By AMY JONES / Associate Editor

GREYSTONE — For two and a half years, Joshua Canizaro has led Church of the Highlands services every Sunday at Greystone Elementary School.

Soon, Canizaro will be able to preach to a larger congregation at a permanent Church of the Highlands campus in Greystone.

Canizaro, who is the Greystone campus pastor for Church of the Highlands, said the church recently purchased 34 acres of land and a 50,000-square-foot building on Lee Branch Lane, off of Alabama 119 in Greystone, for about $4 million.

“We will begin the renovation work in the next few weeks,” he said. “We’re going to add some parking, as well as renovate the building to have services there.”

Canizaro said the permanent Greystone campus will be open later this year, although he said there is no firm opening date right now.

The sanctuary in the permanent location will likely hold 800-1,000 people, Canizaro said.

“It’s going to allow us to reach out in a lot bigger way,” he said.

Eventually, the Greystone campus will also be home to Highlands College, a program that helps train students in ministry and offers practical theological experience.

He said Church of the Highlands was committed to opening a Greystone location because congregants from Shelby County have historically traveled to the church’s Grants Mill Road campus.

“We realized people were coming a longer distance,” Canizaro said. “We wanted to be strategic and pick a central location that would be easy for people in Greystone and Shelby County.”

Canizaro said he’s happy the church is building a permanent Greystone location, but the time at Greystone Elementary has been well-spent.

“Greystone Elementary opened their doors to us, and it’s been a blessing,” he said. “We’ve got a huge team of volunteers who gets the school ready to have three Sunday services every week, and our services are just packed.”

For more information, visit Churchofthehighlands.com.