Jeffersonville church opening campus in music store

JEFFERSONVILLE, Ind. (AP) - Starting in April, a Jeffersonville church will be expanding its mission in an unlikely location - and one church leader says will be a perfect fit.

Eastside Christian City Church, the organization's new campus, will start services inside Maxwell's House of Music in Jeffersonville starting April 2 with 9:30 and 11 a.m. services each Sunday.

The church will be relocating from its second site at the Community Action of Southern Indiana building, where it started operating several years ago as an outgrowth of breakfast they were serving to low-income families in the community.

They will still serve the meals at CASI, but David Parkerson, lead pastor for the campus, is excited about new opportunities moving to the music store will bring.

"I think it will be a good relationship for both of us," Parkerson said. "Mark (Maxwell) has always been very kind to our church in so many ways and so many different areas."

The church will be housed in the store's concert area, complete with a stage and seating for 125.

"We have a perfect room to do it," Maxwell said. "It's got a killer stage and a killer sound system and light system - this is a cool way to gather as Christians to celebrate Jesus. I think this is a great place for it. It's just a cool vibe - a different way to do church."

Over the past few years, the business has housed two other churches. When Parkerson recently ran into Maxwell and learned the spot was open again, he was interested.

"He said 'Man, come by and talk to me one day,'" Parkerson said. "I was just intrigued by the whole idea of it. Being able to use that building and all that stuff - it's just such a great facility and such a highly visible area.

"It has a good look to it, it has a good name - Mark Maxwell has a great name in our community and the fact that he's willing to let us be a part of that building is just a really good thing for us."

Opening this new campus will give the church the opportunity to officially launch into its goal of ministering at multiple sites, Parkerson said.

"It's kind of a newer thing over the last six to eight years - churches (saying) 'Let's open up another campus somewhere and really try to expand our reach, not just in our building but the city around,'" Parkerson said. The main campus is at 2319 Veteran's Parkway.

The branch CASI building was a good way to get started, and he said they're ready to continue this work at the new spot - less than a mile away.

"Being able to still have the influence in that neighborhood and that general vicinity was very appealing to me as well," Parkerson said.

Parkerson said the church has always strived to be useful to the community as a whole. Over the years, it has worked with schools and over the past five years, has hosted a community health fair. To Parkerson, it means so much to him to be able to serve the community he loves.

"I love Jeffersonville, I love Clark County, I love this area," he said. "And I want to see people know Jesus. It's doing things in the community and doing things for people that can help . and promote that."

And the new partnership could prove to be mutually beneficial - Maxwell has advertised the church in his store and told Parkerson some people are already starting to ask about it.

"There's a lot of our people that will check them out and I would think a lot of their people would check us out," Maxwell said.

"I think they'll do well. It's a great church."

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Source: (Jeffersonville) News and Tribune, http://bit.ly/2nIiPvK

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Information from: News and Tribune, Jeffersonville, Ind., http://www.newsandtribune.com