There is a new place of worship close to the heart of the TCU campus.

Christ Chapel Bible Church, located at the corner of Montgomery Street and Birchman Avenue, has become so popular with the local community and TCU students that it had to relocate its weekly college service.

In order to accommodate the growing numbers, Christ Chapel has raised the money to build a new on-site location for high school and college students.

While there is no exact deadline for construction completion, College Pastor Ben Fuqua said it would certainly be ready sometime during the summer of 2012.

In the meantime, the ministry has had to search for a temporary venue that is both large enough and affordable.

“Until then, we still want to have a place where we can worship together, preach and have bible study,” Fuqua said.

The City of Fort Worth let the ministry temporarily use the vacant space across the street from the Christ Chapel. The large tent was able to cater to the students and was eventually coined the “bubble.”

When the City needed the “bubble” back, Christ Chapel was again on the search for another venue.

Fuqua said he put the decision in God’s hands and found an unconventional place to hold the service at the local bar The Aardvark.

Fuqua discussed his idea with Aardvark owner Danny Weaver, who offered the venue to the Christ Chapel’s college service free of charge.

Weaver did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

“It is a lot less intimidating of a place for people who haven’t really ever been to church before,” junior business major Molly Johnson said.

Christ Chapel’s college pastor Ben Fuqua became a full-time staff member after moving to Fort Worth from Dallas with his wife Danielle.

“We have fallen in love with getting to spend our summer and spend our lives pouring into the lives of college students,” Fuqua said.

Fuqua got involved with the student community during a spring break mission trip to Guatemala. He began preaching at the college service in April.

This summer, Fuqua was asked to take over as the head college pastor at Christ Chapel.
The only problem Fuqua worried about at the Aardvark venue was capacity.

“At first, we didn’t advertise the college service because we wanted to do a dry run, but then we had 80 people show up for our first service,” Fuqua said.

Fuqua was contemplating hosting two college services at different times, he said.

The Aardvark does not serve food or drinks during the Sunday service, but the doors are wide open to anyone who wants to attend.

Fuqua said they have had a lot of people walk by during the service who end up coming in when they hear the music.

“We are excited to have people who are just curious to hear what we are preaching, and we want to love those people too,” Fuqua said.

Sunday service starts at 10 a.m. The students have a chance to talk before they begin announcements, singing and the official service led by Fuqua.

“We are excited about having the opportunity to preach the gospel in a place where we realize the night before the gospel probably wasn’t being preached,” Fuqua said.