The church is known for community events. Two that are coming up are the Elvis Night, where food is served by girls in poodle skirts on roller skates, and the Christmas play, It's a Wonderful Life.
Location: 3449 Falls Road
Worship time: 10 a.m.
Spiritual leader: Pastor Robin B. Johnson, who has a pleasant Southern drawl and lots of excitement. His house adjoins the church upstairs, and he gave up one of his rooms in his house for Emmanuel's Rock, a decked-out youth room with refreshments, a drum set, air conditioning, and two computers with Internet access. This room holds youth events and is a planned space for contemporary worship.
Pastor Robin preaches twice each Sunday as he is shared also by the Mount Vernon United Baptist Church on 34th Street, the one that burned down a month ago. That church is currently meeting at Good Shepherd on Roland Ave.
The pastor remembered my name and gave me a personal tour after the service, sharing his vision of future changes to keep the congregation's numbers growing and passionate.
Pastor Robin preaches twice each Sunday as he is shared also by the Mount Vernon United Baptist Church on 34th Street, the one that burned down a month ago. That church is currently meeting at Good Shepherd on Roland Ave.
The pastor remembered my name and gave me a personal tour after the service, sharing his vision of future changes to keep the congregation's numbers growing and passionate.
Congregation: Perhaps because of many coming from outside of Hampden or because of the parking spaces, this church is bigger than most in Hampden. Today, 49 people attended. About one-third of those were young adults, dressed in everything from suits to wife beaters.
Interior: The church had wooden pews without cushions and no air conditioning, but personal paper fans were provided to add to the open stained glass windows and fans blowing. There were six warm but simple stained glass window sets that blended well with the soft green walls.
Presentation: A lot of the service depended on others' contributions. A man with a microphone came around so people could give announcements, add to prayer lists, and share accomplishments and blessings. Hymns and bibles were in hard copies, keeping the bulletin short. People seemed very friendly.
Sermon: Because there were enough children to make it work, the pastor started with a children's sermon that used candy to talk about sharing and forgiveness. It was cute.
Like the Baptist pastor, this one blended contemporary and historical information. The story was about the servant who was forgiven by the king for his 10,000 talent debt (which meant 15 years' worth of a manual laborer's wages) but punished the man who owed him 100 denarii (100 days' wages). He alluded to "Dirty Jobs" for context and to add imagery.
Like the Baptist pastor, this one blended contemporary and historical information. The story was about the servant who was forgiven by the king for his 10,000 talent debt (which meant 15 years' worth of a manual laborer's wages) but punished the man who owed him 100 denarii (100 days' wages). He alluded to "Dirty Jobs" for context and to add imagery.
Music: A second alto soloist sang to a pre-recorded background, earning applause. The rest of the songs were sang in unison and were traditional ("Lord, I Want to Be a Christian" and "Oh, How I Love Jesus" as examples).
Overall atmosphere: I felt that this church was very involved with the community at large and reaching out, not just with each other. It was moving forward.
