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By KIM MULFORD
Courier-Post Staff
Did you ever see the movie The Shawshank Redemption?
You know the scene where Tim Robbins' character, Andy, squirms out of a prison sewer pipe into a waist-deep creek?
The storm is pouring down, and the muck-covered escapee stretches out his arms and turns his face up into the rain in joy?
That's what Randy Smith wants people to feel about church. The 45-year-old pastor is starting an interdenominational Christian church called Discovery Church in Voorhees.
Its multimedia services are designed specifically for people who don't go to church but who are looking for spiritual answers, people with honest questions about God and legitimate concerns about church. The services are heavy with drama, video and media clips and contemporary, sometimes secular, music. Recently, visitors walked in to hear "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" by U2.
The church's motto is: "It's a sin for church to be boring!"
"I want people to walk in and go, `Wow, this is church?'" Smith said.
So far, the church has held monthly services on the third Sunday of the past two months. Last month, 177 people attended. The service is about an hour and 15 minutes long and includes a 30-minute message.
After the November service, which included that movie scene, a Magnolia woman thanked Smith, telling him it was the first time she hadn't fallen asleep during a church service.
The Christmas service will be held Sunday morning at the Voorhees Middle School. Weekly services will begin Jan. 19.
At the end of the year, Smith will quit his job as pastor of production at Gloucester County Community Church in Washington Township, where he has worked for 19 years. A team of about 15 people are helping him start his new church.
He began planning the move three years ago, researching the best way to pastor the nonreligious.
"We have to be real and reach them at their level," said Smith. "That's what Jesus did."
Jesus attracted thousands with his message, Smith noted. Like him, Smith wants to package the word of God in a way the average person can understand.
"There was no way Jesus was boring," he said. "I don't believe he spoke in thees and thous."
It's a job Smith and his team take seriously. Visitors to the church's Web site have most often said they stopped going to church because it wasn't relevant to them.
The second most common complaint people have about church concerns money, Smith said. So when Smith passes the offering plate, he tells visitors not to contribute.
It's just for the team to fill up and the service is their gift to them.
Wade Birchfield, 31, of Washington Township, directs Smith's creative arts team.
"We want to bring church to the unchurched," he said, " where they can come and not feel judged, not feel uncomfortable, where we can introduce them to God."
Reach Kim Mulford at (856) 845-6521 or kmulford@ courierpostonline.com
