A Driving Range, a Salvation Army Parcel and $2.25 Million: An Alabama Megachurch Buys Land for a Campus

• Church of the Highlands bought 17 acres near Alabaster, Alabama, for about $2.25 million in two deals.
• It paid $950,000 to The Salvation Army and $1.3 million for the former Greg’s Golf Driving Range.
• The deals closed in September with no mortgages listed.
• The Alabaster campus currently meets in a middle school two miles away.

One of Alabama’s largest churches has bought land for a permanent home for one of its congregations. MinistryWatch reported that Church of the Highlands, a Birmingham-area megachurch with 24 locations, has bought 17 acres near its Alabaster campus for about $2.25 million.

The land came in two purchases. One parcel was bought from The Salvation Army for $950,000. The other, the former Greg’s Golf Driving Range, was bought from Gregory and Dewey Glass for $1.3 million. Both deals closed in September, with no mortgages listed. The Alabaster congregation currently meets in a middle school two miles from the new property.

The report listed other recent purchases by the church: a former elementary school and adjoining properties in Woodlawn for $70,000, vacant land in Grandview for $7.25 million, and the Cahaba Grand Conference Center and adjacent land for $34 million in early 2020, for Highlands College. Hobby Lobby founder David Green donated $20 million to build a residence hall at the college.

Senior Pastor Chris Hodges said: “I’m so grateful for everyone who believed and invested in our vision of seeing a generation of leaders go and change the world.”

Buying land without a mortgage gives a church freedom to build at its own pace. Many Jamaican congregations also start out in schools or rented halls before buying land, and a church that saves and buys outright avoids the risk of loan payments it cannot meet. The Highlands purchases also show the value of assembling land from more than one seller to create a usable site. Congregations should check titles, access and zoning on each parcel before combining them, and plan how the new campus will be paid for.

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