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Thursday, Oct. 02, 2008

Macon's Piedmont Church reaches out to draw folks in

In a city where the houses of worship number in the hundreds, Piedmont Church is trying to be different.

Consider the church's first-anniversary service four Sundays ago. When ushers passed the offering plates, instead of putting money in, people took it out, with the understanding that the cash had to be used to help someone in need.

"Macon's a place with a lot of churches, but it's church for church people, not church for people people," said Piedmont's pastor, the Rev. Jerry Dingmore. "We want to change the culture of the church, where it's not about professional Christianity ... not about playing the part. It's about the journey."

Piedmont's aim is to "connect with people who don't go to church," Dingmore said. So, the church has ditched the traditional for a more progressive style aimed at making non-churchgoers feel more at home, while staying true to the Gospel message.

"We're progressive in our worship, but we're conservative theologians," Dingmore said.

The approach appears to be working. Attendance has grown from aboutseven families at the church's start to more than 400 people.

"We've discovered there are a lot of people who haven't given up on God," Dingmore said, "but they've given up on 'church.' "

Piedmont meets Sundays at 10:30 a.m. at Stratford Academy, but crews gather at the school on Peake Road about five hours earlier to transform the cafeteria into a children's church and the auditorium into a sanctuary.

"We use enough pipe and drape to wrap around the city of Macon," Dingmore joked.

The church emphasizes "excellence" in music, which is performed by volunteer and paid musicians. The band plays Christian music - and popular selections - chosen to emphasize Dingmore's messages.

For example, a recent sermon on parenting was preceded by the Harry Chapin folk rock classic "Cat's in the Cradle."

"They will take what I'm talking about and take both Christian music and find a song off the radio that will bring up an issue," said Dingmore, "then I will address that issue and bring up God's perspective on it."

The music and message are important, but Dingmore said "the heartbeat of this church is to change lives." That's one reason the church held its Bless Back Macon campaign, in which Piedmont gave away $6,000 - despite being in the midst of buying and renovatingpart of a shopping center at Northside Drive and Forest Hills Road for a new permanent home.

Envelopes in the offering plates contained cash ranging from $5 to $500. Worshippers were encouraged to take one and put the money toward a worthy cause.

And they did just that, according to messages posted on www.blessbackmacon.blogspot.com. Some examples of how the money was used include:

• A gift card for a family who had lost their home to a fire.

• $20 given to a couple for travel expenses to take their 4-year-old son to an Atlanta hospital to begin treatment for a brain tumor.

• $50 - in $1 bills - given to the teacher of a Piedmont couple's daughter, for the teacher to give to underprivileged classmates for expenses such as book fairs and field-trip fees.

Jarrod Durden picked out a $400 envelope. He said he gave $200 to a co-worker who volunteers for Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, who in turn gave it to his "little brother" to help his family catch up on bills.

Durden said the other $200 went to an acquaintance who lost his job in the middle of major home renovations. The money at least helped restore the home to a "liveable environment," he said.

"You can't attempt to solve all of everybody's problems, but I think God will provide you the opportunities to help here and there," said Durden, whose family has been involved in Piedmont from the church's inception.

"It was an opportunity for us to sort of live out biblical teachings that you bless others, and that you receive blessing by blessing others. Sometimes folks need a little example."

Dingmore called the Bless Back Macon effort a "model of sacrificial giving" that has "created a momentum within the church."

"Even bigger," he said, "it created momentum in changing people's lives."

Dingmore, a former pastor at Vineville North Baptist Church, was out of the ministry for about a year before helping start Piedmont. He said he was approached by church planners in Carrollton and Dublin about starting up similar ministries, but he felt led to stay in Macon.

Dingmore was the right man for the work at Piedmont, Durden said.

"Jerry, in my opinion, is one of the best communicators of the Gospel that I've ever heard. I felt like his talents needed to be used."

Dingmore said Piedmont wants to be a place for the person who is "giving God and church one more look."

"We're after that guy who might say, 'I think there is a God. I'm not interested in playing that game, and I just want to know he's real.' "

For more information on Piedmont Church and Bless Back Macon, call 955-3367 or visit www.piedmontchurch.net and www.blessbackmacon.blog

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To contact writer Rodney Manley, call 744-4623.