ChangePoint: Evening Service Option #3

Posted by Chris Thompson

Posted: September 19, 2009 - 8:59 pm

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Readers have written me asking for information on churches offering evening service timeframes due to their inability to attend morning services. I've been visiting Protestant churches in Anchorage offering either Saturday or Sunday evening services using the same sermon as in the Sunday morning services. So far I've located four churches with this format: Faith Christian Community, Trinity Presbyterian, St. John United Methodist, and ChangePoint. It's unfortunate more Anchorage Protestant churches are not sensitive to this segment of worshiper. I'm open to learning about other Protestant churches offering this type of worship service. Many churches offer a Sunday evening service, but deliver a different format and message, trying to get Sunday morning attenders and other church goers out for a 2nd time on Sunday.

I attended ChangePoint's Saturday evening service, tonight, September 19. It was fairly typical of other services I've attended at this Anchorage mega-church. My likes and dislikes for this particular service are noted below.

What I Liked
*service was slightly shorter
*tonights topic was relevant - Worship
*music was lively
*it was less crowded (250-300 attendees)
*Lee Hudson's honest and approachable preaching style

What I Disliked
*music was louder than normal
*worshiper's singing was drowned out
*not greeted by a single person
*offering did not except visitors
*no welcome was extended to visitors

Lee Hudson serves as minister of music for this church. His preaching tonight offered another insight into this talented music leader. You should be able to access his talk in a few days here.

Clearly ChangePoint is in transition. They appear to be struggling with finances. Tonight's bulletin indicated, at least for September, they are running a $15,0000 to 20,000 deficit each week. They may still be recovering from typical summer lack of attendance, but time will tell. I've written about ChangePoint in previous blog posts. I'm also concerned that a call to their offices regarding their program for autistic children has still not been answered. However, on the whole, tonights worship service and message was a satisfactory experience.

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