New congregation makes an Impact in Atlanta
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Impact Church holds worship services in an
auditorium at the Georgia World Congress Center, next door to the home
field of the Atlanta Falcons.
On home game Sundays, worship may take on a football “Game
Plan” theme.
A UMNS photo by Morgan Thomason, courtesy of Impact Church.
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By Gayle White*
Dec. 17, 2009 | ATLANTA (UMNS)
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The Rev. Olujimi W. Brown
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Methodism’s founder John Wesley traveled on foot and horseback to
spread the Gospel in Georgia more than 270 years ago. Today, one of the
state’s newest United Methodist churches sends the word out via
Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Worshippers are even encouraged to text
message during services.
It’s working.
On Dec. 20, Impact Church will be officially constituted as a United
Methodist church by the North Georgia Conference. With two services most
Sundays drawing as many as 1,000 people and an annual budget of about
$1 million, it’s grown faster than any other new church plant in the
conference during the last 20 years, said the Rev. Jamie Jenkins,
executive assistant to Bishop Mike Watson.
On a recent Sunday morning, worshippers – many in jeans and sweaters –
swayed and clapped to contemporary praise songs in an auditorium at the
Georgia World Congress Center. Actress Niecy Nash spoke about the
struggles that followed her divorce, her image appearing on giant video
screens flanking the stage. Then the Rev. Olujimi W. Brown, the lead
pastor known as Olu, came up to preach, wearing sports coat and slacks,
no tie. Pacing the stage, he spoke passionately for half an hour about
treasures in clay jars.
You are the earthen vessels that hold the gifts of God, he told the
congregants. “Never forget where your gifts come from.”
He sprinkled in a few references to football.
“Best pre-game show” in Atlanta
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Sunday worship draws up to 1,000 people. A UMNS
photo courtesy of Impact Church.
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At Impact, don’t expect a bulletin, liturgy or congregational hymns. But
don’t be surprised if someone hands you a plastic football, a miniature
megaphone or tickets to an NFL game.
Impact, after all, bills itself as the “best pre-game show” in Atlanta.
For several months, its worship services have been held in an auditorium
of the massive convention hall next door to the Georgia Dome, home
field of the Atlanta Falcons. Impact landed at the convention center
when the middle school that had housed it underwent renovations.
On home-game Sundays, football fans in jerseys and face paint pour out
of a nearby transit station as worship gets underway. Inside the
convention center, some worshippers were similarly dressed – without the
face paint. A few may be going to the game. Congregants may even be
asked to text message the answer to a question to win a pair of tickets.
The football subtext is a matter of turning a challenge into an
opportunity, Brown said, adding, “We knew we would run up against
football season.” So Impact’s marketing team – one of the church’s
working groups made up of staff and laity – developed a strategy called
“Game Plan.”
Early next year, Impact will move back to the newly refurbished middle
school, but a team is looking for a more permanent site.
“We see ourselves as being an investment in the community,” Brown said.
“There are warehouse-factory type spaces that have been a blight in the
community. We can invest in them and make them an asset.”
New way of service
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Jesus is portrayed as a rock star during Easter
worship.
A UMNS photo by Shannon McCollum, courtesy of Impact Church.
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Brown, 32, grew up in Lufkin, Texas, the son of divorced parents. He
attended Baptist churches with his mother and grandmother during the
school year and Presbyterian services with his father during the summer.
He graduated from Jarvis Christian College, an institution of the
Disciples of Christ.
Because of a Methodist mentor, he chose Gammon Theological Seminary in
Atlanta, the United Methodist component of the Interdenominational
Theological Center, a consortium of historically black seminaries.
He was youth pastor, then associate pastor at Cascade United Methodist
Church in Atlanta before “feeling the nudge to do something different.”
“I was very reluctant to do a new church plant,” he said.
A yearlong program in the North Georgia Conference provided the
confidence he needed. The conference’s church development initiative
also provided much more – including his salary for the first year; a
$100,000 grant for facilities or staffing, of which the church spent
$12,000 to hire its first band and saved the rest; and another $25,000
for startup costs. Brown and his wife, Farrah, raised $25,000 more.
Brown – and conference officials – knew from the start that inner-city
Atlanta didn’t need another traditional United Methodist church. Ten sit
within a five-mile radius of the West End area Impact is targeting.
“But the world does need many more cutting-edge and relevant new
churches that are willing to reach the people of the world for Jesus
Christ in new and creative ways,” Brown wrote almost four years ago in
his vision statement for Impact.
24-7 future
He envisions a church that will operate 24 hours a day, seven days a
week, with recreation, child care, counseling and worship opportunities
available to people whose jobs prevent their participation during the
day. There will also be plenty of opportunities for service and
outreach.
Some of Impact’s charter members come from other United Methodist
churches. Others have been unchurched for years.
Impact is “out of the box,” said Dereke Dorsey, a United Methodist who’s
attended Impact for about five months. “It’s unpredictable. There’s
something new to experience every Sunday.”
“We see ourselves as missionaries,” said the Rev. Tommy Willingham,
executive director of new church development for the North Georgia
Conference, “and, like all missionaries, seek to meet people where they
are in order to share with them the great news of a savior.”
That, Brown says, should have an Impact. An Impact not only on
individual lives, but on an entire city.
*White is a freelance writer based in Atlanta.
News media contact: David Briggs, Nashville, Tenn., (615) 742-5470 or newsdesk@umcom.org.
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