Country United States Website thechurchontheway.org | Denomination Foursquare Church | |
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Location 14300 Sherman Way, Van Nuys, CA 91405 Churchmanship Evangelical, Pentecostal Weekly attendance 3,389 (as on 27 March 2016) | ||
The Church On The Way is a Foursquare church founded in 1926 in Van Nuys, California. The church grew significantly under the leadership of Jack Hayford in the 1970s through the 1990s and was widely influential in the Charismatic Movement, with services regularly televised on the Trinity Broadcasting Network. Since 1997, the church has owned the Hollywood Cross, a landmark in Hollywood, California, located just above the John Anson Ford Amphitheatre.
Today, the church is pastored by Tim Clark and has been influential in planting several other churches in Los Angeles area, including La Iglesia En El Camino, El Camino Metro and The Church On The Way, Santa Clarita.
History
In 1926, a group of students from Life Bible College (now Life Pacific College) started a tent revival on Friar Street in Van Nuys, California. These prayer meetings developed into a church, which in the following year, was moved to a newly built facility on Erwin Street. In 1949, the church began building a new sanctuary, still located at 14344 Sherman Way, and completed it in 1951 with a marching band celebration down Van Nuys Blvd.
By 1969, the aging church had been reduced to a small number of elderly members. When Howard Carson, senior pastor at the time, became ill and decided to step down, Jack Hayford was appointed by the Foursquare Church as interim pastor. In 1971, he accepted the position as permanent senior pastor. Following Hayford's appointment, the church grew significantly. By 1974, the sanctuary had to be remodeled to increase capacity, and in 1981 the current sanctuary at 14300 Sherman Way was built. In 1987, as the church continued to outgrow its facilities, the church initiated the purchase of 14800 Sherman Way from the First Baptist Church of Van Nuys.
In 1999, when Jack Hayford retired, his son-in-law, Scott Bauer, was installed as his successor, serving as senior pastor until his sudden death in 2003. Between 2004 and 2010, Jim Tolle served as senior pastor of both the English and Spanish speaking congregations, and in 2011 Ricky Temple began pastoring the English speaking congregation.
In 2013, the Foursquare Church announced Tim Clark would be the new senior pastor of the church, beginning in early 2014.