This church’s expansion was among 2025’s largest projects in Sioux Falls: Here’s what’s driving it

Central Church is expanding its 1,200-seat worship center to accommodate 600 more people.

But, really, it’s just for just one person: any individual who walks through its door.

“We don’t want to be a megachurch — we want people to come to church who have a personal relationship with the Lord, to do life here,” said Bob Kiner, who joined the church decades ago when it was located in the center of Sioux Falls.

“It’s not about numbers, it’s about No. 1, and that’s the person coming to the Lord, a relationship that’s focused and centered with faith as a part of that. The most important number is one.”

Swedish immigrants established Swedish Baptist Church in 1883. After dedicating its first sanctuary on Main Avenue the following year, it occupied buildings at 12th Street and Dakota Avenue, then Eighth Street and Spring Avenue. Renamed Central Baptist Church in 1920, since 2015 it has been known simply as Central Church to remove what was determined to be the obstacle of a specific denomination.

Landlocked at Eighth and Spring, members worshipped at Roosevelt High School for two years while the church on Ralph Rogers Road was being built. It opened on Christmas Eve in 1995.

In 2006, the worship center was expanded for the first time. The current expansion, which will be completed in September, broke ground in 2025, focusing first on the kids wing. In addition to the worship center, the gym will be transformed into a multipurpose space with a vestibule and improved acoustics.

Existing rooms in the kids wing were remodeled and six additional classrooms added to serve Kid Central on Sunday mornings, the weekday preschool and kindergarten and Wednesday night youth gatherings known as Student Central.

Congregants have fully committed to funding the $26 million project with no long-term debt, said the Rev. Tom Rich, executive pastor since 2018.

“It’s not about being the biggest church in town or the coolest church in town,” Rich said. “It’s not about the numbers — it’s about God saying go do this. We’re not here for us — we’re here for Sioux Falls.”

Central’s lead pastor, the Rev. Jeff Wheeler, moved to Sioux Falls in 2011. He is a former high school Bible teacher and basketball coach and had served other churches as pastor. Under his guidance, Central has emphasized the concept of oikos, a Greek word representing the basic unit of society, a designated group of 10 to 15 people that influence each other. Central uses the term to signify a person’s relational world.

“That’s the group you look to, to help them to get to know the Lord,” said Bill Smith, another longtime member who joined with his wife, Twyla. “That’s what’s been going on at Central. It’s not that we want to get bigger and have bigger numbers, it’s not about bricks and mortar, it’s about bringing more people to Jesus and to grow in their faith.”

Rich has felt that influence in his life. From 2012 to 2016, he had a strong relationship with the late Randy Reese, at one time the assistant professor of evangelism at Sioux Falls Seminary. When the ministry opening at Central was posted, Rich, who had come to Sioux Falls to honor Reese’s life, felt called.

Central is “a large enough church in a small enough town” that it can have a spiritual impact on Sioux Falls, Rich said.

One of the ways it does that is by offering two campuses. In addition to its southwest Sioux Falls location, it has a second church near 11th Street and Grange Avenue in a former motorcycle shop. That campus’ focus is on the Pettigrew Heights neighborhood.

In addition to services and outreach ministry, it also houses a preschool. At one point, about 400 children in  Sioux Falls were not being served through preschool, Smith said. Through the Hope Coalition, which supports Central and other preschools, that number has been reduced to fewer than 150 children.

Central has experienced its share of difficulties, Rich said, and the church history has stories of how God has humbled it.

“In the late 2000s, in 2010, we couldn’t pay our bills,” Rich said. “It’s remarkable how God has just led us. Genuinely, from our board leadership to our staff team, this thing is all about Jesus. We’ve had some hard days, but it’s worth it. Our job is just to say yes.”

Volunteer leaders such as Matt McCaulley and Eric Yunag helped bring the church through the fracture incurred by going into debt to build the last worship center, Rich said. The church dispelled its image as a “country club church” and hired Wheeler, who refocused attention on unity.

Longtime member Peggy Frost proposed starting the preschool, Kiner said. Currently under the direction of Melissa Ludens, it now serves about 285 children at the southwest campus with multiple teachers having close to 20 years’ tenure there.

“We’ll probably expand to about 450 when we hire the right staff and build it out the right way,” Rich said. “It’s too critical of a ministry for us to just rush.”

Central’s ministry also extends to the international level, with strong support for a mission program in Ethiopia. Those efforts could do nothing without its thousands of volunteers, said Jodi Janssen, communications director. Rich agreed.

“We can’t do anything without an army of people that have said yes to serving,” he said.

Adult volunteer leaders agree to mentor the same student from grade six through high school graduation, forming lifelong relationships, he said.

“We know how hard it is to be a kid these days,” Rich said. “To have another person (alongside their parents) caring for them is a beautiful thing.”

Almost 6,000 people walk through Central’s doors during an average week. That includes more than 950 middle and high school students who attend the Wednesday night gatherings and about 200 college students.

“We have a college and young adult ministry that’s booming,” Smith said. “And they’re also hosting Bible study on their own campuses. It goes beyond the wall.”

Smith grew up in the Lutheran church, his wife in a Community church. Kiner was a Presbyterian, but his life was changed his senior year in high school. His family had moved from Mitchell to Sioux Falls before the school year started. Administrators placed him in the homeroom of his football coach; seated just a couple of desks away was another senior, a girl named Sue.

The Kiners have been married for about 60 years. He persuaded her to change her plans to attend what was then Augustana College, now Augustana University, to join him at what was then Sioux Falls College, now the University of Sioux Falls. She persuaded him to attend Central Baptist with her.

Sue Kiner is a second-generation Central member; she has attended the church for all her 80 years.

“We welcome all ages, all nationalities, all careers,” she said. “We want everybody to feel comfortable and welcome.”

The changes that Central and its members have experienced regularly fill her with awe.

“Almost every time I walk in the door of the church or the sanctuary and see the number of people and the chairs that are filled,” Sue Kiner said.

Like Bob Kiner, Bill and Twyla Smith first came to Central simply because they were invited. That was 49 years ago. Even though they lived on Sioux Falls’ west side and the church was downtown, the Smiths decided to try it.

“The whole mission of Central is to bring people to Jesus and have them grow in their faith, and that’s what these people done,” Bill Smith said. “We were believers, but we grew in faith.”

Central also impacts its staff, Rich said.

“It’s a privilege in my life, being here, working with this team,” he said. “We focus on the right things. We don’t discuss the carpet; we don’t get mad about where the piano is. If those days were like that here, they are no longer.”

Central Church ministries

Downtown Campus, 1117 W. 11th St., serving the Pettigrew Heights neighborhood

Preschool

• • Downtown Preschool with about 60 enrolled
  • Central Preschool and Kindergarten, a weekday program with about 285 enrolled
  • Both campuses have Hope Coalition-sponsored kids enrolled

Kid Central for infants through fifth grade, with about 525 kids checked in per weekend

Student Central for sixth through 12th grade, with about 950 students checked in per Wednesday

College Central with 200 college-age students per Sunday evening, Bible studies on college campuses

Young Adults, monthly gatherings and small groups

Forged Men’s Ministry, monthly gatherings and small groups

Woven Women’s Ministry, monthly gatherings and small groups

Recovery ministries at southwest and downtown campuses

Care ministries for those navigating life circumstances such as grief, divorce, infertility, adoption