Big Plans for Santa Clarita Protestant Church

By DARRELL SATZMAN

June 27, 1998 12 AM PT

SPECIAL TO THE TIMES

SANTA CLARITA — Having outgrown its Placerita Canyon home of the past 30 years, the city’s largest Protestant church will move next week into a larger, more modern facility near Seco Canyon.

Grace Baptist Church, which typically draws more than 4,500 worshipers to its six weekly services, is finally ready to move to the site it purchased more than seven years ago, said the Rev. David Leathers, family life pastor at the church.

The new location is a 23-acre hillside parcel at 22833 W. Copper Hill Road in Saugus. The site includes a 1,000-seat conference center and a 2,000-seat outdoor amphitheater with park grounds, streams and ponds.

“It’s pretty much in the geographic center of the Santa Clarita Valley,” Leathers said.

Services will initially be held in the conference center, Leathers said, but church plans call for the construction of a sanctuary that can accommodate up to 2,300 worshipers. A smaller building will house offices and some classrooms.

“It’s a very tranquil, peaceful place,” Leathers said. “We are trying to include as many natural elements as we can.”

Grace Baptist, whose 11 full-time pastors are led by Senior Pastor Tom Givens, has been growing about 15% each of the past four years, church officials said. That growth, combined with traffic from three other churches in Placerita Canyon, has led to cramped conditions at Grace Baptist and congestion on nearby streets.

“Sunday mornings can be pretty chaotic up here,” Leathers said. “Right now, we use literally every room in the facility. . . . Everyone is looking forward to having more space available.”

Grace Baptist officials said the church has spent about $7 million on a pay-as-you-go basis, electing not to assume loans to finance the project.

“We waited until we had the money raised before starting each stage of the process,” said the Rev. Wayne Dell, administrative pastor.

In addition to its regularly scheduled services, the church offers bible study, adult classes, singles events, children’s clubs, youth ministries and choirs.

Inaugural services will be held July 4 and 5.

Times staff writer John Dart contributed to this story.