Surrounded by the moss-covered cypress tress that line the Calcasieu River, a small group of Christians gathered one Sunday morning to worship God. It was July 3, 1976, and it was a warm summer day. The day before America celebrated its Bicentennial and the day a new church, Gateway Church of God, began in Moss Bluff, Louisiana. They named the church Gateway because they wanted the church to serve as a gateway to a new life. Beneath the sunny skies, they sat in lawn chairs, on tree stumps or simply on the ground. After six weeks of church on the river, the congregation moved indoors. Services were held in a small, white building on the corner of Davis and Landry roads in Westlake.
Gateway soon began to outgrown their building in Westlake and purchased the land of its current location on Sam Houston Jones Parkway in Moss Bluff. The sanctuary was dedicated on April 11, 1981 and has since expanded and been converted to the Upstreet Building - a children's environment for fun, relevant learning. The current sanctuary was dedicated on Easter Sunday in 2000. From the banks of the river to the current sanctuary of worship, Gateway continues to share the love of Christ and create opportunities for lives to change.