House Church Talk - University of South Carolina house churches

[forwarded]

THE STATE 

By CHRISTINA LEE KNAUSS   Staff Writer

The Shack is a Christian ministry on the USC campus with a twist ‹ it's a 
nondenominational mix of house churches that meet in different locations 
and come together weekly for group worship and fellowship.

'Come to the Lord as who you are'

THE SHACK | A unique ministry for college students

Drive down the stretch of Greene Street that runs through the USC campus, 
and you will see an unassuming, Christmas light-decked house with a 
simple sign hanging from the porch: "The Shack."

Students clad in the college uniform of jeans, T-shirts and flip-flops 
can often be seen going in and out of the house ‹ but it's not just 
another hangout.

The Shack is a different kind of on-campus Christian ministry. It offers 
a place of refuge for stressed-out college students, and also extends a 
wide variety of spiritual opportunities, ranging from quiet prayer to 
group worship on Sundays.

Founded in 1999, The Shack is a nondenominational Christian ministry led 
by Garrett Curry, the group's pastor.

The house on Greene Street is open around-the-clock for any students who 
want to come by just to relax or to pray and to receive spiritual 
guidance. Two male USC students live in the house full time.

The Shack attracts both students with active Christian faith and those 
who have never been involved in a church before.

"A lot of students come to us in the beginning, and they have the typical 
self-centered outlook a lot of college students have," said Christine 
Eggers, 24, The Shack's associate minister. "By the time they graduate, 
they care about other people, and they're godly men and women. That's 
what I love about doing this, seeing the change that students go through."

The Shack also doesn't restrict its ministry to USC students. Eggers said 
house churches and worship services are attended by young adults from 
many walks of life, who drive in from as far away as Sumter.

Two of the central worship experiences are house churches and a weekly 
worship service called "Reunion."

The house churches, with about 100 people involved, form the main 
network. They consist of groups ranging from as few as three to as many 
as 20, meet in various locations around the city ‹ from apartments to 
coffee houses ‹ and offer one-on-one prayer and worship experiences 
during the week.

On Sundays, the members of the house churches come together on the first 
floor of the Williams Brice Nursing Building for a contemporary worship 
service called "Reunion."

Mike Whitehouse, 21, is a USC junior who was introduced to The Shack two 
years ago by a friend who took him to one of the ministry's retreats at 
Lake Murray. Whitehouse, a Columbia native majoring in exercise science, 
has been attending ever since.

"The Shack provides an atmosphere where you can just come as you are and 
not worry about it ‹ everybody makes you feel so welcomed. You just come 
to the Lord as who you are."

http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/9855122.htm

Forwarded as recent information, not as an endorsement of practices or 
beliefs. - Forwarder