Underground Church

We are on a journey. To not only find a church where we enjoy the music, message and the environment, but where we would feel comfortable serving and growing relationships. I saw an ad in Mountain Xpress that had piqued my interest. It was for the Underground Church. It sounded interesting. I emailed the pastor (Kevin), he emailed back and we had a e-versation.

When I picked up Mountain Xpress upon leaving Wild Wings this week I found that they had a full page ad with an apology to people from the church. It was very emergent and I thought this really has some potential.

Last night Carolina lost in the final four. Mike was upset. We went to bed late. It was rough getting up early this morning. But I felt that I needed to.

So I (Mike was still in mourning) arrived at the Underground Church a little before 10 (they start at 10ish - which is about 10:15). The car that pulled into the parking space beside me had a person that was smiling. She waved. As I went in (they didn't have outdoor greeters) I was met by a smiling face (I think she was doing something for the nursery) and a greeting. She asked if I had been there before. When I told her no, she gave me directions to worship and then told me about the information on the back table.

They have great smelling coffee and some snacks available.

I started to walk into where the main service is going on (there are more visitors behind me being greeted) and see the pastor. He introduced himself and then I said, I'm Tina. He acted like he remembered from the email. I went in and took a seat near the back (I wasn't sure how loud the music would be with the set up).

Instead of using florescence's they use lamps. It was really cozy. I did see people swapping out chairs (I guess some aren't level). Several people said hi as they walked by and then the pastors wife, Angela, came and sat down in front of me and started a conversation. She was very personable. I asked her a few questions and then someone needed her with a question.

The woman leading worship had an acoustical guitar. She was quite good. They had drums, electric and bass guitar also. They also had a guy that was doing backup to the leader. It was really worshipful and I felt at easy worshipping.

During the 3rd song they did a baby dedication. It was the Pastor's niece. It was probably the most sincere, sweetest dedication I have ever seen. I don't know if because it was his family and he knows them so intimately or if it is always that way, but I had tears in my eyes and I don't even know this family.

We finished worship and then the pastor spoke. It was strange how people in the audience interacted with him during the message (not that it was bad, just different to me and when the church grows I do wonder how this will go). You could see there was genuine relationship, creativity and much preparation into Sunday morning.

He spoke on Authentic God. It was really a great message. He reminded me of Donald Miller (whom I got to hear at Orange last year) His style is emergent. It was very intelligent and very deep, while being very simplistic. He told the story of the sons of Korah from Numbers 16 (I don't remember every hearing this story). Korah, Dothan and Abiram rose up against Moses. Moses went down, spoke against their uprising (to save the community) and the ground swallowed them up. Then fire from Heaven devoured 250 people and melted everything around them. So in Psalms 46 the sons of Korah question who God is, how is He good and bad at the same time or is He. He said they do tape the messages. I didn't ask how to get a copy, but I'm going to. I want to listen to it again. He used the Rob Bell Nooma video Rain (it's on the Nooma website and you can watch it for free) at the end to reinforce the message. I can't do justice here on this blog to what he said. Take my word for it that it spoke to me.

When he finished he told everyone to say hi to someone they don't know. Several people spoke to me, including Dee who I found used to go to Covenant. I asked her about the Children's Ministry. They only have about 7 kids that attend sporadically that are over 5 (they have a ton of babies...which is the sign of a growing church according to Gary Lamb). They are working on growing their children's ministry. They really don't have a youth group because they don't have many youth. But they do have family things (which is most important to me).

Upcoming...April 12th is game night. The last Saturday of the Month is Dudes no Limit. They get together and have some fun. They also do something called the Savory Plate where there is a theme and people bring food and they share a meal (sounds like fun). Anyways, we will continue to check it out for the next few weeks. I'll share Brooklyn's perception (if she lets me) next week.

Overall I really liked it. It was extremely friendly and I felt comfortable there.

Have a great week!