COLUMBIA COUNTY, GA – There aren’t a lot of multicultural churches in Augusta. So when I see a church like Faith World Center that has found the right combination to attract a culturally diverse clientele, I feel it deserves consideration.

The building is painted white with rust trim over metal siding, a la the manycontemporary, inexpensive-to-buildstructures that are fast becoming the new tradition. In other words, if it didn’t have a church sign posted, a passerby wouldassume he had just driven past an appliance repair store.

As I entered the sanctuary, I heard buoyant get-up-and-dance gospel funk. I sat off to the side in a plush chair. There were few people present and so I waited for the service to start.
They probably shouldn’t play this music before the service, I thought, because there is no way the worship team can live up to this radio-quality sound.

Boy, was I wrong. The lights dimmed and a group of about 20 people, singers and instrumentalists, took the stage wearing grey and black. The band launched into a hoppin’ gospel-rock tune led by a female singer. For the next few numbers, the singers tag-teamed in leading the songs, each as good as the previous one. The audience, an equal mix of black and white, but also Hispanic, jumped and raised their hands. The bass played funk riffs and the drums, keyboards and guitar played intricate melodies, alternate chords and rhythms to popular praise songs. This praise team definitely ranks on my top 10 list of quality worship music.

The pastor was entertaining, too. Pastors rarely make me laugh out loud, but this was, at points, like stand-up comedy. His style was more like that of a pastor in an African-American church, animated and enthusiastic but not exhorting. His manner seemed off the cuff so that if he had jumped off the altar it would have been fitting. It helped that he was a pulchritudinous man, sortof a JFK or Clinton of the theologicalworld, well-dressed in a black suit withjet-black hair.

His message was simple. God wants Christians to prosper, whether that be financially or spiritually, and he was there to help make that happen.

Before the Old Testament Hebrews could receive release from bondage, God called prophets like Moses, Isaiah and Elijah to deliver a message to them. Like a mother being induced for labor, the pastor was speaking the word of God over us to induce the miracle in our lives. It was a mainstream message for a mainstream audience.

But no matter how I felt personally about the worship style, in some ways I can’t help but look positively on a church that draws an ethnically diverse crowd. In a town like Augusta, where everyone goes to church, and with our history of racial politics, shouldn’t healing start in the churches?

Faith World Center
702 N. Belair Rd., Evans
706-228-2880
wfca.net

Pastor: Larry Doolittle
Attendance: 100