Upon a study of Psalm 90:1, “Lord, you have been our dwelling place throughout all generations.” Considering the forty years (or one-third of his life) Moses spent wandering in the wilderness with no fixed dwelling place, it’s no wonder he would say, “Lord, through all the generations, you have been our home!” (NLT). The word translated “dwelling place” in the original Hebrew language means “refuge, shelter from danger or hardship, habitation.” A vision of The Dwelling Place was born.

 

Pastor Jones envisioned a place where all walks of Life could gather to know and worship God. The vision was shared with approximately six people, including the Pastor and His Wife Juanita, in April 2011. The core group began to dream and meet at the Pastor’s home to dream, plan, and pray. After a time of prayer and planning, the meeting space was secured.

 

The first service was launched on the 1st Sunday in July of 2012. Because of our pastor's Facebook following, over 300 people showed up at Frayser Baptist Church on Hwy 51 in Memphis, where we rented space to worship. That day, 50 people joined the ministry. With little to no resources, our pastor used his 401k retirement to fix the building for use and hire a tiny staff of musicians. We remained at that location for two years, and God allowed us to purchase our own facility at 3835 Raleigh Millington Rd. We grew tremendously and baptized over 400 people at that location. We moved into the gym because of space restraints; then, we outgrew the gym.

 

God favored us to purchase our current location, 3034 Old Austin Peay Hwy, with plenty of parking, an 1100-seat sanctuary, a gymnasium, children’s areas, a fellowship hall, and many classrooms as soon as we moved into the new facility, the pandemic of 2020 surfaced. It was a fearful time, but our church remained faithful, and God still provided. To this date, we have baptized over 800 people and received many members into the flock of Jesus Christ. Our vision was and is “To be a place of community where the Gospel is shared, people are prepared, and the broken are repaired.”

 

We are still standing on what we first stood on.