text: I have read and love these great reviews of this churchmission that I call home I also read a couple of poor ones on google that I could not believe so I thought I would share my perspective I was blessed to be a part of the early launch team for Verve over years ago and it was purely a Godthing that I even met Pastor Rob who is moved on now and lead Pastor Vince I can tell you that everything about Verve starts with the bible Period From there we threw out everything that is traditional American church and started over We celebrate with music but Jesus never said you can only sing Christian songs in fact the religiosity and graceless piety of the religious elite were things Jesus detested So some of our music is cover tunes and I LOVE it We are careful about not singing blatantly sinful lyrics But when so many churches get so caught up in appearances that they become the lyric police they alienate regular people they certainly alienate me My becoming a Christian was delayed for a long time because while I found profound truth in Christ I saw the hypocrisy of so many churches and I thought if I did accept Christ I would have to sing Christian music and quite a lot of it sucks nnAt Verve we also do comedy usually well The whole idea behind comedy and secular music in the lobby is to uncross arms to open peoples minds particularly the skeptics and cynics to the possibility that Jesus Christ is real We want those who are really REALLY far from God either because they have been burned by religion in the past or they just never had any experience or thought about God We want show those who have lived lives and done things for which unfortunately many churches would shun them to know how much God loves them exactly as they are and for ANYONE to have safe place to explore that possibility and ultimately to share that amazing GRACE We feel like everyone needs to experience the allaccepting boundless love that God has for each of us nnSo we do things differently than most churches in America However I can tell you there are many many people who have come to know Gods love here at Verve who have told us they would never even consider a traditional church or even a regular nondenominational church I have found in Verve a place where we serve the community in a real way We always lead with love just serve and not require anything in return Not only do we not ask for money we ask that visitors NOT to give money We strive to be Grace wholesalers Guerilla lovers We are about loving God loving people and turning the world upside down nnI realize I have spoken somewhat as a representative of Verve but to be clear I am just a member someone who is passionate about our church and mission and who is lived this for three years So do not take my for it give us a try