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(bowling pins scatter)
(Mike Veres) The reason this is my home church is because
I felt comfortable going to a bowling alley.
(pastor) ..thank you so much.
(Therese Lynn) To be able to have a small church service in a
bowling alley is a godsend.
(man) Oh, darnit all.
(Scot Ocke) My name is Scot Ocke and I have the privilege of
being the pastor at Maumee United Methodist Church
in Ohio near Toledo.
Never dreamed that a ministry we would start in bowling alley
would ever do what it's done.
(Ron Matney) It was the best bowling alley I have
ever walked into.
(crowd) Amen
(Ron Matney) I come here to give my heart to God,
to try to better my life.
(Scot Ocke) We had about 40 people I think the first time.
Then it grew the next time to about 50.
(Andrew Kirk) ...the patrons and stuff would go downstairs.
(Ron Matney) I walked up in there and I was
in a bowling league.
(Tom Strohbeck) We had some pretty loud music and they heard
us and they came down to see what all the commotion
was about.
(Andrew Kirk) Once the word got out,
I mean, we had lines waiting to get into the building.
(Tom Strohbeck) We thought it would be a perfect fit because
everybody in the neighborhood knows where Lido Lanes is.
It's a comfortable place, non-threatening;
it doesn't feel too churchy.
(bowling pins scatter)
I mean, it's a bowling alley, a place where anybody
feels comfortable.
(man) Come on Don!
(Don) It's time I retired.
(Mike Veres) That was my bedroom window right there.
And on the last Tuesday of the month there was a lot of people
lined up out here on the sidewalk,
and of course I wondered 'What the heck is going on?'
And so I had to come out and check it out.
Of course if this had been a church, I don't think
I would have showed up.
But because it's a bowling alley, it piqued my curiosity.
(Tom Strohbeck) I think a lot of people are uncomfortable going
into an established church because there's a lot of things
they don't understand-- the stained glass windows,
they don't know what the pictures are.
They feel uncomfortable, they're not good enough.
(Mike Veres) It's more of a place of camaraderie and
communion of people.
You don't have the stigma of, 'Shhh, you got be quiet
you're in a church.'
(Tom Strohbeck) The church is not the building or
the facility it's the people.
So when we go outside of our facility we're still the church.
We eat together, we pray together and
we worship together...
(pastor) Do not film this.
It didn't have to be here in a bowling alley.
(ball rolling)
Alright film it.
Film it!
(bowling pins scatter)
(Tom Strohbeck) ...but we needed a place that was far more
secular than the church.
(Mike Veres) Any place two or more gather is a church.
It doesn't need to be a building.
(Scot Ocke) More churches ought to take the risk.
God will show up in whatever place you choose.
(Tom Strohbeck) After a while, we realized we just had too
many people for it to be safe, and we ended up down the street.
(Scot Ocke) We have been there for almost two years.
But it all started here in the most unlikely place
of a bowling alley.
(Mike Wood) You can do it in a bowling alley.
You can do it at a ball field.
You can do it at a laundry mat.
You can build a church anywhere and please do.
(bowling pins scatter)
(Mike Veres) I shouldn't be smiling.
I missed it.