Posted on 10/17/2009 7:10:25 PM PDT by HokieMom
By his own estimation, the Rev. Mark Batterson has preached about 1,000 sermons in his makeshift sanctuary at Union Station's Phoenix Theatres, where his congregation has met for the past 13 years.
Last week's was one of the most difficult: In his remarks he told his congregation it would be the final service at their unconventional church.
The train station's movie theater closed abruptly last week. Mr. Batterson said that for the past two years he had been hearing rumors the theater would close, but he had been assured they were not true.
So it came as a shock when his nondenominational National Community Church (NCC) got six days' notice that it would no longer have the space for services.
"There is certainly a degree of sadness amongst our staff. And we're going through a grieving process," Mr. Batterson said. "I think that is normal and natural because Union Station has been a special place for us as a church."
*break*
Widely known as the "theater church," NCC built a niche focusing on meeting the needs of young professionals in the city. From a congregation that numbered 19 in the 1996 when services started at Union Station, the church grew to serve more than 600 people and expanded to four other locations in the District. NCC owns and operates Ebenezers Coffeehouse on F Street in Northeast Washington.
NCC also has sites in movie theaters in Georgetown and in Virginia, in Kingstowne and Arlington. Those theaters are affiliated with National CineMedia LLC (NCM), a Colorado-based in-theater advertising firm that in 2002 created a division to recruit churches and businesses to hold services, meetings and special events in its theaters. The company works with 190 churches in 35 states.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
Churches being creative: http://theaterchurch.com/location/union
Been walking by that movie theater for a year now, and every time it looked like it was on the verge of shutting down. Finally happened. Sad for the church.
Maybe the Lord has somethingn even better in mind....
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