Melodyland Christian Center was a church in Anaheim, California, that was located a short distance east of the Disneyland Resort. The Melodyland Theater and surrounding campus started as a

theater in the round A theatre in the round, arena theatre or central staging is a space for theatre in which the audience surrounds the stage. Theatre-in-the-round was common in ancient theatre, particularly that of Greece and Rome, but was not widely explored aga ...

and later became an evangelical Christian church led by Pastor

Ralph Wilkerson Ralph (pronounced ; or ,) is a male given name of English, Scottish and Irish origin, derived from the Old English ''Rædwulf'' and Radulf, cognate with the Old Norse ''Raðulfr'' (''rað'' "counsel" and ''ulfr'' "wolf"). The most common forms ...

. The Melodyland theater and all the buildings on the church campus were demolished in 2003. Part of the

Anaheim GardenWalk Anaheim GardenWalk is an outdoor entertainment and shopping center located a block east of the Disneyland Resort in the Anaheim Resort District of Anaheim, California. The center opened on June 14, 2008, during the Great Recession, and has strug ...

was later built on the site.

History

The 3,200 seat Melodyland Theatre, at 400 West Freedman Way (now Disney Way), Anaheim was built by Leo Freedman. The theater's first production, '' Annie Get Your Gun'', opened on July 2, 1963, with Sammy Lewis and Danny Dare as producers. In 1969 the property encompassing Melodyland was put up for auction. Christian Center Church, headed by Ralph Wilkerson, bought the property and called the church Melodyland Christian Center, also retaining the theater's original sign. Later, Melodyland would have a School of Divinity called Melodyland School of Theology. The school later changed its name to Southern California Christian High School or SCCHS for short before being absorbed by Eastside Christian Schools in Fullerton, California. The congregation moved to Tustin in the late 1990s. The original Melodyland building was demolished in 2003 to allow for the construction of the Anaheim GardenWalk mall.

References

External links

State of the Art Church Growth (eBook by C. Peter Wagner, Editor with Win Arms and Elmer Towns

Healing Word International
{{Coord, 33.80643383896952, -117.91248944964269, format=dms, display=title Buildings and structures demolished in 2003 Former Pentecostal churches Defunct Christian schools in the United States Defunct schools in California Demolished buildings and structures in California