Club's local ministry partners.
A Year on the Calendar
Several annual events shape the rhythm of the year. Fall Fest is a community-wide afternoon with hayrides, face painting, free food, live music, and games for all ages. Freedom Fest closes each summer with a professional fireworks show, food trucks, inflatables, and yard games on the church grounds. A Spring Women's Retreat and a fall Bless Your Heart evening for women draw women together from across the region. The Candlelight Christmas Eve services and the November Operation Christmas Child collection close out the year.
A Place to Belong
For anyone visiting Guthrie off I-35 at exit 151, the welcome is straightforward. Two Sunday services at 9:00 AM and 10:45 AM, a nursery and children's ministry ready for the youngest members of the family, a Wednesday night small group for every age, a Mother's Day Out program for parents of infants and preschoolers, a Mother's Day Out, a thirty-something mile campus, and a network of community partners that reaches into nearly every corner of Logan County. The motto on every tee box, the welcome sign in the lobby, and the vision statement from the pastors all say the same thing. Love God. Love Others. With God, all things are possible.