Solid Rock’s The Way Event

Below are some images from last week’s The Way event at Solid Rock. It was a difficult but fun event to shoot. Enjoy!

Solid Rock: 24 April

Volunteers set up equipment for Saturday services.

Volunteers ready equipment while the band warms up.

We had a chance to explore the upper areas of the church.

Ben climbs down from the bell tower.
Spencer, Ben, Brett and Shawn explore First Baptist’s roof.
Volunteers prepare snack platters in the kitchen.
One spot in particular has nice light during the first service.
Pastor John Mark Comer reads from Mark 12:28.

Solitary Moment

I’m sorting through some recent Solid Rock images. This frame is from a small gathering on Monday night. It’s a solitary moment, something atypical.

Saturday Services

These images are from the Saturday, March 6th Solid Rock church meeting in downtown Portland. I started photographing the church last week. The project is slowly taking shape. There are lots of events to shoot and many people I have yet to talk to

I plan on going to a house church, a small gathering in someone’s house or apartment, tomorrow evening. There are two house churches downtown Portland, and they meet monthly.

The sound board is the heaviest item: it requires several men to muscle it up stairs and through narrow doorways.Volunteers fill disposable plastic cups with cranberry juice for Communion.
Crew members look on as the worship band warms up.
Tommy, a Portland resident, was baptized after praying with Solid Rock pastors. An open baptism session is held between services on the first Saturday of the month.
Pastor Phil Comer preaches to a full assembly at the 7:30 session. Comer’s message centered around the Biblical story of a rich man (Mark 10:17).

Tuesday Evening Meeting

I attended Solid Rock’s Tuesday evening prayer and worship meeting. Here are some images:

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.