August 14, 2026

By Mary Beth Gahan

Valley Creek Church is expanding its college with a separate campus on the north side of Dixon Lane near the intersection of Morriss Road.

Valley Creek College offers four-year degrees through a partnership with Southeastern University. Students currently study on the Flower Mound Valley Creek Church location off of Long Prairie Road.

The four-acre campus includes a 40,000-square-foot building with a chapel, classrooms, labs, and a café. There will also be a soccer field and six pickleball courts.

Neighbors, who were unaware of the plans, were caught off guard when construction started this spring. In particular, they were concerned about the pickleball courts. The church has since addressed noise mitigation and has plans to install sound-absorbing material around the courts.

The land is just south of Trietsch Memorial United Methodist Church and used to be owned by that church. It is across the street from Marcus High School. Most of the acreage is zoned as agricultural, with a small portion zoned for single family residential.

Both land designations allow religious/institution use and accessory uses that go along with it, including pickleball courts. Therefore, the church did not need to apply for a special use permit, which would have triggered the requirement that neighboring property owners be notified about the plans.

The planning and zoning commission approved a site plan for the college in January and there was no public hearing because the request was non-discretionary.

Residents of Waterford Park Estates, the neighborhood to the west of Eastglen Drive, contacted town council members this spring, but were told it was an allowed use and their hands were tied. When they reached out to Valley Creek by email, church leaders told them the layout and scope of the project could not be changed.

A resident created a website in the meantime to keep others informed about what was happening. It includes a timeline, the sound that a pickleball “pop” makes, and a request that town council make requests like this be tagged with conditions like a noise study and limited operating hours.

In May, a handful of neighbors and four staff members from Valley Creek Church met to discuss the plans for the campus. Mayor Pro Tem Adam Schiestel, who lives in the area but not that specific neighborhood, also attended the meeting.

The tone from church leadership was conciliatory.

“It never crossed my mind to have a conversation with you,” said Brad Lanham, executive pastor of operations at Valley Creek Church. “That was an oversight on our part, and I'm sorry. And we would ask you to forgive us because we want to be good neighbors.”

Valley Creek College started in 2017 as a leadership academy and was a nine-month gap year for adults. Last year, the school started offering four-year degrees. It currently has 40 students.

Dave Scriven, president of the college, said they hope to grow to 100 students in the next five years.

The 10 Bachelor’s Degree options include five that are ministry-related, plus general studies, psychology, business administration, communications and mass media, and digital media and design.

The land for the campus was purchased in June of 2025, according to the church’s website.

“It's moved fast. And, so, as a result, I know there are things we have missed,” Lanham told neighbors.

Lanham said the church bumped up its fencing height from 8 to 10 feet and plans to install noise-dampening material along the west side of the fence that faces Eastglen Drive.

Acoustiblok, the company Lanham mentioned, produces a soundproofing material specifically for pickleball courts.

The soccer field and pickleball courts will be open from 7 a.m. until 10 p.m. to allow students to use them, Lanham said. They will not be open to members of the church or public.

The college is the fourth building project for Valley Creek Church. A site plan for a prayer center at the Flower Mound location was approved at the same planning and zoning commission meeting, plus the church is building in Argyle and has land across the street from the University of North Texas in Denton.

The campus is expected to be ready for students by the end of 2026.