I used to be surprised that special things frequently
happened when I went to church—there’d be a special
presentation or a visiting pastor or some such. It’s an
occupational hazard that everything in this column kind of takes on a
bigger-than-life significance, and mere coincidence sometimes feels a
little extra-worldly. But you know me, life is more of an adventure
than a job, so I don’t mind that occasionally I’ll go to a
yoga class and get impressed by a Christian group that’s studying
a more-or-less scientific pursuit about how to form Christian
communities. And then for that specialized knowledge to be directly
applicable to the topic of discussion at the very next church I
visited, well, as I say, I call it coincidence, but I’d guess the
pastors at Hope Community might call it a “God thing.”
I would heartily recommend the pastors at Hope Community introduce
themselves to Randy Siever, the executive director of Doable Evangelism
(“Shoulder to Shoulder,” RN&R, Oct. 8) because it
seems—from the outside—that these guys might have some
things worth discussing. I’m just saying. But then, what do I
know? In Northern Nevada, they’re probably in the same softball
league.
Hunter and I made our way over to Hope Community for the 10:30 a.m.
service on Sunday. We, of course, ran across a special experience. It
was the church’s third anniversary celebration. Instead of having
a sermon per se, pastor Bill Sherman and associate pastor Bryan Meyers
sat on the stage and informally told the story of how Hope Community
came to be, the trials and triumphs of the development of the
community. I thought this was very cool, an oral tradition that many
families and other types of communities could emulate.
The church is in a business park off Double Diamond and South
Meadows parkways. We arrived just a few minutes before the service was
about to start, so we headed right into the sanctuary, but we
didn’t have to be that worried about it. I noted a quarter of the
congregation didn’t arrive until we were 20 minutes into the
singing. The sanctuary was large and roughly triangular, probably 200
padded chairs set out, with room for another 100 or so. The room was
oriented toward one corner where the stage was. Atop the stage was a
full retinue of musicians and instruments. There were two big screens
and a simple cross above, and a bunch of gift-wrapped boxes scattered
around.
From a musical point of view, the sound was excellent. I mean clear
as a bell. A lot of these modern evangelical churches have great sound
systems but only use them for loud volume instead of great tone. The
musicians were tight, but I felt like the congregation was a little
disconnected, uninspired somehow. Turns out the music leaders were new,
and the congregation probably hadn’t made the connection yet.
Suffice it to say, all of the surroundings were technically and
technologically very sound and comfortable. The congregation skewed
young, probably a mid 30s mode.
Hunter and I had a relaxing and invigorating time at Hope Community,
but I had a little trouble putting my finger on the reasons for this.
After some deliberation, I think it was because, even though this is
clearly a Bible-based, Christian church, with pastors who quote
scripture in the course of their conversation, that morning we were not
preached at. We were told kind of a family history, and by
telling us their story, the pastors included us in their family. By
describing their overcome obstacles and their hopeful plans within the
larger community—the family secrets if you will—we had more
of a life experience than a church
experience.
MUSIC
none
mellow
traditional
rockin’
SERMON
none
thought-provoking
informative
inspirational
FELLOWSHIP
cordial
friendly
welcoming