History of Suncreek United Methodist Church

The first sign

The Suncreek UMC family at Green Elementary

In June of 1995, Rev. Burt Palmer was appointed to begin a new United Methodist Church. Organizational meetings were held throughout the summer. In September of 1995, three families began to gather on Sundays at the parsonage. The group grew to about 10 adults and 20 children each Sunday. Sunday worship services began on December 3rd at Green Elementary School. On September 22, 1996, Suncreek was officially constituted as a United Methodist Church.

In early 1999, the church began to build on property at Suncreek and McDermott Drives. This included renovating a home that was on the site and adding additional rooms to the house for a Sanctuary and classrooms. The home was previously owned by Jack Evans, Jr., the son of former Dallas' Mayor Jack Evans. In September of 1999, the church left Green Elementary and began meeting in the new buildings.

Groundbreaking: May 11, 2003

Rev. Kathleen Baskin-Ball was appointed Senior Pastor of Suncreek in June 2001. When she arrived, the church included about 469 adult/youth members and 283 children.

In May 2002, over 600 persons gathered on Sunday for a spirit filled worship service under a large tent to kickoff Capital Campaign 2002-2005. By June 2002, about 1.3 million dollars had been pledged for a 2 million dollar project that included purchasing land, building a new building, renovating the existing buildings, adding a turn lane on McDermott and adding parking spaces. A Ground Breaking Worship Service was held on May 11, 2003.

Consecration Services May 23. 2004

Our new building opened on April 4, 2004. Consecration Worship Services were held on May 23, 2004.

Some of Suncreek's members gathered for a photo after a 10th Anniversary celebration.

In September of 2005, Suncreek UMC celebrated the tenth anniversary of when the first three families gathered to start the church. All clergy who had served the church were invited to participate in the celebration events.

The clergy who served Suncreek UMC during the church's first ten years.

Front (left to right) Rev. Wally Butts, Rev. Linn Zink, Rev. Kathleen
Baskin-Ball, Rev. Burt Palmer, Rev. Char Cowen, Rev. Holly Gotelli.
Back (left to right): Rev. Kevin Holland, Rev. Jim Palmer, Rev. Danny Burnette.

In early 2007, Rev. Kathleen Baskin-Ball was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer. Kathleen chose to be very open with the congregation about her illness. Amidst this great challenge, Kathleen continued to preach. In her first sermon after announcing her diagnosis, she ended with, "What will bring more healing than anything else is me walking into this church and having you wrap your arms around each other, around me, around those in need, in a way that says, 'Glory be, God. Glory be. You are right here with us every step of the way.' "

There has been a sense of heighted spirituality throughout the church during this time. Some would say it has been a time to focus on what is really important in life. Others would describe it as one of those spiritual mountaintop experiences when there is a sense of great energy and of being very close to God. One of the outwards signs of this spirt is a dramatic increase in worship attendance. Visitors also have felt this powerful spirit. By May 13, more persons had joined the church than in all of 2006.

At the conclusion of 2007, church membership reached 1464 adult/youth members and 500 children with an average weekly worship attendance of 649 persons .