Warehouse 242

Christian Century, April 4, 2001 by Paul Wilkes

Deb and Dennis Hopkins sold their suburban condo and moved to a primarily black neighborhood to put their beliefs on the line. Several other Warehouse couples are contemplating moving to the same neighborhood. At their C.Pak meeting, half the members were from a recently divided C.Pak. But this didn't slow the discussion. Members talked about the Sunday sermon, but also about funny animal stories, the sex of the Hopkins's baby and what to do when you want to invite homosexual friends to church.

When it came time to pray, a woman who knew only one other person in the group talked openly about her boyfriend, who wouldn't commit to a serious relationship. Others followed up with questions, asking her about the situation. Deb and Dennis Hopkins talked about getting used to hearing gunshots in their neighborhood, and asked for people to continue praying for their new life there.

Many Warehouse members don't live near family, and often move to Charlotte not knowing anyone. Jennifer Hibbard, 26, graduated from Davidson College in 1998 and moved to Charlotte hoping to get a job in social work. Instead, she found the satpm.com service and, on a whim, called Hahn about a job opening for a ministry assistant. "What he was describing was nothing like I'd ever planned on pursuing. He asked for a two-year commitment." Yet Hibbard took the job and enrolled in a master's program in social work. Her commitment with Warehouse is over, but she says she is not moving anywhere. "I have roots here because of Warehouse."

ONE OF THE TENETS of postmodern theology is that postmodern people sense that the world is random. To counteract that perspective, Hahn teaches that the gospel is a narrative that connects all of history together, and that people's lives have a place in that story. "There's such a longing for sense of place," he says. "We want them to see themselves as something bigger than they feel."

"Older generations wanted content and Bible knowledge, preferring to be left to themselves to apply the teachings of the Bible to their lives," Hahn wrote in Gen Xers After God (coauthored with psychologist David Verhagen). "Boomers demanded practical application: `Does it work for me?' Generation Xers are asking a fundamentally different question: `Does it matter?'" In a recent sermon series on idols, Hahn focused on the idols of sex, work and appearance, and suggested they be put aside. "Idols mess up and distort our thinking. They distort our emotions. We long for things more than we should." He taught about finding delight in God rather than the things of the world. The sermon continued in out-of-church discussions, as members struggled to figure out their own idols. "People were making changes in their lives once they found out what their idols were."

Change is not an unusual outcome of life in the Warehouse community. Warehouse urges people to rearrange their priorities. After the sermon series on idols, for example, Bradle quit his job as a senior graphic designer in a prestigious advertising agency. "My job was too consuming," he says. He took over as head of Warehouse's marketing team, trading a secure job for unemployment and uncertainty. Now he brings professional excellence to a higher priority: presenting the Warehouse 242 ideal to Charlotte.