By Rogier Bos

I first met Matt Brown and his staff at the Young Leaders Forum in Costa Mesa. We attended the same discussion group. The topic, ‘church planting - what happens after the first year’ was very much on Matt’s mind. He is the pastor of Sandal’s church (Sandal’s for short), in Riverside, Southern California.

Sandal’s is now 18 months old, and runs about 200 people per service. Matt has an excellent and highly dedicated leadership team, which I also had the privilege of meeting. Except for Matt none of them are full-time, but all are dedicated to the max, and you can tell this is an exciting time for them!

Over the course of those few days in Costa Mesa I had the opportunity to get to know Matt better, and I soon realized that Matt is very much ‘a mover and a shaker’. Over a delicious dinner at a Mongolian restaurant I met with him and his leadership team, and learned a little more about the church. They invited me to come visit them, and a few weeks later I had the opportunity to do so. Here’s what I found.

My visit

			Sandals meets here. Notice the sign out front

The first impression I had of Sandals was when I saw the building they were meeting in. Having just come of the 91-Freeway near Los Angeles, and not knowing quite what to expect, I came by this nice little church-building with a nice steeple, green grass all around it, and a large parking lot in front of it. Right along side the road a large banner read ’Sandals Church’.

The building, which belongs to the Seventh Day Adventists of Riverside, is a typical church building in every respect. It even has a steeple! You enter through the main door underneath it, where you enter a foyer with thick red carpet which leads you into the main sanctuary. Inside the foyer is a large table with an incredible bouquet of flowers on it. By the table are people handing out the ‘paperwork’ you will need during the service, which in this case was just the sermon notes. There was no bulletin or program.

			Sandals has a well developed First Impressions Team. There is little chance to get in or out without having met someone, or shaken somebody's hand. Right after the service a small group of people position themselves in the foyer to greet everyone who leaves.

It’s always interesting to enter these new churches, as some make no effort whatsoever to welcome visitors, while others do everything within their power. Sandals clearly wants to be conscious of the visitors, and a welcoming team takes care of that. No badges, though, and everything is really low-key and personal.

The foyer leads you into the main sanctuary, which is stylish and elegant. The building has stained glass on both sides of the sanctuary, as well as a large stain-glass window directly behind the stage. The sanctuary has heavy wooden pews with hymnals and Bibles. From the white ceiling, which is supported by heavy wooden beams, hang small chandeliers. The whole atmosphere is quiet and gentle, but not exactly an environment for screaming guitars.

Church in a box

Because Sandals rents the building, it is very much a ‘church in a box’. Every week they drive a trailer to the church, unload a ton of stuff, set it all up, have the service, then tear it all down and put it back in the trailer.

The main set up consist of the sound system, and Matt explains to me that this Sunday they have hired a professional soundman to help them with the sound. A pair of giant speakers has been set up on stage, and they are oddly out of place with the atmosphere of the rest of the room.

			The Pastoral Team going over the last details for the service. Matt has attracted an excellent group of leaders, and you can see the excitement in their eyes.

Preparations for the service are in full swing. People are trickling in, and Matt meets with some of his leadership team on the front pew. Mark, another member of the team, explains to me that today they are trying something new; each of them is going to give a short message on ‘finances and God.’ These short messages will be interspersed with music and worship.

When everyone knows what is going on Matt walks on stage to light the candles. There’s only three of them, and they are of to the left of the stage. It strikes me as odd that some new churches will use hundreds of candles in what is basically a warehouse, while Sandals only uses three candles in an environment where candles would fit so naturally!

The Service

The service starts about 10 minutes late, which is planned. Then upbeat music follows Matt’s welcome. The band consists of Moses, who leads and plays bongo’s, two acoustic guitarists, and two female singers. Their usual band is bigger, they have told me, but summer has just started, and many of the students have gone home. Because of this they are expecting the service to be considerably smaller than usual, but to me it still seems like the room is pretty full. I needn’t have worried about the screaming guitars; there aren’t any.

The Worship band consist of Moses on bongo's (I've never seen a worship leader on bongo's before!), Carlos and another guy on acoustic guitar, and 2 vocals.

[>> To part II]
[>> To interview with Matt Brown, Pastor of Sandals Church]
[>> To interview with Danielle Arnold]

Rogier is the editor for NEXT WAVE. His passion is to see a wave of churches for young people started all across the Western world. He holds an M.A. in world evangelization from Tyndale Theological Seminary.

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