Oxford opened the new house on Sunday

Church of the Highlands opened a new Oxford campus house on Sunday, 30 August 2026. The address is 1601 Leon Smith Parkway, Oxford, Alabama. The church’s own notice, issued 27 August on PR Newswire, put the floor at 44,333 square feet, about 4,120 square metres, with a 1,200-seat auditorium and age-specific rooms for children. Services that Sunday were listed at 8:00 a.m., 9:30 a.m., and 11:00 a.m.

The Anniston Star’s Julie Edwards filed from Oxford on 30 August. Campus pastor David Williams had welcomed members and city leaders on Saturday for a ribbon-cutting and open house. The Oxford campus has been in the city since February 2018. The Star called it the eighteenth Highlands location in Alabama. The new house is the building. Saturday was the scissors. Sunday was the first full slate of services in the new rooms.

Construction finished in late July, the church said. Highlands Haven, the special-needs ministry, is offered at Oxford for the first time in the new building. Dedicated space for that work is part of the 4,120 square metres. Families who needed that room now have it on the Parkway. That is a first for this campus, printed in the 27 August notice.

Williams has led the Oxford campus since the 2018 launch. Mark Pettus, lead pastor of Church of the Highlands, said: “This is an exciting moment for our Oxford Campus and a testament to all God has done. We’re grateful for the opportunity to have a space where even more people can gather, grow in their faith, and make a difference right where God placed them. We believe our best days are still ahead in this city and the entire region.” The quote is the church’s. The date of the notice is 27 August. The date of the opening Sunday is 30 August.

The Star recorded Williams at the Saturday cutting. “We have been serving the community in Oxford for more than eight years,” he said as he greeted the crowd. “We are grateful to Mayor Alton Craft for inviting us to the city, for inviting Jesus into the area.” He named the mission: “We want to be a safe space for people to belong and be of service to others in the community. We want to be the first call you make when you have someone in need.” With the new facility open he said it was now clear that “we are here to stay.” Those are his sentences. This desk does not add a homily on top of them.

Mayor Alton Craft was there on Saturday. “The Church of the Highlands has been here for almost nine years,” he said. “They do what the good Lord told us to do — they serve other people.” February 2018 to August 2026 is eight years and some months on the campus clock. The mayor’s “almost nine” is the city’s way of counting the same span. The Star printed both the 2018 start and the mayor’s line. Both stay on the page.

April Raffolette, director of Interfaith Ministries, an Anniston-based service agency, told the Star that Interfaith has called on Highlands many times to help clients, and that Highlands serve teams in red shirts are quick to respond across Calhoun and surrounding counties. Lorena Cottles, named as media director in the Star and as Corena Cottles, media contact, in the PR Newswire notice, said most Highlands campuses are built the same, but Oxford’s was designed for more green space and communal areas. The church contact number printed with the notice is (205) 980-5577. The campus page is churchofthehighlands.com/campuses/oxford.

The Star described a full-length LED wall of 117 panels at the front of the auditorium, a mother’s room with a closed-circuit view of the service, a JV Dream Team of older children leading worship for elementary ages, and Highland Haven rooms with trained teachers and sensory areas. Those details are the local paper’s walk-through. The church’s own notice did not reprint the panel count. It did print 1,200 seats and the Haven launch. This filing keeps the labels on. 1,200 is the church’s number. 117 panels is the Star’s number. About 4,120 square metres is 44,333 square feet, the church’s floor.

Church of the Highlands began in 2001. It now has campuses in Alabama and Georgia. The Oxford house is part of that line, the church said, meeting people where they are. The mission sentence on the notice is Know God, Find Freedom, Discover Purpose, and Make a Difference. A life-giving local church is the phrase they use for themselves. The news is not the slogan. The news is a 4,120-square-metre house on a named parkway, with 1,200 seats, a Haven room that Oxford did not have before, and a Sunday clock of 8:00, 9:30, and 11:00.

1601 Leon Smith Parkway is an address a city already knows how to find. Oxford, Alabama, is not a rumour. Saturday’s ribbon-cutting put the mayor and the campus pastor on the same lawn. Sunday put three services on the same board. Late July put the construction in the past tense. 27 August put the invitation in writing. 30 August put the house to work. Eight years after February 2018, the campus has a building sized for the people who already came and for the people the pastor said he wants to be called when someone is in need.

This desk covers parishes, campuses, and houses of faith as ordinary news. A new auditorium is a civic fact. A special-needs room opening for the first time on a campus is a civic fact. A mayor thanking a church for serving other people is a civic fact. The Gospel on this page is the news of a house, not a sermon from the desk. Readers who want the Bible-based message the church advertised can go at 8:00, 9:30, or 11:00. Readers who want the floor plan already have it: about 4,120 square metres, 1,200 seats, children’s rooms, Haven, more green space than the standard Highlands template, Leon Smith Parkway, Oxford.

The still at the top is a Highlands house at Grants Mill, empty lawn, no people, credited to the church. It is not a photograph of 1601 Leon Smith Parkway. The night church and the 1927 towers are newspaper stills of houses of worship, labelled as what they are. No invented living face. The object is the opening.

Sunday, 30 August 2026. 1601 Leon Smith Parkway, Oxford, Alabama. About 4,120 square metres. 1,200 seats. Highlands Haven for the first time at Oxford. Campus since February 2018. Eighteenth Alabama location, per the Star. Church founded 2001. David Williams, campus pastor. Mark Pettus, lead pastor. Mayor Alton Craft at Saturday’s cutting. April Raffolette, Interfaith Ministries. Corena Cottles, media. Services at 8:00, 9:30, and 11:00. Construction done late July. Invitation dated 27 August. The house opened.

NKJV: “Unless the Lord builds the house, They labor in vain who build it; Unless the Lord guards the city, The watchman stays awake in vain.” (Psalm 127:1)