Our History
Our History
Trinity Fellowship's story begins in 1976 when God placed a burden
upon the hearts of Dr. Ed Blum and Dr. Alan Hull. Ed was a professor at
Dallas Seminary and one of the teaching pastors at Believers Chapel in
Dallas. Alan was a practicing nephrologist who served as an elder at
Believers Chapel. While Ed and Alan were grateful to see how God was
blessing the ministry at the church they recognized that the tremendous
growth created an opportunity for a new work.
Alan and Ed spent a year studying the Bible together regarding
God's plan for the church. As they prayed they sensed God's direction
in beginning a new work. They called a meeting for those they thought
might be interested in a new church. About a dozen couples met at
Alan's home and a decision was made to step out in faith and begin a
new ministry.
The church was to be named TRINITY FELLOWSHIP, not because of any
association with the "fellowship" churches but because of the Biblical
verse, 1 John 1:3: "We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so
that you may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the
Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ." The goal was to have a new
church where our "vertical" fellowship with God was lived out in the
context of the "horizontal" fellowship created by the Spirit of God in
the church.
The early years of the church were exciting but difficult. After
several years of meeting at a recreation center the church began to
meet on Sunday evenings at another church. While it was a time of great
personal growth in the lives of individuals it was less than ideal to
meet only Sunday nights.
When God provided an option to purchase land at our present
location it was a major step of faith. The challenge was laid before
the congregation and after great personal sacrifice the property was
purchased and the first phase of construction was completed, that which
is now the fellowship hall.
In the following years the church grew in many ways. New elders
joined with Alan Hull and Ed Blum to serve the church. New families
became part of the life of the community. Several construction programs
expanded the church building.
In 1985 Dr. Blum left Dallas Seminary to take the leadership of
the Christian Medical Society, a move which limited his involvement in
teaching at the church. For one year the pulpit was shared by Dr. Blum,
Dr. Darrell Bock, a professor at Dallas Seminary, and Carl Anderson,
who was completing his doctorate at the seminary. When Carl graduated
in 1987 he began serving full-time with the church and has served as
pastor since that time.
Since its inception in 1977 Trinity Fellowship has continued to
see God’s faithfulness in a wonderful way. The faith and vision of Ed
and Alan has been blessed into a ministry where God has worked mightily
in the lives of many. Over the years the church has grown from the
original twelve couples to a congregation of over 600. An overcrowding
problem led to a major building program that resulted in the
construction of the sanctuary and new adult classrooms, opened in March
1999. Similar overcrowding problems in the youth ministry led to a
brand new youth facility expansion in the fall of 2000.
Several years ago, the church had the opportunity to buy the
property adjacent to our north boundary. It was very overgrown
and the house was barely visible. The land was cleared and the
house turned into a place for the youth to worship. After the
tragic death of one of our deacons and his teen age daughter, it was
named the Lu Alice House. It later became offices for our
growing church staff after the youth facility expansion was completed.
The Lu Alice House was plagued by old age and an abundance of
"critters" who chose to live under it. We had a full time animal
trapper who captured and removed skunks, raccoons and other similar
animals. It became a very unpleasant place to inhabit.
The church decided to add an administrative wing to replace the
Lu Alice House. It was completed in the summer of 2004.
The Lu Alice House was torn down and was replaced by lawn and the
absence of "critters."
