IMPACT CHURCH has a long and rich history that should be celebrated as a foundation to the vision that we are actively pursuing today. The history of our church provides an understanding of God’s faithfulness and dedication of people who were willing to take risks so that many generations would come to realize the importance of living out the Gospel.

In January of 2020, IMPACT CHURCH celebrated 88 years of ministry in the Hampton Roads region. It all began with nine women who had a passion to see a “Spirit-filled” congregation come to life that would influence their community and the world. This pioneering spirit has existed since the very beginning and continues to be a driving force for us today.

The early days of the church saw the congregation move to several different locations around Norfolk including hosting services in a tent, a rented chapel on East 27th Street, and the upstairs of Tatum’s Drug Store on Brambleton Avenue. The Reverend O.E. Sproul was a traveling evangelist that was very instrumental in the early growth of the church, but the first listed pastor was the Reverend J.A. Synan in 1932, who later became the Bishop of the International Pentecostal Holiness Church.

The first permanent facility was built under the leadership of Pastor L.B. Edge in 1937 on Lens Avenue in the Fairmont Park section of Norfolk. This facility served the church for the next 23 years, when the new pastor, Herbert Spence felt the need to build a larger facility on the corner of Chesapeake Boulevard and Shoop Avenue. The congregation moved into the larger facility on Christmas Sunday in 1960.

E.L. Trueblood became the lead pastor of the church in September of 1961 and led the congregation to an unparallel season of growth and influence for the next 41 years. It was under Pastor Trueblood’s leadership that the church decided to move to Volvo Parkway in Chesapeake, Virginia. This move to a growing and changing community was significant to the life and vision of the church that became Parkway Temple.

Our current pastor, Robbie Jones, became the lead pastor in July 2003. During the past eighteen years the church has continued to focus on being multi-generational while creating one of the most multi-ethnic faith communities in Hampton Roads. In 2018, Parkway started its second campus on Twin Pines Road in Portsmouth, Virginia with an emphasis of racial reconciliation.

2018 saw our ministry expand again by planting a house church in Colonial Heights, Virginia under the leadership of Rick and Sunshine Hackett.

In 2019, the congregation sold its property on Volvo Parkway and is planning to relocate the Chesapeake Campus with a new facility on Innovation Drive. It has been during this season that the church decided to change its name to IMPACT CHURCH. The new facility should be ready by Christmas of 2021.