This is a shot of Granger Community's Sanctuary Stage just after the service. Utilizing the current "War of the Worlds" mania, the current sermon series focuses on the "Seven Deadly Sins". (Last week, I'm told, aliens emerged from the meteorite on stage.) Click on the picture for a larger version.

SABBATICAL, WEEK 2- Granger Community Church

Just minutes from the University of Notre Dame, Granger Community Church is a ministry focused on reaching families, college students, and anyone else not interested in a "traditional church". Not that there aren't Seniors present (there are many!), but you can tell this is a different church the minute you walk in the door. You have to pretty much walk through "Starbucks" before you find anything resembling a church. I had the family with me this week, so our first order of business was to deposit two young boys firmly in Children's Church. Wow, were we in for a surprise. The lower level of the church was pretty much "Jesus meets Walt Disney". After registering our kids, we walked James past the 5th Grade "Night Club" and the Kindergarten "Jungle Room" to the 3-year old "Garden Room". It took James about 3 seconds to convice himself to go into the room (the Thomas the Train table in the middle of the room was pretty convincing.) We then took Nicholas to the Nursery wing. There are actually 5 nurseries, each for different developmental needs of babies, toddlers, and everything in between. If we wanted, we could have a vibrating beeper to call us if Nicholas had any problems. Okay, enough with Fantasyland, time to head upstairs. (Incidentally, for kids K-5th Grade, parents can check them in at stations just outside the Sanctuary. Tube slides will then deposit them in their respective classrooms downstairs! No, I'm not kidding.) Jessica and Sarah, too old for the Children's Ministry, joined Lisa and I in the Sanctuary for the worship service. Very contemporary, the service consisted of upbeat worship songs led by a rock band. Being the Sunday before Independance Day, the Pastor gave a short meditation about the Pledge of Allegiance and the development of our modern salute. Very interesting and informative. I should mention, by the way, that the stage resembled a scene from the classic "Earthquake" (only Charlton Heston was mission, see picture.) The current sermon series is entitled "War of the Worlds" and focuses on the various Seven Deadly Sins. A series of videos was compiled starring members of the congregation that resemble news broadcasts about alien-carrying meteors that have been striking earth. Each week, a new video is shown in the service. The premise is that aliens inside the meteors have been causing problems, sirring up desention among the citizens of earth (the old "Devil made me do it" theme.) The pastor followed the video with a sermon highlighting the "sin of the week". At the end of the series, the set will be torn down and a new set built for the next series. We all enjoyed the service very much, and discussed (over Olive Garden's Pasta de Fagioli) how various elements might be used at North Avenue. The girls liked the full service bookstore and the coffee shop, while James wants a slide that connects Sickal Hall with his Sunday School class. While Lisa liked the worship, she still likes ours better, and is pretty sure that the band's cover of Don Henley's "Heart of the Matter" wouldn't fly with Eleanor Haskins. She did, however, like the computerized name tags for James and Nicholas (including one for the diaper bag!) and the fact that only a person with a matching tag could even think about picking up the kids. Me? I liked how everything in the service fit together well, obviously worked out months in advance, and that the church seemed to have a very well defined, singular purpose... reach souls. A great experience. On a completely different note, my week "was made" Monday morning when my Grandpa Harden (Stepdad's father) let me drive his absolute pristine '55 Chevy Bel Air in the Hanover-Horton 4th of July parade. My kids liked that there were no seat belts to be found, but were unimpressed by the stock AM radio! (see picture below).

James really enjoyed "The Garden", reserved for 3-year olds. After checking in, a trip through "the daisy" allows him to play with the tube slide or train table until "centers" start. Notice the TV built into the giant carrot! 

2nd & 3rd Graders enjoy the total "3-2-1 Penguins" experience each week in Sunday School. The room also features a "space stage", lifesize "Zidgel" and "Kevin" statues, and a spiral slide which kids use to enter from the upper level of the church. 

My Grandpa Harden's '55 Chevy Bel Air! That's the original paint, buddy!