Photo by Daniel W. Varnado
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By Donna Harris
Cherokee Tribune Staff Writer
Attendance in God's house is burgeoning for two area churches.
Revolution Church, which meets at Riverstone Cinemas in Canton, has opened a second campus in Holly Springs to accommodate its overflowing crowds while Pleasant Hill Church in Roswell has started its second location at Sequoyah High School.
Revolution spent about six weeks building out a warehouse in the back of P. Rickman Industrial Park and had its first service there Sept. 7.
"We were pretty well out of seats at our first location, and we didn't have a desire to build," Lead Pastor Gary Lamb said. "This opportunity came up, and it was a pretty easy remodel. We have 350 extra seats, and it's our building 24/7."
The new building will allow the church to continue to grow toward its goal of 10,000 members, he said. "It's not our desire to invest a million dollars in a building to use once a week," he said. "I'm excited about the possibilities."
The Canton resident said the new location will free up seats at the movie theater by giving members who live in the southern part of the county the option of attending church closer to their home.
"We felt like this put us in the definitive geographical area, the Holly Springs/Hickory Flat area," he said, noting attendance is about 1,000 at the theater. "Holly Springs is a prime area, and that location is great for us."
The 4-year-old church originally planned to open a campus in Jasper before it opened one in Holly Springs to accommodate the 200 or so people who drive down from Pickens County to the Canton location, but it didn't work out, Lamb said. "We had a building, but the county turned us down," he said, noting he's hoping to try again by the end of the year.
The new location has an attendance of about 150 after only six weeks, which makes Lamb "very happy."
"It's a mix of what's coming to the movie theater. Definitely young families and people already coming to Revolution but wanted to help out" at the second location, he said. "The average age is probably 30 years old, married with a couple of kids."
The seats in the theater that were freed up by members moving to Holly Springs were filled back up within three weeks after the new building opened, he said.
"If we can free up seats in the movie theater, God can fill them up," he said.
Lamb said everything at the Holly Springs campus will be live except the sermon, which will be prerecorded and played back during the two services. "They'll watch the video, and it's me doing the message," he said. "If they come to the theater or Holly Springs, it's the exact same message."
Using technology to deliver the message has had its own set of problems, he said.
"We've definitely learned a lot doing the message by video," he said, noting the Holly Springs location "allowed us to work out our mistakes, and we have plenty" before expanding to other campuses. "Technology is amazing once you learn it."
While he'll "always be live" at the 9 a.m. service at the theater, Lamb said he plans to preach sometimes at the Holly Springs location beginning next month. "Which Sunday will it be? You'll never know," he said on his blog.
The church also has three or four worship bands within the congregation that will take turns playing at the two locations every week, he added.
The Holly Springs campus also will offer everything the Canton branch offers in terms of ministries for children - Planet Shakers for kindergarten through fifth grade and Tiny Town for birth through preschool - and youth.
The new location will be the home of Uprising, the youth program that meets the first and third Sunday of each month, for both campuses as well as the addiction ministry on Tuesday nights.
Pleasant Hill expanded into Cherokee County by starting services in the Sequoyah auditorium.
Following the theme "One Church, Two Locations," a core group of members volunteered to leave the Roswell church to start an extension site at the Canton school.
"We felt Cherokee County is certainly a growing county, and we think it's rich in depth and culture," said the Rev. Sabin P. Strickland of Canton, senior pastor for 11 years. "So we really wanted to tap into reaching different people, races and ethnicities with the call to Christ. We looked into Cherokee County and saw just a wonderful place. We're being led by God definitely."
Another reason for expanding into the county is a number of church members driving to the Roswell location live in Cherokee, and church members believe they could "establish a church in this area," he added.
Strickland said about 100 people have been regularly attending the new church.
"We've already had a few people from Cherokee to actually join the church," he said. "We've had a good amount of visitors and first-time attenders coming and looking to see what we're all about. Our expectations are certainly met and really exceeded. I feared we'd get here and kind of fall off [in attendance by the core group], but we haven't done that. We've seen good potential so far."
The new congregation is a "good mixture" of people from all walks of life, Strickland said.
"We are seeing a lot of families and couples, which is a good thing, but we do see a mixture," he said.
Having one pastor for two locations that both meet on Sunday morning is a matter of almost split-second timing for Strickland.
The Roswell location has its early service at 8 a.m., and once he's finished preaching there, he leaves immediately for the Canton site to preach at the 9:30 a.m. service. When that service ends at 11 a.m., he heads back to Roswell for its 11:30 a.m. service.
"Timing is crucial, but it works out well," he said.
The new campus will have all the ministries that the main campus has, including programs for children and youth, he said.
"We'll make sure we have the same quality in both locations," he said. "There are things we'll establish along the way as we continue to grow. We definitely have the basic core of discipleship and evangelism."
In November, the Canton site will try a couple of "run throughs" for its Sunday school program, which the church calls "the discipleship hour," and will officially launch it in January, Strickland said. It will start each Sunday at 8 or 8:30 a.m.
The tone of the worship services is a "good mix" of casual and traditional, the pastor said.
"You will find somebody casual fits in well, and somebody traditional fits in well," he said, noting the goal is to "promote Christ and stay true to the Word of God." "If you come, you're going to get a wonderful lesson on the Word and a wonderful, wonderful experience."
Sequoyah's auditorium will seat almost 500 people and has room for about 50 chairs so the congregation will be "good to go for the moment" in terms of space, Strickland said. But if and when the congregation outgrows it, members will build a facility somewhere in that area.
"That's our plan for the long term anyway," he said. "We plan in the long term to get a building and establish this location here eventually. We do know the site at Sequoyah High School is a great, great, great location, and Sequoyah works with us so well that we're not going to rush anything. We'll take our time and grow."
Strickland said the new congregation is still "working out the kinks" related to the site itself, but it's been "a good experience so far" for him and the members.
dharris@cherokeetribune.com
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