Orchard Hill Church expanding with Richland Township location
RICHLAND TWP, Allegheny County — Orchard Hill Church is opening two new locations on Easter — one in Beaver Valley and one just south of the Butler-Allegheny county line.
The church will have its first mass in a Richland Township location at 10 a.m. April 5 in the Kean Theatre, a performing arts venue at Washington Place on the Gibsonia St. Barnabas campus.
Mark Lunsford, executive pastor of Orchard Hill Church, said the two new churches are not relocations but expansions. He said the two locations were chosen because they each have church members already living nearby and there is opportunity to attract new members.
“We have some people who come to Wexford or other locations,” Lunsford said. “There was growth happening and we found is that people travel from those areas to go to Wexford.”
Orchard Hill Church has a campus in Butler, at 120 Walker Avenue. It has three other locations — one in Bridgeville, one in the Strip District and its main headquarters in Wexford.
Lunsford said the expansion into two new locations at once has been coordinated with the church’s administrative staff, as well as the two pastors who will preside over each location: Jason Scott in Beaver Valley and Mike Chilcoat in Richland Township.
“What we've done is gather together a core group that is going to help launch these campuses to help get them started,” Lunsford said.
The new location just south of Butler County is referred to as the Mars/Gibsonia Community Gathering on Orchard Hill Church’s website. Lunsford said the church is renting the location for services on Sundays and there have been minimal changes to its interior to make it work as a venue for services.
“At the Kean Theatre, we're just kind of moving in and utilizing those facilities,” Lunsford said. “It's a former assisted living facility, so some apartments we're using as kids' ministry.”
Chilcoat said he lives close to the Kean Theatre, but has led classes at Orchard Hill Church’s Wexford location for about six years. He said he also has helped out at the Bridgeville campus in recent years.
After being convinced by an Orchard Hill Church administrator, Chilcoat took on the location pastor job to be a larger part of the church’s mission.
“It’s meant to be a welcoming, inviting, engaging place where we help people connect more with Jesus,” Chilcoat said from outside the theater on Wednesday, March 11.
The Kean Theatre is already set up to have public events and has an auditorium with a stage and just around 350 seats. The auditorium is already set for performances — Chilcoat commented that one of his daughters performed in a play at the Kean Theatre a few years ago.
The Kean Theatre is named after Edward Kean, who was a “friend of St. Barnabas,” according to a plaque that adorns a wall near the auditorium. He made donations to St. Barnabas throughout his life before dying in 1993, after which his wife dedicated the theater to Kean’s memory.
The theater will host the actual first Orchard Hill Church service at 10 a.m. March 22, which Chilcoat said is somewhat of a trial run to make sure the crew who will run the lights and sound in the auditorium have a chance to try it all out.
“We’ve got a whole crew doing tech,” Chilcoat said. “So the soft launch is to make sure we can work everything. It’s a soft launch but everyone is invited.”
Despite the different setup compared to a more traditional church facility, Chilcoat said it is pretty much “plug and play” and Lunsford said the space needs no maintenance before opening to the public.
Orchard Hill Church offers monthly food distributions at its Butler location. Lunsford said there may be additional services offered at the newly opening locations, but Chilcoat said ideas are still in the works.
Lunsford said events are on the table for the Kean Theatre, which has a lot of space inside beyond the auditorium.
“We'll be doing our best to impact the community through the ministry we do at the church,” Lunsford said. “We'll also have community events that we do regularly.”
Lunsford added the newly opening Beaver Valley facility has had work done and is being renovated for the needs of Orchard Hill Church. It’s opening service is also planned to take place on Easter.
“The great thing about Beaver Valley is it was completely renovated inside out, upside down by the former owner,” Lunsford said. “Uplifts based on what our needs are and some light maintenance things.”
The Mars/Gibsonia branch of the Orchard Hill Church is located at 5847 Meridian Road in Richland Township. For more information, visit Orchard Hill Church’s website at orchardhillchurch.com.
