Southeast Christian to open 9th church in Shelby County

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Southeast Christian Church is expanding again with a ninth church that'll soon take shape in Shelby County.

According to a news release, the campus is planned to open at 196 Midland Boulevard in Shelbyville.

"We really feel called to Shelbyville when we considered the fact that Southeast has over 3,000 attendees living in the area and have been actively serving the community through local ministries for nearly 10 years now," Senior Pastor Kyle Idleman said in the release.

Of the thousands of attendees from Shelby County, many make the commute to Louisville every week. The new location will be closer and allow members to be more involved in their own community.

"It's exciting for us to be able to worship with our neighbors and our friends that we do life with," said Michele Andriot, a Southeast member who lives in Shelby County.

Plans call for a 26,000-square-foot campus with a worship center capable of seating 600 people and additional space for classrooms, activities and other gatherings.

New Southeast location in the works for Shelby County — The renovations are expected to be finished next fall.

Executive Pastor Tim Hester said the building process will take 12-18 months.

"Any time we get an opportunity to go into a community where there are people to be reached for the cause of Christ, we want to be there," he said.

Southeast Christian Church currently has eight other locations in Kentucky and Indiana:

Blankenbaker Parkway in Louisville
Chapel in The Woods adjacent to the Blankenbaker Campus
Crestwood Station in Oldham County
Charlestown: New Albany Road in Southern Indiana
Saint Andrews Church Road in Southwest Jefferson County
Oldham Plaza on South First Street in La Grange
North Dixie Avenue in Elizabethtown and River Valley in Goshen

The church began in 1962 with about 40 people meeting in the basement of a house. It has grown into one of the largest churches in North America with more than 20,000 people attending services every week.

The new campus hopes to bring even more through the doors.

"When they are able to see, 'Man, I can be so much more effective for the Kingdom of God, if you will, right here in my community and be able to worship in my community,' my guess is most of them will migrate there," Hester said.