Brockport Free Methodist Church offers new energy for Christianity

By Dan Longnecker
STAFF WRITER

Photo By Dan Longnecker

If you do happen to roll yourself out of bed on time, you could attend the Brockport Free Methodist Church (BFMC). Turn left at the traffic light by the practice fields’ entrance of the college and the church is on the right. Sunday morning service times are 9:30 a.m. and 11 a.m. In case Sunday mornings aren’t good for you, there is a also Saturday night service at 5 p.m. All services last about an hour.

What is BFMC all about? Most people, when asked, imagine a church service that requires dressing up, singing old fashioned hymns with a choir and listening to an irrelevant and dull message. The experience at BFMC is very different.

Youth and worship leader Pastor Ray Hammond kicks off Sunday morning services. He is accompanied by a rock band who plays uplifting and energizing songs by famous modern Christian artists. This helps the congregation focus and prepare for worship.

“Most of the songs we sing use contemporary language to express who God is, what he has done for us and our response to him,” Hammond said. “I think college students connect to the songs we sing because we use a band with contemporary instruments including electric guitar, electric bass, acoustic guitar, drums and keyboard. I think our upbeat style connects better with students than a more traditional-styled service. It might not always sound like the songs your grandparents sang in church, but the message of those timeless songs is there.”

Praise and worship is followed by a sermon from Pastor Tom Stroup or Pastor Mark Mutton. The messages deal with the challenges of everyday life and how God can help in times of need.

“We believe life is primarily about relationships — relationships with each other and God,” said Stroup. “The rest of life is just stuff — some good, some bad, but just stuff. So, every weekend our goals are to connect ordinary people to our extraordinary God. We want to unpack the practical truths of his word for your everyday life: sleeping-eating-going-to-class-and-walking-around life.”

If you’re worried about being the only college student in attendance, don’t be. More than half the congregation is filled with college students from Brockport and other nearby colleges.

Nathan Lesher, a Roberts Wesleyan senior, made the trip the first Sunday of his freshman year with a friend and is still involved with the church today.

“I felt a connection with the people there,” Lesher said. “Right away I fell in love with the ministry we found there. I believed in what they were doing as a church.”

Lesher is now the LIFE group’s director at BFMC and plans to start a small group on the Brockport campus in a few weeks.

Samantha Durfee is a sophomore at Brockport and has been attending BFMC for two years now.

“I like BFMC because it’s different from the other churches around,” Durfee said. “It’s more interesting. I like the praise and worship band and I especially like the series they do for the sermons. The messages are directed to our lives and they are relayed in a way that will help us connect with what’s going on around us at the time.”

BFMC offers activities ranging from weekly Pilates and yoga classes to community outreach projects and bible studies. For more information on the programs offered you can visit their Web site at www.brockportfm.org.

For students who are looking for something more than just sleeping in on a Sunday morning, attending church might be the thing. If so, BFMC may be the place to try. It’s close, it’s friendly and it’s relevant — the perfect way to start a new week.