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Sample Excerpt: Press-Release for Grand-Opening Event Announcement
Mooresville, NC, September 1, 2004:
And you thought a church the size of Charlotte's Calvary and Hickory Grove would never reach the shores of Lake Norman.
Think again.
While The Cove Church's new Langtree Road facility might not yet rival the monumental scale of the larger churches just to the south, according to Executive Pastor, Rick Carney, it's just a matter of time.
The Cove's new 21,000 square foot building set in the shadow of the new Lowe's headquarters only recently opened to the public, with its grand opening scheduled for September 12th. But, says Carney, they already have plans for further expansion, with a vision to grow as large as God will allow.
"We really do want to be in a community with people," he says. "We really want people to find relationships and friendships here at The Cove. But, we don't just want to build strong communities in our church, but also in our society at large."
Some of the plans for the 75 acre property, says Carney, are to welcome secular and civic groups to use it for conferences and seminars. Another goal is to further develop the property in creating athletic fields for public sporting events and camps.
It is the goal of The Cove, under the leadership of Senior Pastor, Mike Madding, to model the church growth objectives exemplified in such spiritual success stories as Chicago's Willow Creek Church, and particularly, California's Saddleback Church.
"I think our method is very unique to this area," says Carney. "There are other churches around the country like Saddleback who are doing this, to be sure, but there aren't many churches in the greater Lake Norman area that I know of that are using the exact methods we use."
These methods involve specific marketing strategies targeted at those who don't attend church on a regular basis, those traditionally known as the 'unchurched'. "We picked the majority market in our community that is unchurched, and design our services to appeal to that group," says Carney.
The services are casual, to say the least. Attendees can be seen in shorts and jeans, often matching the attire of the pastor and worship team, particularly in the humid summer months. The style of
worship and message are accessible and upbeat, with contemporary and rock-n-roll style music, dramatic skits and informal testimonies known as "life stories".
This coffeehouse outreach strategy is often criticized by the more traditional camps of Christendom, saying that in order to fill seats, "mega-churches" like this will compromise the Gospel by catering to the whims of an entertainment-hungry, shallow public. Such churches, they say, have demeaned the sacredness of traditional worship with sloppy liturgy and superficial theology.
Of course, Cove leaders believe otherwise, saying there is a distinction between things essential and things non-essential, between the packaging and the content of faith. "We aren’t compromising the Gospel and theology," says Carney. "What we're doing is changing the method in which it’s communicated—similar to the way Jesus did. Jesus went to the prostitutes and the tax collectors, to the communities they lived in. He said, I’m going to live with them and show them the truth."
Carney qualifies the methods they use as just a tool, a vehicle to get the Gospel to the people. "We're not against traditional churches at all, or the way they do their services," he says. "I just don't think that is the method that reaches everyone. If you need traditional worship, there are plenty of churches out there that you can get that from. That's just not what we do here."
To buck religious tradition even further, the sign on the new building doesn't even include the word "church". It just says, "The Cove".
"Our new building is definitely not the 'church'," says Carney. "The church is the people. Jesus was very clear about that. The Cove is part of the church of Jesus Christ. We just happen to be in a community that we call 'The Cove'. It's just real people, in real life."
About The Grand Opening Celebration
Date: Sunday, September 12th, 2004
Time: 3:00 pm - 7:30 pm
Featuring national Christian recording artist, Warren Barfield, in concert!
Enjoy live music, great entertainment, food and games.
Invite your friends and neighbors to join you!
The Cove Church is located in Mooresville, North Carolina. Only a few miles from Interstate 77 at Exit 33, The Cove Campus is located on 197 Langtree Road. Call 704-664-1885 or go to www.covechurch.org for more information.
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