Our Story

While Keystone Church is rich with history, we have chosen to print only a few of the highlights here. If you have a desire to have a more complete copy of our history, let us know in the office and we will be happy to provide one to you.

• December 1991 - Keystone was established by Pastor Steve O’Dell, his wife and their young son.
• Keystone grew steadily from a family of three to a congregation of close to 70 people by 1993.
• Pastor Ken Gilmore was the second staff member hired in 1994 to run the Student Ministry and assist in other ministries.
• November 1994 - We became a fully established Wesleyan Church in the East Michigan District of the Wesleyan Church International.
• January 2000 - 7.5 acres of land on Saline Waterworks Rd. was purchased with cash and construction began on our new facility.
• April 14, 2002 - Keystone’s building was officially opened on Waterworks Rd. and we ended the year with an average attendance of 215.
• January 2006 – The founding Pastor of Keystone resigned to pursue a new ministry opportunity.
• March 23rd, 2006, - The membership of Keystone Church voted unanimously to elect Pastor Ken Gilmore as the Senior Pastor.
• October 2009, Keystone was invited to become a Strategic Partner of North Point Ministries in Atlanta, GA. and maintained that partnership until 2012. Our experience as a partner church helped us learn so much about reaching out to our community and develop systems for greater church health and growth.
• From 2009-2010, Keystone’s average attendance grew to over 600.
• September 2013 – Keystone launched our 3rd Experience at 11:40 AM
• December 2014 – Keystone capped off the year with the largest Christmas Eve attendance we have ever experienced as over 1,000 people joined together in two worship experiences to celebrate the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ!
• April 2014 – Keystone once again experienced a first in our 23-year history with 1033 people in attendance at our three Easter Sunday worship experiences.
• December 2015 – Keystone capped off another year with over 1,000 people in attendance at our Christmas Eve experiences and a $25,000 offering that was given away to missions work in Iraq.
• March 19, 2017 – Keystone marks their 25th Year of Ministry.
• January 2019 - Keystone kicked off the ReOrient Campaign which was designed to raise over two million dollars to renovate and expand our building for increased ministry capacity, payoff our mortgage, create dedicated space for our special needs ministry and adult classes, increase seating in the auditorium, and help fund building a church in Bangalore, India.
• June 13, 2021 - Lead Pastor Ken Gilmore's last Sunday. Pastor Ken concluded over 25 years of ministry at Keystone, having felt called to pursue a PhD and help train future pastors at the under graduate and graduate level.
• August 2021 - Having successfully raised all the necessary funds, construction of the ReOrient project begins.
• September 25, 2022 - A special Building Dedication Service was held to mark the completion of the ReOrient project and to celebrate God's faithfulness through it all.