History of St. Andrew - St. Andrew Methodist Church

The Beginning

St. Andrew received five acres of land at the intersection of Mira Vista Boulevard and Plano Parkway and purchased an additional 16 acres adjoining the site, creating the present campus of 21.214 acres. On April 8, 1990, the church family marched from Shepton to the building site, where a ground-breaking ceremony was held for the first building phase. Former Dallas Mayor Robert S. Folsom and Mr. and Mrs. D. O. Tomlin provided vital leadership and financial support to St. Andrew during the early years. The first service was held on May 19, 1991, in the first building (now Smith Worship Center). Membership grew, and it was decided in 1996 that additional classroom and worship space were needed. Fundraising efforts began to expand the church with the Festival Hall addition, which was dedicated on September 10, 1997, expanding the facilities to 70,000 square feet.

Milestone Growth

Entering the new millennium, the church faced another milestone growth. A record-breaking capital campaign allowed for the construction of a new sanctuary, classroom space, parking, and other facilities on property owned by the church across a scenic pond. The sanctuary, which seats 1,600 on three levels, is also utilized by local choral and instrumental ensembles. The Letourneau pipe organ was hand crafted by the Canadian firm Orgues Letourneau Limitee. It contains 4,335 pipes made from tin, zinc, and wood, and is one of the largest in the Dallas/Fort Worth area.

Formation of The Storehouse & Mission Work

Known for serving neighbors in times of need, St. Andrew’s first mission work began long before the first building was built with the late Rev. Hasley’s East Plano apartment ministry for latchkey children. The complex rented an apartment to St. Andrew for $1, which gave the children a safe place to go after school. When Hurricane Katrina displaced tens of thousands, St. Andrew answered the call to provide housing, food, clothing, and worship opportunities in Plano for over 300 people. This led to a partnership with Habitat for Humanity and the construction of five homes for these families. In 2009, as a response to the urgent needs of the surrounding community, Sharon Hasley, the wife of Rev. Hasley, founded The Storehouse of Collin County as a 501(c)(3) organization with the support of St. Andrew. Today The Storehouse serves neighbors holistically through four programs: Seven Loaves Food Pantry, Joseph’s Coat Clothing Closet, Project Hope Neighbor Care, and The Academy Education Program. Additionally, St. Andrew provides local and global mission work opportunities, including serving the Cabécar people in Costa Rica.

Launch of Contemporary Worship

On September 9, 2012, St. Andrew launched contemporary worship, led by St. Andrew’s new associate pastor, Rev. Arthur Jones, a fifth-generation Methodist minister. The new service offered an alternative sounding and visually engaging sensory worship experience in a newly renovated space. In the fall of 2016, St. Andrew held a town hall meeting announcing that attendance was spiking, and with the growth projections of Collin County, worship in the church’s contemporary service would be capped within the year. In addition to worship, other areas within the church, including missions, children, youth, and parking, were facing growing pains.

In the spring of 2017, St. Andrew launched ChurchOne, a capital campaign to fund as much as possible of a proposed 30-year master plan. The master plan reflected the church’s ongoing ministry strategy, centered on four facets of church life: worship, connect, serve, and give.

Renovation at St. Andrew

Worship, the focus of the first phase of the master plan, was a $6.5 million renovation of the church’s sanctuary. Contemporary services, located in Smith Worship Center, experienced a 17 percent increase in worship attendance in 2017 and averaged over 800 weekly in a limited 540-seat space. Rather than adding seats or tearing down the existing space and building a larger one, maximizing the potential of the sanctuary became a viable option. After careful study and planning, it was determined that after some renovations and adjustments, worship could switch from a traditional to a contemporary style with almost the touch of a button in a space that would allow St. Andrew to grow with the community. Renovations included new lighting, video, and sound systems.

The second phase of the capital campaign, launched in summer of 2018, included improved areas for students, children, and parking, as well as a dedicated missions wing with a new space for The Storehouse of Collin County. Just as this next phase was completed, the COVID-19 pandemic hit in March 2020, redefining community, fellowship, and worship. A March 22 dedication and celebration of the finished buildings was canceled and eventually rescheduled as a 35th anniversary celebration on August 15, 2021.

When the World Pressed Pause, We Pressed Play.

During the pandemic St. Andrew began live streaming its sermons and hosted online Bible studies. Pastors called church members to check on them and minister to them. Holiday events, which followed safety and health precautions, included an outdoor light and Christmas program and a screening of a performance of Handel’s Messiah. Easter services were held at Riders Field, along with a socially distanced Easter egg hunt. St. Andrew found ways to creatively reinvent its community outreach and presence. Additionally, The Storehouse re-engineered its food pantry distribution to a more efficient outside model that is still used today. Also, as part of the reinvention of the church’s ministry and presence, St. Andrew launched Invite Resources, a publishing house.

Following two losses of life within the St. Andrew community prior to the pandemic, pastors and staff took a proactive stance launching Beacon of Light, a new mental health ministry, to serve not only church members but also North Texas residents and other churches and centers of faith. The ministry, which began in 2021, provides confidential services in partnership with The Center for Integrative Counseling across the street from St. Andrew and continues to expand its reach.

Growing the Kingdom of God.

On July 1, 2021, Rev. Arthur Jones became the second senior pastor of St. Andrew succeeding St. Andrew’s Founding Pastor Robert Hasley. Funding was raised to build a stand-alone chapel, named the Hasley Chapel, in honor of Hasley’s legacy and ministry at St. Andrew. Rev. Hasley had planned to lead a new St. Andrew retirement ministry, The Second Act, but passed away on July 21, 2022, after a year-long battle with cancer. The chapel, an original part of the 30-year master plan, was completed in 2023.

On Oct. 2, 2022, St. Andrew announced its disaffiliation from the United Methodist Church to best fulfill its mission to call people to be passionate servants of Jesus Christ. St. Andrew’s executive committee and lay leaders spent extensive time examining both the decision to disaffiliate and the mechanism to make the decision. The announcement to disaffiliate was met with a standing ovation from the congregation. On Feb. 21, 2023, St. Andrew held a congregational vote on the terms of settlement and the final disaffiliation. The full motion for the vote was agreed upon by both St. Andrew Methodist Church and the North Texas Conference, and disaffiliation was final on March 31, 2023. Since then, St. Andrew has seen a surge in attendance with new members of all ages and stages of life who have made St. Andrew their church home. St. Andrew will remain an independent Methodist church for some period and will not be affiliating with any existing Methodist denomination. St. Andrew is currently exploring new affiliations with other mission-focused Methodist and Wesleyan churches, both large and small, to grow the Kingdom of God.