White River Junction
That message, delivered in the form of a new, $2.2 million church building on a 5.4-acre property that once housed a Holiday Inn, seems to be resonating even before the official grand opening, which is taking place during “worship experiences” over an extended, three-week period beginning this weekend.
“We’ve been homeless a long time,” Pastor Chris Goeppner said. “To have our own space is exhilarating.”
When Riverbank broke ground on the property last October, Goeppner said three weekend worship sessions held in rented space in the Freight House Music Hall drew a total of about 600 faithful each week.
But more than 800 have come for each of the last three weekends in the new space, officially the “Riverbank Equipping and Sending Worship Center,” and Goeppner expects even more people to show up during the grand opening.
“It’s empowering, and when people see the vision you cast become a reality, it really rallies your people,” Goeppner said.
Goeppner said that, over the last three years, the church has raised about $1 million and plans to pay off the balance “sooner than later.” He said the project was financed by a lending institution that specializes in churches and ministries, though he declined to share the name of the lender.
“The financial numbers, it’s a more private, in-house thing,” he said. “It’s not necessary to add to the conversation. It’s not going to make it more interesting or less interesting.”
Ever since the congregation’s humble beginnings — eight people gathered in Goeppner’s living room in 2010 — the evangelical Protestant congregation has used social media and an adaptive, free-wheeling populist culture to fuel dramatic growth, even as many more traditional churches are weathering a decadeslong period of senescence.
“I think it’s refreshing for people,” Goeppner said. Traditional churches, he said, often unintentionally create a country-club-like sense of distance between established members and newcomers that “can feel like a holy huddle. You’re leaving people out.”
The new church, with a dramatic sloping roof and a color motif that sets the church’s orange logo against a steely gray backdrop, embodies that philosophy by blending traditional and modern features.
It has no private offices, Goeppner said, because hand-held devices and digital connections obviate the need for them; many spaces are designed to serve a variety of functions.
The church includes a pre-performance green room, which Goeppner said also functions as a private area where church leaders can offer counseling to individuals. Another room has a coffee station and small tables with chairs like a cafe; it handles overflow from the lobby before and after worship sessions, and also is used by church leaders to hold group and individual sessions.
Jeremiah Golden, Riverbank’s communications director, was at the church on Wednesday afternoon, wiring lighting from the heights of a stepladder on a raised platform facing a large, open chamber.
Goeppner and other church leaders use the stage to deliver the word of God during weekend sessions, but the space, which holds up to 400 at a time, also has the feel of a conference room, or a performance space.
“We definitely plan on having the space available for conferences and other events,” Golden said.
Instead of pews, there are hundreds of cloth-covered chairs that can be reconfigured; a technician booth in the rear allows for sound and lighting effects, and the platform also is used for musical performances by the church’s band, which includes Golden.
Golden, 25, of Hartland, first heard about Riverbank while working on a sound system for a corporate function in Charlestown; a co-worker invited him to come help with the church.
He left the church he had grown up in, he said, because Riverbank just seemed like a better fit.
“It was a lot of different factors that weighed in,” he said. “I think it’s just the message of Jesus. We speak out from this stage every week.”
While Golden was showing off the church, Dustin Riggott, of Newport, walked in the glass-plated front doors. Riggott moved to the Upper Valley from San Diego in 2008. After years of sampling different area churches with his family, he saw Riverbank members having an event in Lebanon’s Colburn Park.
It didn’t take long for him to feel that he’d found home.
“Everybody there was really excited that I was there too,” he said. “Everyone was genuine about the fact that we were there. The next week, people remembered our names.”
Today, Riggott is a worship leader, and also plays in the band with Golden.
Golden showed off a long, curving lobby that stands between the worship space and the entrance.
“We’ve got more room for community building,” he said “That’s probably one of the biggest advantages. Here we have the lobby, while at the Freight House we basically just had the porch.”
High on the lobby’s wall, about 800 small magnetic squares have been affixed to the wall, defining the shape of a cross. Each square, Golden said, has been written by a different church member, marking the date that they’ve been saved.
At one end of the lobby, a check-in station allows church leaders to print out unique bar-coded identification labels. As families arrive, the children are directed to a set of rear rooms that are equipped with the same sorts of toys and learning tools one might expect to find in elementary school classrooms. The labeling system allows church leaders to reunite parents and children without fear of accidentally handing a child off to the wrong adult.
The front of the church property is marked by a large concrete gas-powered fire pit.
“It’s just another great place for people to come and hang out,” Golden said. “Especially in the fall, this is going to be great.”
Goeppner acknowledged that, as the church continues to grow, he won’t be able to have as much face time with each individual worshipper, but he said Riverbank’s DNA ensures that the feeling of intimacy won’t be lost.
“We have a good culture of leaders,” he said. “I’m available to our people, but the cool thing is they don’t need me. They have other men and women who are more important in their lives than me because they’re sitting in the circle with them.”
While the new space, located on Holiday Drive near Interstate 91, will open up new possibilities for Riverbank’s programming and offerings, Goeppner said, the next step is simply to take a breath.
“I think, for us, it’s enjoying it,” he said. “I keep telling our team, let’s just have fun and enjoy this. I think too many times you can look too far ahead and not enjoy what the now is.”
The grand opening will take place throughout September, at 5 p.m. on Saturdays, and 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. on Sundays.
Matt Hongoltz-Hetling can be reached at mhonghet@vnews.com or 603-727-3211.