Solid Rock is not typical when it comes to churches. The staff seem to have chosen a path that allows for everyone to feel at home and 'alive'. The decor is fairly simple with padded benches along the lobby walls and windows. There are tables put out in the center of the long lobby filled with fruit, muffins, and nuts to munch on in the morning and coffee, tea, and juice to sip on. In the evening they serve more dinner types of foods.
At one end of the lobby is the kitchen which is where all the food actually comes from. Solid Rock has volunteers and some paid staff that actually cooks and bakes the food they serve. At the other end of the lobby is the help desk.
Being in this type of building, there is plenty of room. There are multiple rooms for the kids (of any age) to be cared for and taught. There are also offices for the staff.
The main area is rather large and holds the hundreds of people that come to the weekly gatherings. However, it is still not enough space for these passionate followers. In fact, there is a room outside of the main area just for those who do not come early enough to snag a seat. The Video Venue is set up to hold a few hundred itself and has a screen that shows the live feed from the main area. While this should suffice for everyone, there are some gatherings (around Easter and Christmas) that have even more people than both those rooms can hold. The large lobby comes in handy for these instances. The tables are always removed during the services to be replenished by the kitchen staff. Chairs are set up and the live feed is played on the large white wall near the entrance of the church. No one is ever left standing or sitting against the wall at Solid Rock.
Services start with Worship music which is not the hymns many people think of when they think of church music. Solid Rock is very modern with their music selection. It could be classified as "Christian Rock", with a live band playing. The band changes from time to time and in fact, Solid Rock is fortunate enough to have some famous Christian singers stop by and lead Worship.
At the end of worship members are told to greet another person and actually have a short 2 minute conversation with them. Afterwards, everyone sits down and announcements are made about upcoming events and sometimes new house churches are brought up or people who want to have the church bless their new babies and the entire church extends their arms and prays over the people.
Next comes the message is given by the pastor. Of course there is plenty of praying throughout each section.
The band is then brought back up for more worship and during we take communion together.
The experience is one of a family and community.
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