Rally at the Rock

“When you walk in the door of The Rock Church, there’s a lot of excitement,” says Senior Pastor Billy Joe Watts.

“When you walk in the door of The Rock Church, there’s a lot of excitement,” says Senior Pastor Billy Joe Watts. And there should be; The Rock Church is an active, growing church with a lot of exciting ministries.

“There are a couple of things about us that really make our church wonderful and unique,” says Watts. “First of all, we’re very diverse. We have many different cultures and races, and it gives us a great, exciting congregation. We have members from Broken Arrow, Tulsa, Jenks, Bixby, and Owasso. We have visitors come from Nowata, Bristow, Beggs, and even Arkansas. Our music ministry has some very diverse sounds; we do different genres, not just black gospel. We also do contemporary, Hillsongs, and so forth.

“Our mission is to serve God and love people. Outreach is one of our core values, and we really strive to be an outreach church. Most major holidays are an opportunity to touch people with the love of God in a practical way. It also opens the hearts of our members for outreach. For Thanksgiving, we had our Touched by a Turkey outreach, where we gave away turkeys to anyone who had need. On December 14, we’ll have our Christmas bike drive, and we’ll give away about 50 bikes.”

The Rock Church has a lot of regular ministries, too. “We have a ministry for children two years old through fifth grade called Kidz Rock,” says Watts. “We have a youth activity called After Church Together that meets every other Sunday, where we do some fun activities along with a Bible study. And the last Sunday of every month, we have Starbucks day. All our first-time guests get free Starbucks gift cards, and we also give them to our members so they can take their guests out for fellowship. It’s very popular. We have a women’s ministry called Ladies Night Out. We’re also developing programs for our singles. We take them out for cheesecake, and we foot the bill. We’re not trying to buy anyone’s attendance; this is just a way that we love people.”

Watts is a graduate of Rhema Bible Training Center, where he also served as an instructor. He has been an associate pastor at Rhema Bible Church. Watts and his wife Theresa founded The Rock Church in September of 2007. The Rock Church had its grand opening in its current location at Cedar Ridge Elementary School on Easter Sunday this year. “The church is exploding,” says Watts. “We started with 43 people, and now we have about two hundred people worshiping on Sundays.” This growth has been so great that The Rock Church is now looking for a new building. “It’s been exciting. We have to give God the glory for how He is drawing people to our church,” says Watts.

The Rock Church is affiliated with the Rhema Ministerial Association International and Faith Christian Fellowship. “These are wonderful organizations, and they give us accountability,” says Watts. “We’re trying not to be a personality-driven church. We’re here to serve God and love people, and we have a vision to carry it out.

“We’re happy to be here and happy to be a part of this community. We’re here to train and raise up this generation for the kingdom of God.”

If you’re thinking of giving The Rock Church a try, they’d love to have you. They meet every Sunday at 10 a.m. at Cedar Ridge Elementary School, 9718 S. Mingo. You can visit them on the web at www.therockchurchtulsa.org. For more information, contactThe Rock Church9817 S. MingoTulsa, OK 74133(918) 694-ROCK (7625)www.therockchurchtulsa.org
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