CoolCleveland.com's CIO talks to a local startup about their upcoming launch

I'll be honest. Even though I grew up attending church, it's been longer than I'd admit that I've gotten up on Sunday morning to attend a service. But after reading a post about Gateway Church on another Clevelander's blog, I poked around their website long enough to send Alex Ennes an email. It wasn't long after that when we met for coffee to talk about startups and development in Cleveland.

Cool Cleveland: On April 1st, your first service will be at Pickwick & Frolic's Hilarities Theatre. You're kidding, right?

Alex Ennes: No… we’re not kidding. We literally launch on April Fool’s Day in a comedy club. Pickwick and Frolic has been kind enough to let us rent their facilities. We have now started saying to people, “Come feed the soul at Gateway and then feed your body at their brunch, if you would like. The church is free, but the brunch is not.”

When you give your message will it be like a sermon, or a standup routine? Will you ever play the violin and tell jokes like Henny Youngman?

AE: It will certainly have depth, but I like to have a lot of fun as well. I’m a storyteller at heart. If you listen to my messages for a couple of weeks, you will catch onto that. Jesus didn’t teach with “5 steps to a Better Life”. He used stories and what I’ve found is that people love stories and relate to them. If they’re like me, I can’t ever get past step 2 in the 5 steps to a better life and by the time I get past step two, I can’t remember what step 3 was.

I do play the violin. Most people would be surprised at that. I think this is why I relate to artists fairly well. My degree was actually a double-major in Music and Christian Studies. I can play the violin as well as Henny, but the jokes…well you’ll just have to come and judge for yourself.

What can I expect if I come to Gateway?

AE: One of the things we want people to know is to expect the unexpected. We want the worship time to be more than a program. We want it to be an experience. We have taken great care to bring in some very good musicians for our live band. We have also developed some multi-media experiences to challenge, encourage, and help grow us. We think you will also find smiling faces from the parking garage to the theater who will welcome you to Gateway.

Why the focus on urban professionals? Are they "lost"?

AE: Let me say that I really don’t care too much for labels. There’s too much of that and not enough working together. That said, the focus on urban professionals is to give them the opportunity to worship in an environment in which they are comfortable. It doesn’t mean that everyone who comes to Gateway has to be an urban professional. But, we did try and create a worship experience and a church around their needs and their desire to exercise their spirituality.

Wouldn't it be easier to start a church in the suburbs?

AE: Church planting is hard no matter where it is. But, I would say the obstacles in an urban center present some different challenges. For instance, our rent for a place is usually higher, our transportation and where to park people is an obstacle (we just reached an agreement with 515 Euclid Parking Garage where anyone come to Gateway will have FREE parking), and the turnover rate of people moving in and out is quite high. It’s tough to gain stability when people move in and out so quickly. The other problem is that there are so few people who have tried to do what we are doing. It was hard to find something to model after and learn from. The suburban churches definitely have the advantage in that area.

What churches are you modeling Gateway on?

AE: The one we have found the most inspiration from and is located in an urban center is National Community Church (see TheaterChurch.com). They meet at the movie theaters inside Union Station in Washington, D.C.

One of the three tenets of the church is "serve the city of Cleveland". What have you been doing?

AE: We wanted to make sure that we weren’t the church that gets started and then a year or so into it start doing something to benefit the community. We started with service to the community first and then the church. We don’t launch until Sunday, April 1st, yet we have already logged several hundred hours in some of the “Head Start” programs in the inner city. Our church has done everything from clean up trash with Downtown Cleveland Alliance (5000 pounds of trash has already been picked up by our teams according to DCA) to working with impoverished children to handing out gift bags to local merchants and their employees.

You've said "we have decided to be a part of the solution to help rebuild Cleveland by partnering with credible organizations to already exist to serve the city of Cleveland". Who?

AE: So far, our partners include The City Mission, West Side Ecumenical Ministry, and Downtown Cleveland Alliance. We are looking to add more as we grow.

Can you tell me more about the partnership with WSEM?

AE: It all started where we asked WSEM what they needed most. We didn’t want to come to organizations and explain how they could join us. We wanted to join them. We have spent hundreds of hours volunteering by reading to kids, playing with kids, cleaning their gym area from top to bottom, and distributing literature in neighborhoods to let them know of the social services that WSEM offers the community. They come up with the ideas and then I let them know what we could do. I’m pretty sure that we’ve accomplished every idea they have brought to us.

You've been pretty active on your blog. Can you describe the effect its having on you and the community?

AE: The effect for me is accountability. We have said that we want to lead people to Love God, Live in Community, and Serve the City. I know that when I approach my blog that there needs to be something every week that highlights one of those areas, if not all three. With respect to the community, I have been surprised at the number of people who actually read what I write. The hits to the blog are about 10 to 1 in reference to the other pages on our site. I think the thing that surprised people the most is that there are several stories in the Bible about rebuilding a decimated city. The blog has helped people to see that the Bible is relevant to their lives and to the rebuilding of Cleveland.

Could you briefly summarize the study of Nehemiah and some of the comments you've recieved about it as a metaphor for Cleveland?

AE: Nehemiah’s heart was heavy because the walls in Jerusalem were completely demolished and nobody was rebuilding them. He knew that in order for the nation to survive and flourish that the city-center had to have protection from thieves and armies. He left his very comfortable position (cup-bearer to the king) to lead the task. Nehemiah knew that infrastructure was the key to rebuilding a city. He knew that it wasn’t just the Temple that needed to be rebuilt. It was the entire economic, political, social, and spiritual arenas that needed to be rebuilt. To me, the metaphor is so valid for Cleveland. It will take ALL of us to rebuild Cleveland. Cleveland needs to work past the idea of being so segmented and drawing lines. We’ve gotten to this low point by not working together. There have been several people very surprised by the parallel of Nehemiah’s rebuilding of a city and where Cleveland is at this point. Several young professionals have written me emails concerning this issue. Each of the emails talked about the relevance of Nehemiah to their lives.

What about Spring Break? You have a post up thanking college kids from around the country. Talk about that.

AE: We’ve been pleasantly surprised by the number of college students from around the United States who have given up their Spring Break to come and serve Cleveland. In just this month alone, we’ve hosted students from Massachusetts, Mississippi, Arkansas, Alabama, and Louisiana. They’ve ridden a long ways on busses just to help Gateway and serve the city.

What other activities outside of the Sunday service?

AE: We will be adding activities after we launch. But, we were just at The Corner Alley this last Sunday, March 25th. We sent out direct mail to everyone living downtown that they could come for free bowling, billiards, desserts, and soft drinks on us. We even gave away some Cavs tickets. We had a great time. I’m sure we will be doing more of things like this in the future.

Since this is an A&Q w/G, I'll give you the last questions. What would you like to find out from Cool Cleveland readers?

AE: If you were going to go to a new church, what would attract you to that church? How can Gateway help serve in rebuilding Cleveland? What do you think downtown Cleveland needs most (not looking for a “churchy” answer here…I want your honest observation)? If you were the one preparing the topics for discussion at the church, what would those topics be?

After months of preparation by Alex and his team, the Gateway Church (http://www.GatewayCleveland.com) will hold its first service on Sun 4/1 @ 10:30AM in the Hilarities Theater at Pickwick & Frolic.

From Cool Cleveland CIO George Nemeth george@coolcleveland.com

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