Solid Rock: Week 7

I’ve been thinking about doing a documentary project on Solid Rock, a prominent Portland-area church, for months. The church made a push into downtown Portland back in January.

I contacted the downtown coordinator, Brandon Mosser, shortly afterwards. We had coffee on February 22th. The meeting went very well, and I shot my first function, the main Saturday evening meeting, on February 28th.

The whole idea of the project is something that I’ll write about in the future. In short, Portland is rumored to have the highest number of strip clubs per capita in the U.S. It is also known as a church graveyard. Solid Rock church pushes into the downtown area knowing full well these challenges.

All the people I’ve met are very excited about the church’s downtown presence. Their eyes light up when they talk about what they’re doing; its like nothing I’ve ever seen. I’m excited right along with them: I feel they have important things to say, and, moreover, they have action. I’ve never seen anything like it … but I’ll get into that in future writings.

For now, pictures:

Solid Rock members walk the streets of downtown Portland before the first Saturday service. They ask peoples’ opinions about Jesus and invite them to church.
The downtown group meets in First Baptist Church of Portland, located on SW Taylor St. and 12th Ave.
Solid Rock’s downtown extension offers 5:30 and 7:30 services on Saturday evenings.
The First Baptist Church of Portland was built in 1894. It has the eccentricities of older churches, including narrower doorways, wooden pews and stained glass windows.
Last Saturday’s message was about Jesus as Truth and judgement. Pastor John Mark Comer encouraged attendees to write their sins on note cards and symbolically throw them away. “Right here. Right now. We need to deal with sin.”
Solid Rock changes the space dramatically to suite it’s needs. Several volunteers spend a couple of hours cleaning and storing equipment after the second service.