Our Story

In 1976, during the Jesus Movement, Pastor Lawrence Kennedy planted New Life Community Church.  The new congregation purchased their first church building on Martin Luther King Blvd.

In 1985, land was purchased on Mall Drive and a new building was erected and the name was changed to Church on the Rock.  Evangelist Tim Story became the pastor in 1988 after Lawrence Kennedy planted a new church in the Dallas area.

In 1990, Pastors John & LaNell Miller accepted the call to pastor COTR.  It was in their heart, as well as in the heart of the previous pastors, to be a multi-cultural, multi-generational church, committed to winning the lost and making disciples.  

In 1996, Powerhouse was built to reach the youth of Texarkana to equip and train young people to become world changers.  1998 KidZone was remodeled to raise up a generation of children who were worshipers and bold soul winners.  Outreaches were started throughout the city to transform lives and give people hope.  The church continued to grow and multiply and more weekend services were added to handle the people God was sending our way.

In 2014, we realized that our current facility could not hold the harvest God had sent us.  KidZone was overcrowded and the hallways were packed.  A 3rd weekend service was added and still the facility was not big enough.  It took a few years to realize that the cost of adding onto our Mall Drive property was far greater than purchasing new land and changing our location.  In 2019, we purchased the old Gander Mountain building and began renovation to create our new church home.  

In the Spring of 2021, we officially moved to our new home on University Avenue.  Look what God has done! We have doubled the square footage and doubled our capacity to reach more people and make more disciples.  As Pastor John Miller says:

More room means more people.  
More people means more ministry.  
More ministry means a greater impact on our community, our nation and around the world.