Melodyland Christian Center was a church in

Anaheim, California Anaheim ( ) is a city in northern Orange County, California, part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area. As of the 2020 United States Census, the city had a population of 346,824, making it the most populous city in Orange County, the 10th-most ...

, that was located a short distance east of the

Disneyland Resort The Disneyland Resort, commonly known as Disneyland, is an entertainment resort in Anaheim, California. It is owned and operated by The Walt Disney Company through its Parks, Experiences and Products division and is home to two theme parks (D ...

. 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 Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide interdenominational movement within Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being " born again", in which an individual expe ...

church led by Pastor Ralph Wilkerson. The Melodyland theater and all the buildings on the church campus were demolished in 2003. Part of the Anaheim GardenWalk 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 Tustin is a city located in Orange County, California, in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. In 2020, Tustin had a population of 80,276. The city is located next to the county seat, Santa Ana, and does not include the unincorporated community ...

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