Church Visits- Montclair Community Church, Montclair, NJ

Montclair Community Church, Montclair, NJ
Website- www.montclaircommunitychurch.com

We visited this church with our whole family- what a wonderful experience- Sue and me, Rachel & Paul, Sarah, Eric & Little Jon, Grandma, the Brohm family and the DiQuattro family all together worshipping in the same place. This is the home church of Rachel's in-laws (Mark & Loretta DiQuattro) and Sarah's future in-laws (Niel & Sharyn Brohm) Niel is an elder in that church, and Mark is an elder in training. Parking was a bit difficult, but we found a place on the street up the block. The worship setting was very comfortable and informal- stage type setting, movie theater type chairs (I liked the "create your own space" feel of theater type seating). The worship was well done- well thought out, professional quality, well-rehearsed, heartfelt. The Senior Pastor is "Pastor Ed" Banghardt. He is a gentle spirit, easy to be around, easy to talk to, a deep thinker and a good expositor of the scriptures. His message that day was on the one of the miracles of Jesus, the healing of the demon possessed man (Matthew 8). He spoke of Jesus who had just calmed the storm (the storm without) now calmed another type of storm (the storm within). It was a relevant message- I took lots of notes- on spiritual warfare and healing.
After the worship service, they had coffee and bagels downstairs. Many people stayed for this fellowship time. It was obvious that they liked to gather together with each other. But, we did not find it to be an "exclusive club". It was easy to talk with people- many people there were very open to us, and welcoming toward us.
This church has recently completed a building project, right in the heart of Montclair. I believe that they have a lot of momentum in their ministry, a great leadership team, and a lot of resources at their disposal. They make maximum use of their resources, and seem to run things pretty smoothly. They also have a GREAT website. You can even download "Pastor Ed's" messages online. Check it out at www.monclaircommunitychurch.com.