The Orchard church held its first service on Sunday at 11 a.m in the Starkville High School auditorium.
Pastor Wes Schrickel said that the congregation outgrew its church building in Tupelo, and they built a larger church.
"We are a church that started in Tupelo in 1998, and it started with the idea that, in Tupelo, there are 40,000 people who live there, but, based on statistics, there are 20,000 people that weren't connected to a church. goal was to reach people that no one else was reaching.
Schrickel said the church grew, they felt that they didn't want to add onto the church we had, but that they wanted to go plant church's and reach people in different places.
"Instead, we've been planting churches. So, in Starkville, we will be our seventh church plant."
Schrickel said that they took Starkville, a town of 25,000 people, and thought that, potentially, half of the people could be without a church. That would be over 12,000 people. He said that, on top of that, the campus has 20,000 students. If 50 percent of the students are not connected to a church, that is another 10,000 without church. The Orchard opened a new church in Starkville with the hope of reaching the potential 20,000 unchurched residents and students in the area.
Schrickel shared a sermon on the reason for the expansion of the Orchard, basing it on John 15, where Jesus described himself as a vine, and described the church as branches from the vine. The Orchard based its name and its mission on that passage.
"Our mission is to grow deep and branch out farther," Schrickel said. "We want to grow deep in the love of Christ and to branch out to share that love."
The Orchard had Starkville High School's auditorium halfway filled for its first sermon. There are Bible study groups available, and coffee and doughnuts were served before the service.
"We want people who don't have a church home or a church family to come," Schrickel said. "We're laid back. We want people to come as they are and just be a church where everyone feels comfortable."