“It was a step of faith that God has shown us, to get our house in order, to sell or liquidate any excess property,” he said.

Pybas said the church leaders and members do not view the decision to sell the property negatively.

“We’re very excited about this,” he said.

“It’s the vision God has given us for the future: to move to a smaller facility, brand new, built from the ground up, which frees up more of our resources to reach the community for Jesus Christ.”

He said the church has not selected a new site but plans to stay close to its present location.

Grace Church, originally called Grace Fellowship, was started in 1972 by Phil Johnson, an associate minister at Sheridan Assembly. Among the 52 people at the first service was Bob Yandian, who later would pastor the church.

Yandian become pastor of Grace in 1980. Under his leadership, the church quickly grew to 3,000 members.

Through the 1980s and 1990s, Grace was one of Tulsa’s most popular charismatic churches, with Sunday attendance in the thousands.