Our History

The Ark Church held its first service on Sunday July 31, 1988. The Church started with Pastor Leichner, who is our founding Pastor, preaching a Sunday through Sunday Camp meeting. We met for the first three services in a bar/dance club in Colwich. This is approximately four miles from where the Church is now located. We moved to the chapel of a funeral home for the next 3 ½ months. Growth made it necessary to move again and the church rented a dining hall for one month, then a seasonal tabernacle for the next six weeks in NW Wichita. Following that, we moved to central Wichita and rented a church facility for one year. In that time the Church purchased fifteen acres of land and built a sanctuary. This is in the greater NW Wichita area, the suburb town of Maize. We moved into it on April 1, 1990. Additional property was purchased and the buildings now sit on 35 acres.

The original Ark (a literal Noah's Ark shaped building) now houses offices, nurseries, a 500-seat prayer chapel and a 150 seat children's ministry sanctuary. A new facility was built in 2000, adjacent to the Ark. It includes a 700-seat youth sanctuary, café, game room and classrooms. In 2004 a full size collegiate gymnasium was attached to the building. It is currently utilized as a tabernacle for Sunday services.

The Ark has been host to tent meetings, revivals and the Fire in the Plains Camp meetings. Powerful ministers have graced our pulpit such as Bishop T.D. Jakes, Rod Parsley, Helen Baylor, Gary Oliver, Dr. Lester Sumrall and Darlene Bishop.

The Church has had many ministry outreaches including inner city, community operatives, prison and jail, nursing home, TV programs, Fresh Fire radio, crusades, mission trips (Ark Church II is in the Ukraine) revivals, renewals and seminars.

The Ark Church has a vibrant and powerful Body of believers, multi-generational and multi-cultural, all united together to make a difference for the Kingdom of God. While rooted in the heritage of our past, we are reaching forward to merge with the current generation. This serves to form a healthy Body of Christ with a solid foundation and a great expectation of the future!