‘Overdrive’ kicks into high gear
Posted on Wednesday, July 2, 2008
The closest that you can get to a mosh pit or bodysurfing in Siloam Springs is probably not where you'd expect.
The building, at 902 East Main Street, where passersby hear rock music reverberating from the walls twice a week isn't a garage band rehearsal site - it's actually a house of prayer.
"The purpose of what we do here is to engage the current culture, to bring people who have been turned off by church back in," said Pastor Steve Welch. "What we're after is not church's usual, we don't even want it to look traditional - that can scare people away."
The 200-person capacity church that was converted from a building that once served as both a bread store and an auto parts shop, doesn't look much like a church.
On a stage that covers the entire front wall of the building drums, bass guitar, a keyboard and a high tech sound system practically hum with energy - even when the power is off. The drum set is encased by transparent plastic to help deaden sound, and microphones hover tall on stands at the front of the large stage.
Facing the stage that is set up in rock band fashion, are red cushioned chairs. There is ample amount of floor space if service attendees feel the urge to dance.
Television monitors and thin screens face the area where the audience gathers. Fog machines and multi-colored show lights are on order and will be installed very soon.
"The regular style church is not reaching out to the lost and the needy," Welch said. "People are getting further and further away from religion because it has grown stale and cold."
For more than 10 years Welch began searching for a way to form a church alternative to the ordinary sect. For the past seven years, the pastor who felt that Christianity was slowly disappearing because people stopped wanting to believe, has been pastor at the Main Street location.
"I'm not a church basher by any means but I am for if what you're doing is not working then be wise enough to change it," Welch said.
Just recently, Welch was approached by one of his parishioners, Carl Kegley, who introduced him to a widely popular contemporary rock style type of worship targeted to people from 20 to 45 but welcome to anyone. The non- denominational Christian rooted organization - called Life Church - is based in Tulsa and has more than 13 interconnected sites. Through satellite broadcasts, the locations connect to pray, sing and share.
As of its launch date of July 13, Siloam Springs will officially have its own chapter. The up and coming church, Overdrive, is modeled loosely after Life Church out of Tulsa, Welch said.
For more information about Life Church, visit www. lifechurch. tv.
"We're not trying to gain church members from other churches, it isn't a competition, we're trying to reach out to the ones who aren't currently attending," Kegley said. "Everyone is welcome here."
For several months, Welch and Kegley have been hosting unofficial services and have been training a "core group"that is now well versed in the church's teachings and charitable ideals.
"We'll build this place to about 1, 000 and then our core group will spread out and do it somewhere else," Welch said. "That's the whole point."
Between Sunday services that begin at 10: 30 a.m. and teen services that begin at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, the church has a 70 member congregation, Welch said.
"We have a wide range of people who attend and even a lot of the older people like it," Kegley said. "The teachings are really good and some of them stand the rock music for it."
The church, including renovation supplies, upkeep and overhead for the building, is sustained by the contributions of its congregants.
"We pride ourselves in being a community developed church," Welch said. "We're not just here to hold services, we're here to do what churches are actually supposed to do."
Upcoming community events planned by Overdrive organizers include food drives, a program to help elderly with chores and shopping, activities geared toward children and various other outreach programs. Organizers also plan to host concerts in the park, Kegley said.
"Our praise and worship band, Fighting the Fight, or FTF, are six musicians ranging from 20 to 30 years old," Welch said. "They're rock, not exactly AC / DC, but they're really able to engage our young crowd and get people involved in what we do here."
Several current Overdrive members live in Kansas, Okla., and are picked up for weekly services by a church bus.
"We don't call it church - we call it an experience," Welch said. "People come to us because they have been turned down elsewhere."
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