Our Story

Our Beautiful Campus on Easter Morning

Church of the Trinity MCC began as Metropolitan Community church Sarasota/Bradenton in 1981 under the direction of Rev. Ron Russell-Coons.

Our congregation first met at the Unitarian Church, then at other locations until 1988 when our current campus on N. Lockwood Ridge Road was purchased.

Rev. Robert E. Pierce became pastor in 1985 and church membership grew from 14 to 150 prior to his retirement for health reasons. Rev. T. Edward Helms was elected in June 1992.

Under Rev. Helms’ leadership the church grew to nearly 200 in Sunday attendance. The Rev. Gustave Kein was elected as the church’s fourth pastor in January of 1996.  In his five years as minister he oversaw a growth period. Trinity’s fifth pastor, Rev. Nancy Wilson, was installed in August 2001.  Rev. Wilson was the former pastor of MCC Los Angeles, was a denominational Elder, and then became Moderator of UFMCC while the pastor of Church of the Trinity.

In May 2005, Trinity elected its sixth pastor, Rev. Dr. Mona West, who served previously at the Cathedral of Hope in Dallas, Texas. Today Rev. West oversees leadership development for the MCC denomination. Under the leadership of Rev. West, our ministries and outreach continued to expand to meet the growing needs of the church and the community.

Some milestones in our journey:

• First worship service began in January 1982 in rented space at the Unitarian Church.
• First successful AIDS benefit in January 1982 raised $100 for the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta.
• In March 1985, $500 was raised to assist local PWAs with food and medication.
• The original 3.5-acre campus was purchased in December 1988.  First worship services on the new grounds were held Palm Sunday 1989 in the renovated garage, now the social hall known as Pierce Hall.  The three-bedroom house on the property was later converted to office space.
• Rev. Elder Troy Perry participated in the ground breaking for the new sanctuary in December 1989.  The $160,000 church bond program sold out to the congregation in three weeks.
• Gay Pride Day, hosted on church grounds on June 20, 1992 saw 800 participants.  The new 250-seat sanctuary was ready for worship services in August 1992 and nearly 200 people gathered for worship.
• In 2003, Church of the Trinity purchased approximately 20 acres of adjacent land and is working on plans for its development.
• In 2007 a master plan for our campus was completed and a Capital Campaign was launched to raise funds to build a new 500 seat Sanctuary
• 2010 Rev. Charles Tigard was elected Senior Pastor by 96% affirmation

The history of Church of the Trinity moves forward as members and friends continue to volunteer, participate and lead ministries of the church and are involved in various community organizations and businesses, social and political groups.