Adventure 36: Capital Church

The Capital Church is a striking site on the hill, with the white steeple, and modern looking marquee. The first thing of note, was the difficulty in finding parking. I was a few minutes late this morning, but was delayed even more by the search for a parking spot.

A very pleasant woman greeted me at the door, and told me I was most welcome. That was a nice beginning. When I entered the chapel, only the overflow had available seats. There were three young men frantically setting up new rows of chairs in the back. When I made my way into one of their newly formed rows, more people came in behind me, and they set up new rows for them.

There were hundreds of people there, maybe even more than the crowd at the Unitarian church I visited last week. The congregation was following the lead of the band up front singing a contemporary Christian song. There were four singers with mics leading the vocals while the lyrics were projected on the large screen TVs for the congregation. The music was upbeat, and the people in front of me swayed to the tune. After that song, they led us in the familiar Christian hymn, 'How Great Thou Art' with a contemporary beat.

After that, there was a break, where congregation members were invited to get coffee, give offerings, and get to know our neighbors. The crowd erupted into talking while the band continued to play some rockin tunes. It was then that I noticed my friend, and world class guitarist, Kenji Aihara on stage.  No wonder they sounded so good! After probably 10 minutes of this, the woman at the mic asked the crowd settle down, and said a prayer over the offerings, while there were still murmurings in the congregation.

Next came announcements of upcoming activities; one for the youth, a service activity for the '20's 30's' going door to door asking to rake leaves, and a seminar for the women in the congregation. The paster then came to the mic and asked any contemplating membership to come to a meeting this week which would explain all that is entailed in becoming a member of the church.

Pastor Troy Champ shared a message from Luke 12. He used anecdotes of a girl's night out, and a story of his own life of going to a favorite restaurant to portray the ideas from the text, being faithful, and trustworthy to God.

The sermon was rich with visual display. Every scripture that was quoted was displayed on the big screens with a captivating image in the background, and perfectly timed with the Pastor's words. A nice moment for me, was at the end of the service when he invited us all to take a moment in prayer to talk to God. He said he was afraid if he let us leave without that, we'd get on with our day, have lunch and forget what was in our heart at that moment. I liked the immediate personal application.

The program (which was in short supply-- I had to borrow this from my neighbor) was full color, and packed with information on the church, and upcoming activities.

We were invited to come up to the front of the chapel after the service if we'd like, where there would be people ready to pray for us if we needed an extra prayer. 

With a prayer from Pastor Chad, we were all wrapped up in a little over an hour.

They're on Facebook.

Pastor Chad, with the friendly woman who greeted me when I came in held the doors and chatted pleasantly with the people leaving.

My overall takeaway: this church seems to put a great emphasis on being relatable. They don't want anyone to be scared away, but feel welcome. They seem to try to have something for everybody. The pastor seemed to put equal weight in being entertaining, and sincere his sermon. I think attention to reaching out to all kinds shows in the numbers showing up to service.

Time spent on adventure: 1.25 hours

Money spent: $0

Recommendation: 7 out of 10 adventure points!