Trussville church moves student ministry to area cinema for Sunday morning services

It’s a typical scene at the Regal 16 Cinemas in Trussville. Teenagers are milling around and loud music blasts from one of the theaters in the complex. A bus pulls up to the curb to drop off another load of teens. 
   
Busy night at the movies? No, it’s 9 a.m. on Sunday, and it’s REELTime, the new off-campus high school ministry of NorthPark Baptist Church, Trussville, in Birmingham Baptist Association.  
   
REELTime began Feb. 5 with ninth through 12th graders meeting for worship and Sunday School at the Regal. Students may go directly to the theater or ride one of the 25-passenger minibuses that shuttle between the theater and church. Bible study leaders and other adult volunteers provide security and hospitality at the theater and on the buses.
   
Jimmy Hester, senior director of student ministry publishing at LifeWay Christian Resources, said REELTime is a “pioneer work in the student ministry area, a new approach to engaging students in Bible study.” 
   
REELTime uses LifeWay’s DVD-driven student curriculum, called Fuel. “Fuel is high-tech and video-driven, and the REELTime setting is ideal for its use,” Hester said.
   
Complementing the Fuel Bible study is a worship time designed especially for youth. 
   
Mark Enoch, senior worship associate for NorthPark, leads REELTime worship, which he called, “high-energy, high impact, relevant and cutting edge.” A live band leads the music, and as many students as possible are included in leading worship.
   
Stephen Hall, NorthPark minister to high school students explained, “The idea for REELTime was born out of a need to create space at NorthPark so that we could continue to reach people for the Kingdom.” 
   
The Trussville area has seen tremendous growth in the last decade. Senior Pastor Bill Wilks noted that the church has seen great growth as well, holding three Sunday morning worship services and three Sunday School sessions. The two main worship hours have been at capacity, and the parking lots have been close to that, he said.
   
REELTime provided an immediate solution to the need for space, church leaders said. The average attendance of students and youth workers at the church was 160. But REELTime saw an increase of both students and workers, with 250 attending the first Sunday service there.
   
For church leaders, REELTime is more than a space solution.
   
“First and foremost … REELTime is about reaching teenagers with the gospel,” Wilks said. “By moving our Sunday morning high school ministries to the Regal Cinema, we are meeting teenagers on their own turf.” 
   
According to Hall, most of the high school students who attend NorthPark attend one of the nearby Clay-Chalkville, Hewitt-Trussville, Pinson Valley or Springville high schools. There are approximately 4,700 students in those four schools. 
   
“Very quickly we realized that this idea that God laid on our hearts … was a plan to reach out to the vast number of unchurched students in our area,” Hall said, adding that the church is also working on a long-term space solution as well, with the construction of an expansion that is scheduled for completion by December 2006. 
   
While the expansion includes a designated worship room and educational space for students, Hall noted that the church is open to the possibility of REELTime continuing after that point. “We could come back to the main campus then, but our decision rests in how the Lord leads. If God blesses at the Regal in a great way, we could continue to meet there.”
  
Students said they appreciate the efforts to reach them where they are. Pinson Valley High freshman Kymber Goggans joined NorthPark’s Sunday School after visiting REELTime. “The worship is really cool because it’s the kind of stuff I like to listen to,” she explained.
   
Caitlin Braswell, a senior at Pinson Valley High, noted that she is eager to invite unchurched friends to visit at a movie theater “because it’s less intimidating than a church.”
   
Some adult leaders were slower to fall in love with the idea. 
   
Lori Roberson has taught in the student ministry at NorthPark for five years. She is currently working with 11th-grade girls, and her two sons are involved in the high school ministry. Her first reaction was negative.
   
“But I began to pray about it and God changed my heart. He revealed that it wasn’t about me — it was about evangelizing others,” Roberson said.
   
After experiencing the first few weeks of REELTime, she was confident that this ministry will ultimately positively influence the entire church. “The kids seem to feel more free to worship,” Roberson said.
   
She has also seen a new excitement in her Sunday School class. “In my class, we’d not had a single visitor since August,” Roberson noted. “In just two weeks of REELTime, we have had three visitors.”
   
Mike Jackson, an associate in the office of evangelism for the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions, said REELTime was a creative way to provide space for youth and be intentionally evangelistic at the same time. 
   
“Teens are already associated with local theaters, so this is a good way to enhance and build a rapport with them,” Jackson said.
   
Steve Layton, NorthPark’s associate pastor of teaching and discipleship, said a family recently joined the church because they were excited about being a part of the new ministry. 
   
“REELTime has brought a fresh excitement to NorthPark,” he said.