Church of the Highlands is a church located in Alabama in the city of Birmingham. The Church is based on the beliefs of non-denominational evangelical Christianity. It has been considered as one the mega churches located in Alabama and if we look at the number of visitors, it exceeds 60,000 persons per week. The senior pastor in the Church of the Highlands is Chris Hodges.
Recently, an article had been published by Al.com, where the church of the Highlands was accused of establishing a Lodge for the sexual misconduct that had raised quite a point. But the issue has been solved by the Pastor of the Church of Highlands who has talked in detail about the main purpose of the building of the Lodge.
While addressing the issue; Church of the Highlands Exposed, he said that when he claimed, he’s going to build a ‘Pastoral Restoration Center’ he didn’t mean a center for the pastors suffering from housing or sexual misconduct. It was built for the restoration of the Pastors who have been depressed or burnout. It was built to help them rest and worship there. So, they can be rejuvenated and restored to life.
Highlighting Points about the Church of the Highlands
The Church of the Highlands is one of the number one churches in Alabama, Birmingham. It has various highlighting points that have been described below;
| Aspects | Details |
|---|---|
| Name of the Church | Church of the Highlands |
| Founder of the Church | Chris Hodges |
| Established in | February 4. 2001 |
| Located in | Birmingham, Alabama |
| Total Campuses | 25 |
| Number of visitors per week | Exceeding 60,000 |
| Beliefs | Based on the beliefs of non-denominational evangelical Christianity |
History of the Church of the Highlands
Chris Hodges established the Church alongwith 34 other participants on February 4, 2001. Its main building was built in 2007 with a total of 2400-seats auditorium. It is not limited to only one building but its various campuses have been established in the city of Birmingham.
Church of the Highlands had been in first place in 2018 and second place in 2022 based on its number of attendees.
It has a total of 25 campuses in Alabama and Georgia. A place for the rest of Pastors has been built that has been named as; ‘The Lodge at Grants Mill’.
List of the Campuses of Church of the Highlands
Church of the Highlands was founded in 2001, and till now it has expanded to 25 more campuses. The list of the Campuses include;
- Alabaster
- Auburn East
- Auburn West
- Columbus
- Demopolis
- Fultondale
- Gadsden
- Grand View
- Grants Mill
- Greystone
- Highlands En Espanol
- Huntsville
- Madison
- Mobile Bay
- Montgomery
- Newnan
- Opelica
- Oxford
- Riverchase
- Shoals
- Southwest
- Sylacauga
- The Chapel
- Troy
- Tuscaloosa
- Woodlawn
Who is Chris Hodges?
Chris Hodges is the senior pastor and founder of the Church of Highlands. He had founded the first Church in 2001 in Alabama, and till now because of his great love to build churches, he has made 25 more campuses.
He is also a co-founder in the development of ARC: Association of Related Churches. The ARC is presently leading hundreds of other churches along with the Church of the Highlands in the United States.
Moreover, he is also the founder of another association named Grow whose purpose is to help the pastors and churches in their development and potential growth. He also wrote many books named; Four cups, Dilemma, What’s Next? Pray First, etc.
In his personal life, he has a Wife named Tammy and five children. He lives in Birmingham, Alabama with his family.
Church of the Highlands Exposed; Clarification by Chris Hodges
About the recent articles and news that have been taken by a troll: Church of the Highlands Exposed. Chris Hedges as the senior Pastor of the Church has tried its best to provide a detailed clarification. He has provided the details about the misconception of his purpose and words.
The Lodge that had been built, was not for the pastors or priests who were involved in any kind of Sexual misconduct, but it has its other purposes, and the details of those purposes have been clarified by Chris Hodges. Ha has said that he can never build a lodge to serve as a shelter for sexual misconducts.
The main purpose of the Lodge was to act as a place where the pastors can take rest; the pastors who were suffering from burnout, anxiety or any kind of depression; who have given up on their lives.
So, they will be given a personal space, a place to rest, worship and get restoration. The true mission of the Lodge and the Church of the Highlands is to support its members in their hard times, because that falls under their responsibility.
Involvement of Chris Hodges
Chris Hodges has claimed that the article: “Church of the Highlands Exposed” is totally misconceptual. The juniors, members of the Church and the media have misunderstood his use of Words and the building of the Lodge.
The Lodge can never ever act as a sanctuary for sexual misconceptions. He never said that. Though it was built as a “Pastoral Restoration Center”, not for the restoration of sexual maniacs, but for the restoration of those pastors or ministers who are depressed because of the pandemic or tired of leading out their duties. They will live there with their wives and “rest, worship and grow”. So, that they can be restored to life again.
In a sermon, Hodges had said that he has helped around 20 moral failures. But by those words he didn’t mean the sexual misconducts but the depressed ones whom he would like to be restored to life and let them live again.
Moral Support Provided by the Church of the Highlands
As Chris Hodges has stated to us; the purpose of the Church of the Highlands is to provide moral support and restore the pastors back to life. But the point to remember is that it is for the offenses that are redeemable not those that are actual sins.
Carter, who has provided the details about the building of the Lodge, has said it by mistake. But what he said was not true at all. There was a misconception about the building of the Lodge and its purpose, because Chris Hodges himself was not dealing with any related case.
Was the Church of the Highlands Exposed?
If we give you a direct answer to the point, It has never done anything for which the church of the highlands must be exposed.
It in the first place has never specified any program for supporting sexual misconducts.
Chris Hodges has said that the purpose of the Lodge was totally different and unlike Carter, he can never say or do anything like that.
If other Churches are claiming anything like that it’s because they are governed locally and ARC (Association of Related Churches) are not involved in every of the decisions they made.
Conclusion
The news; Church of the Highlands Exposed was totally based on misconceptions. There was a Lodge built at Grants Mill, but not for the purpose of supporting Sexual abusers, but for the pastors to relax and rejuvenate themselves, and for coming back to the divine guidance.
The Pastors who have got tired of life, are retiring at a young age, or are depressed, it has been founded for them so they can be devoted to their religion and spread it to every corner of the World.
