Gateway Community Church

Sunday, August 15, 2004
Gateway Community Church
Meets at Rachel Carson Middle School in Herndon, Virginia off of Route 28
Services: Sunday- 10:00 am
Congregation: Mostly Caucasian, mostly young families and middle-aged
Overall Church: Meets in a modern middle school cafeteria.
Plenty of off-street parking.

Small, really nice, young church. Their materials say that they are a "work in progress," and they really want suggestions. I was immediately comfortable. The songs were easy-to-learn praise and worship style - I only knew a couple of them, but the ones I didn't know I picked up very quickly. Unfortunately, there was a power outage at the beginning of the service, but the band adjusted by adding lots of acoustic guitars to make up for the lack of power. By the end of the service power was back, and so were the electric guitars, bass and electronic drums. All the songs were very easy to sing along with: there were no "just for show" songs which was refreshing.

Band set-up: Bass, drums, electric and acoustic guitars. Overall band: Very nice volunteer band led by Pastor Ed Allen, who also plays a mean acoustic guitar. Pleasant vocals by a male and female duo so there were no unreachable notes on the high or low end. The congregation was the choir and it was good.
Would I go back? Yes. Good non-stuffy preaching, nice music, and the greeters made me feel welcome.

Learn more: http://www.gatewaychurch.org
Email: gcc@gatewaychurch.org
Phone: 703-327-2700