D. Anthony Botkin
12:00 a.m. Thursday, March 26, 2015 | Filed in: What To Love
Sunday services at the First Heavy Metal Church of Christ (FHMCC) might look more like a rock concert at a biker convention but in reality, it’s a bible-centered church in a heavy metal wrapper.
The methods of the church might seem unorthodox by mainstream standards, but this church isn’t for everyone. That’s OK, because they’re not looking to attract everyone. They reach out to those who might not ever enter a church to begin with for one reason or another.
“Suits and ties are welcome, but we encourage concert t-shirts,” said Brian Smith, founder and pastor of the FHMCC. “It should never matter what you wear. It’s about Jesus.”
Brian also doesn’t wear typical preacher garb. He wears a short sleeve black work shirt displaying tats on both arms. His name is embroidered on one side and FHMCC is on the other.
Currently, FHMCC holds services at 2655 Wagner Ford Road, where they are renting the old Grafton Kennedy School from the Northridge School District. Before that, they had been housed in a VFW and in a local bar.
Being fishers of men and women, the outreach of the church can be found in places where other churches might not go.
“We reach out to the shunned. This church welcomes the addicts, the homeless and prostitutes. Jesus hung out with those types of people. We don’t want to condemn you, we want to love the hell out of you,” said Brenda Shaw, a member of the congregation.
The church has been dubbed the “biker church,” but nothing could be further from the truth. The congregation is a mix of business professionals, drug addicts, lawyers, homeless, prostitutes, plumbers, grandmas and strippers – a wide range of humanity.
“We are a true cross-section of what the body of Christ looks like,” Smith said.
Read the rest of this article and find out how to attend:
A peek inside the First Heavy Metal Church of Christ | www.dayton.com.
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