My name is Robert Oglesby, and I have been the pulpit preacher for this church for four decades; in fact, I am the only pulpit preacher this church has ever had in its 40 year history.

Yes, this church is 40 years old but it’s still growing. We started in the early 1960’s with about 140 members, and today we have 1,150 members. Although we are much larger than when we started, we have struggled to keep the "small church feeling".

Here are some things which will give you that "small church feeling" when you visit us:

We begin our worship with a period of fellowship. As a guest you remain seated, and Waterview Family members in your area come chat with you. This means you begin worshipping with friends the first Sunday you visit us.
A "Worship Order" printed on the back of the bulletin is available at the door of the auditorium. With that guide, you never wonder "what’s coming next."
Our music in worship is done acappella; that is, without instruments. We do not dislike instruments. Instead we are simply trying to follow the pattern of early Christian worship which did not use instruments in its first 1,000 years. After a few moments of worship, you will begin to enjoy clearly hearing the words of songs expressing great thoughts about God.
You will also note that we celebrate the Lord’s Supper or Communion every Sunday. As best we can tell from a study of the New Testament and early church history, this is what the early church did. For us it is a simple memorial meal filled with symbolism. The bread and the fruit of the vine will be passed through the audience, and joining us in that memorial meal will be your choice.
We take a contribution each Sunday. Once again, this is for the members of the Waterview Church. You are under no pressure to participate. All our giving is voluntary.

You may wonder why we do things as we do. The explanation is simple. It is the secret of everything we do. We read the New Testament carefully, because that is where God, through the pen of inspired men, describes the church He established. We take those ancient documents seriously, and we try as best we can to be the church you read about in the New Testament. We know we are twenty centuries removed from that time, but we still believe we can be the church the Lord established if we believe what they believed, and do what they did. This means we are trying to "restore" the first century church to our times here at the beginning of the 21st century. We don’t try to copy first century dress or other incidentals, but we do try to concentrate on the important matters.

There’s a lot more. We also have Bible classes for all ages. Some of our classes are taught by lecture, and some are small group discussion type classes. The choice is yours.

We have "Love One Another" groups which meet once a month for fellowship.

I’d love to go on telling you the wonderful things I have found in this church, but that’s enough. The best thing you can do is to come visit us. Do that as soon as you can.

About Robert:

Robert and his wife Willora came to Waterview in 1963 and continue to serve as Waterview's only pulpit minister it has ever had.

Robert has both Bachelor and Master degrees in Bible from Abilene Christian University. Widely known as a teacher trainer, he has produced 22 books and is well-known as a scholar, communicator and leader. He also serves on the Board of Trustees of Abilene Christian University and the Christian Chronicle.