Tabernacle Church of Norfolk began in 1924 when Mr. and Mrs. Robert Moore sought to establish a Christian and Missionary Alliance Church in Norfolk, Virginia. The first services were tent meetings held on a rented lot at 21st and Granby streets. However, it took until 1935 before the church had grown to the point where the Christian and Missionary Alliance thought it wise to put in place the church’s first full-time pastor, Harry Taylor.

Harry and his wife, Miriam, were on their way to the mission field but felt that the Lord would have them serve in the pastorate before pursuing overseas ministry. The Taylors served only a few short years and then went into full-time missionary service. During the ensuing decade, several other pastors led the fledgling congregation. The church moved its plant closer to the downtown shopping districts to a location near the corner of 25th and Granby Streets. A radio ministry, Wings of Prayer, and an outreach to the thousands of military personnel stationed in Norfolk during W.W.II began.

In 1944, another couple on their way to the mission field was called to pastor the church, John and Lolly Dunlap. This couple had their hearts set on missions ministry in Ecuador but felt convinced of the Lord’s desire for them to pastor a young, unorganized, and deficit-ridden church. John was a visionary and leader who had a passion to strengthen the church family and to reach out to the lost. He did more than just continue the radio and military ministries. He raised them to a new and more dynamic level. He and a young man named Jim Downing began a new military outreach called the Norfolk Servicemen’s Center. Many service men were led to the Lord and many went into full-time missionary service such as Bob Evans, who later founded Greater Europe Mission. But John did not just have a passion for the military. He loved the youth. He initiated a city-wide youth ministry as the key leader in the Norfolk Youth for Christ ministry. The church began to grow spiritually and numerically. Many were coming to know Christ as Savior and Lord.

God used John Dunlap to take a church family that was spiritually young and led them to maturity in their relationship with God and in ministry. However Norfolk was changing. After the war the city neighborhoods expanded beyond the downtown district. The church found its location in the middle of industry rather than in the midst of people. So in 1949, the church decided to relocate to a new location in the heart of new residential neighborhoods. Moreover, the piece of property the church desired was located by a trolley stop between downtown and the world’s largest naval installation. In 1951, the first services were held in the new facility, located at the corner of Granby and Thole Streets. The congregation of 70 members had built a church to accommodate 750.

The church’s ministries began in earnest during the 50’s. Such ministries as the Tab Bookroom, Victory Center (military outreach), Marine Hospital Outreach, Servicemen’s Fellowship, Navigators, Old Folks Home, Bible School, and youth groups began to flourish. But perhaps the three biggest advances were in the areas of missions, radio programming, and the establishment of Norfolk Christian Schools.

60’s

Expansion of ministry continued into the 60’s with the addition of a children’s summer camp called the Triple-R Ranch and the establishment of the Virginia Beach Community Chapel. Norfolk Christian Schools were growing, so additional property was purchased and a High school was built.

70’s

In the 70’s, John Dunlap felt the need to transition the ministry and hand the mantle on to his colleague of 20 years, Gene Garrick. Gene became the Senior Pastor of the Church in 1974 and John became the Pastor-at-Large, spending a large amount of his time pastoring missionaries on the field, visiting college campuses, serving as the guest speaker in pulpits across the country and world. However, this transition in leadership did not thwart the ministry’s advancement. In 1976 the 19th building project was completed with the establishment of the Discovery Center, a building to house community outreach and the growing educational needs of the school. Soon the church would birth a new ministry called the National Institute for Learning Disabilities, an offshoot of Norfolk Christian Schools. Another ministry called Urban Discovery Ministries (UDM), was established as an outreach to students and the inner city. Our involvement with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes resulted in 21 huddles being formed throughout the Norfolk area.

Gene Garrick is quoted as saying that, Missions is the primary emphasis of the church. And with Gene as leader, Tabernacle Church of Norfolk became a church on the cutting edge of missions, sending out and supporting hundreds of missionaries and reaching every inhabited continent. The church founded its own mission agency called the Technical Support Mission which aided missionaries in the work of spreading the gospel of Christ. However outreach to the local community remained a passion and another church was planted in the neighboring city of Chesapeake.

During the 80’s, Tabernacle Church of Norfolk hosted the Mini-Bible College taught by Dick Woodward, the Senior Pastor at the Virginia Beach Community Chapel. Soon, Dick’s ministry grew beyond the boundaries of our church building and through tape and radio, the Mini-Bible College became a world-wide ministry. As in decades past, a new church was established, the Peninsula Community Chapel where Tom Kenney, a son of the church, served and continues to serve as the pastor. Missions emphasis continued its growth. Financially, the missions budget exceeded the operating budget with 55% of the total church budget going to world-wide missions.

The 90’s saw another transition in leadership. The Associate Pastor of 20 years, Rich Hardison, took the lead as Senior Pastor as Gene Garrick transitioned to Missions Pastor. In the early part of the 90’s, Rich felt God’s leading to once again build a new facility for the church. However, this time it would not be as easy as before. Due to construction techniques and civil requirements, we could not build the building ourselves as was done in years past. And although construction costs were astronomically more expensive than in the past decades, Rich felt as though God was calling us to give sacrificially so that no loans would be required. The result was that God enabled the church to build a new church facility totaling $12 million debt free.

But even though the church tackled this massive building project, the local and global ministries never took second place. New missions emphases were begun as we established the goal of reaching the unreached in Southeast Asia, the Islamic world, and the former USSR. Over 50 people from the congregation have traveled and ministered to people in these parts of the world where the name Jesus is seldom, if ever, heard. A new church plant was established in the inner city called the Urban Community Church of Norfolk (UCCON). Additional church staff has been added in order to minister to the ever growing and challenging ministry of the church.

The first three years of the new millennium have proven to be fruitful ones for Tab Church. In February of 2000 we opened the doors to our new facility at 7000 Granby St. God once again showed us his goodness by supplying all the funds for the facility prior to moving in. It has been exciting to see how God has used this new facility to help further His kingdom as well as seeing a 30% growth in our church family.

As a congregation we have taken new steps in our visitor and outreach ministries as well as starting a Wednesday night Christian education program for the entire family. The program includes our BILD Institute (Adult Christian Ed. Classes), AWANA and Youth activities. Tabernacle Church also has a new vision and passion for reaching out to the lost in our community and around the world. We are taking major steps as a family to equip ourselves for this challenge. We have seen the Lord work in amazing ways at Tab and we are excited to see the great things He has planned for our future.