HOUSE OF WORSHIP
Open Door Community Church
WORSHIP: 10:30 a.m. Sunday
PASTOR: The Rev. Randy McCain
ATTENDANCE: 100-110
DENOMINATION: Nondenominational
MISSION STATEMENT: A condensed version: "We at Open Door want to provide a community that proclaims the inclusive loving message of our savior, Jesus Christ. ... Our mission as a church is to be bridge builders. We want to love unconditionally, to resist the temptation to judge harshly and to stand with the outcast." The entire statement is on the Web site www.sherwoodopendoor.org.
HISTORY: McCain started the church in his home in January 1996 after he was fired as associate pastor and minister of music from a North Little Rock church when he told the elders he is gay.
"At the time I felt like I needed to find a place where I could minister, but there were no options available," he said.
His friend, speaker and writer Peggy Campolo, told him that must mean there isn’t a place for other people, and she encouraged him to start a church.
It’s not specifically a church for gays and lesbians, he said, but a church that brings people together to worship and tries to knock down barriers of difference between people.
In 2001, with about 18 members, the church moved to its current location in Sherwood. Attendance has grown and now runs at 100 or more. About 185 people attended the Easter service, McCain said.
ABOUT THE PASTOR: McCain attended Evangel College in Springfield, Mo., then transferred to Western Bible College, an Assemblies of God school in Arizona. He was asked to work at a church and went into ministry without finishing his degree.
McCain has been an associate pastor at many churches and a traveling evangelist. He also acted in one-man dramas about the life of Christ and the life of Paul in churches across the country.
A native of Walnut Ridge, McCain also supported himself delivering singing telegrams in Little Rock. He has appeared in more than a dozen productions at Murry’s Dinner Playhouse.
PROGRAMS: The church offers a children’s ministry during worship services on Sunday mornings. A praise team leads the music in the church’s contemporary-style services. During part of the year, a Bible study group meets on Wednesday nights.
Around Thanksgiving and Christmas, the church helps people in need with food and other aid, and some members go caroling around Sherwood. A sign language interpretation class will begin in the fall, taught by a deaf member of the church, McCain said.
WHAT’S NEW: The church will host its annual fall conference Thursday through Sept. 18. Award-winning singer Cynthia Clawson will appear at 7 p.m. Thursday. Jay Bakker, son of televangelist Jim Bakker and Tammy Faye Messner and the author of the memoir Son of a Preacher Man, will speak at 7 p.m. Friday and 10 a.m. Sept. 17.
Also on Sept. 17, Brian Patterson will teach a lesson from Romans 1 at 1:30 p.m., and a new associate pastor, Sheryl Myers, will be ordained at 7 p.m., followed by testimony from Dave Ferrell and his son Todd Ferrell. Campolo will speak at worship services at 10:30 a.m. Sept. 18.
The conference, which typically draws attendees from several states, is free, McCain said. Refreshments will follow evening events, and lunch will be provided Sept. 17-18. "We’re known for three things at our church," McCain said. "Our hugging, our singing and our eating."
EVENTS: The church regularly hosts speakers and musicians whom "we believe will also be bridge builders in bringing people together," McCain said. The church also plans many activities around major holidays, such as its communal Thanksgiving meal. "People sometimes feel the most isolated and depressed around the holidays," he said.
NEEDS: The church needs room to expand, especially for more seating and more parking, McCain said. The church can also use "people to come and be a part of this loving family," he said, "those who believe Christ’s message is for all people."
Open Door’s mission is for all people
— Laura Lynn Brown, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Saturday, September 10, 2005
709 W. Lee Ave. Sherwood
(501) 833-9500