“ When people ask me what has made the biggest difference, I say,‘ We just stayed faithful. We stayed.’ Galatians 6:9 says to not give up‘ for at the proper time we will reap a harvest.’ Now, that’ s what we’ re doing.”
Time to recalibrate Rock Creek leaders severed the relationship with the project manager. He stayed with the church, but it was a tough conversation for everyone involved. Again, Wilkerson reached out to the Goffs. He was surprised, he says, when they declined to charge a fee for their services; the church would simply cover the job superintendent’ s payroll until the building was finished.“ After that, the agreement was,‘ don’ t do this again when you build in the future,’” Wilkerson recalls.“ They came in, shut the project down for 30 days, reassessed what needed to be fixed, and we moved forward.”
“ So, the building almost killed me— and then 2020 happened” At the end of 2019, Rock Creek was finally able to move into its first building. Just 12 weeks later, COVID struck.“ When I describe our journey, I say‘ portable for 12 years, permanent for 12 weeks,’” Wilkerson shares.“ When the pandemic hit, we were dealing with the fallout of being over our time and over the budget on the building. Now we needed to shut down.” The timing was terrible. Attendance was on a roll. In the three months in which Rock Creek occupied its new facility, the congregation grew from 500 in attendance to 1,200. As the months passed, the church struggled but endured. On May 3, 2020, Texas Governor Greg Abbott opened restaurants to 25 % capacity. Cautiously, Rock Creek also reopened for in-person worship on May 24, 2020.“ We were the first church in Prosper to open up,” Wilkerson recalls.“ We had no choice. We had to, or we could no longer survive.” With other churches in the area not reopening for several more months, Rock Creek leaders knew it was a bold move. The decision carried with it significant anxiety.“ Nobody knew we existed— and when I say‘ nobody,’ I’ m talking about the media,” Wilkerson explains.“ If we had an outbreak of COVID, it could have been catastrophic for us.” Fortunately, it never came to pass. Instead, Rock Creek welcomed a lot of new faces in those months.“ Many people were frustrated that their own churches weren’ t reopening, and a lot of those were megachurches,” Wilkerson says.“ They voiced that frustration to us, but I told them,‘ Just give your pastor some grace. He’ s in different position than I’ m in.’” When all the churches opened up again, many of the newcomers went back to their own. Some, however, stayed with Rock Creek. For this reason and more, Wilkerson says COVID was a make-it-orbreak-it event.“ As I look back, May 2020 was truly a catalytic moment in our journey,” he says.
The comeback begins Over the next several years, Rock Creek enjoyed explosive growth. If you ask the members— new and old— what fueled it, they’ ll cite two factors. First, the church has focused, from the beginning, on intentionality toward the next generation. Worship services are modern, with lots of state-of-the-art technology in use and songs that are familiar from Christian radio. Second, Rock Creek has retained its commitment to being culturally relevant but biblically pure.“ We’ re very strong Bible preachers,” Wilkerson explains.“ Altogether, we’ ve created a uniqueness that resonates in Prosper, Celina and the surrounding areas.”
Back to the drawing board, literally When Rock Creek re-enlisted Goff Companies in 2023 to begin architectural work to expand its facilities, attendance had skyrocketed to 3,500 per weekend across four services. Meanwhile, the area around the church’ s property was exploding. When the church bought its 30 acres in 2014, it was essentially farmland. Today, there’ s a new middle school to the west and a brandnew high school to the southwest. Across the street is a massive housing development where the average home price is nearly $ 1 million. And, what began as Fish Trap Road is now the four-lane West First Street. More than 20 years ago, Wilkerson and his team were able to buy the land for about 25 % of its current value. Before they did, they ordered demographic studies. All of them were encouraged by the projections they received and, thus, the site’ s potential for growth. This fruit came to bear in July 2024, when construction began on a new, 42,000-square-foot building. When finished later this month, per Goff’ s master plan, it will include more seating capacity, more parking, and more kids’ spaces.
10 CHURCH EXECUTIVE | NOV / DEC 2025