News-Record.com

While serving as a youth pastor in California in December 2005, Jesse Caro suffered congestive heart failure. He was only 30.

He took a two-month sabbatical and recovered, but that experience and recovery time changed his life.

"In the process, I went to some church planting conferences, and I felt the Lord calling me to (start a church)," Caro said. "I had never been a senior pastor or planted a church." Caro has a master of divinity degree from Liberty University.

After making contact with some family friends in Greensboro, he decided this area was where he should start a new church.

In September 2006, he, his wife Kelly and three children moved here, and Caro has spent the past year raising personal support and training through the Piedmont Baptist Association. By November, he started building a launch team and later starting building a staff and found a location: The Regal Greensboro Grande Theatre at Friendly Shopping Center.

Called Encounter, the church held its first preview service June 8 with about 55 participants.

An independent, contemporary church, Encounter is receiving support from and partnering with the Piedmont Baptist Association.

"We are really laid back and have a philosophy of being simple," Caro said. "We're telling everyone to come as you are and dress comfortably; no perfect people are allowed."

The church will hold a preview service today at 9:45 a.m. and another at 9:45 a.m. Aug. 17.

The grand opening service will be at 9:45 a.m. Sept. 14. Coffee and doughnuts will be served.

Between the preview and grand opening services, the Encounter launch team meets at 9:45 a.m. Sundays at Bur-Mil Park.

"We want to reach young people," Caro said, as he described the mission of Encounter. "I'm nervous about the trends of families not professing Jesus; we feel we need to put an emphasis on reaching that generation."

Other staff members include Dale Elwell, founder of Cross Culture Ministries, who will serve as student missions evangelist, and Freddie Alderman, worship pastor.

A lifelong musician, Alderman said he is excited about putting together a worship band and strong music program. He is also thrilled at the opportunity to work with Caro.

"Jesse has an unbelievable burden for the young people of Greensboro," Alderman said. "He came to Greensboro completely on faith, which tells me he truly believes God has a mission for him."

Alderman said much of the church's music will be a bit edgier in an effort to reach young adults and teens.

"My hope is to see more young people involved in church who in turn actually become involved in leading others in the community to Christ," he said.

While meeting in a movie theater has its challenges, Caro said he believes the positives far outweigh the difficulties.

"We have a limited amount of time to break down because the first movies start at noon, and we have to get there early to set up, but the Grande has been absolutely fantastic," Caro said. "We feel like this is the best scenario for us; the Lord opened it up."

Caro said advantages to meeting at the theater include location and not needing to set up chairs.

"There are so many homes within a mile of that church," he said. "We feel this is a place where we can make a difference, and if we're mobile for a couple of years, that's OK; we like the idea of keeping things simple."

In an effort to attract more visitors, the church has even been giving out $15 gas cards to those who attend a service.

"We want to be a real, relevant church," Caro said. "Our goal is to eventually really influence the emerging culture."

Contact Jennifer Atkins Brown at 574-5582 or jennifer.brown@news-record.com.