The Rock Church of the QC preaches physical, spiritual health

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By Stephanie De Pasquale | Tuesday, January 23, 2007 6:28 PM CST | () comments

Spencer Hayes, 17, of Moline, left, is part of The Rock’s young demographic that likes the church’s unconventional form of worship.

(Photos by Jeff Cook/QUAD-CITY TIMES) Children attend Sunday school class in a racquetball court at the former Davenport Athletic Club Inc., which is now the home of The Rock Church of the Quad-Cities as well as The Rock Health and Fitness Club, which is open to the public on weekdays.

Sunday morning at The Rock Church of the Quad-Cities in Davenport begins with musicians playing an electric guitar, some bass and a drum set, performing songs that make it sound more like a rock concert than a worship service.

The congregation — about 60 percent of whom are between the ages of 18 and 35 years — responds in kind by alternating between clapping and raising their hands while stepping side to side with the beat.

“I love it,” said Trish Owens of Rock Island. “It’s very upbeat. … I don’t need coffee, it wakes me up. It is my coffee.”

Austin Vallejo, the energetic 21-year-old worship leader who plays electric guitar, said he feeds off the congregation for his spirited performing.

“One of my goals as a worship leader, or my vision, is to lead ordinary people into His presence,” he said. “I just try to make God real to people.”

The Rev. Danny J. Lorentzen, senior pastor of The Rock, believes it is unique to have a church with such a large percentage of young people. And the choice of music on Sunday morning has something to do with the demographic.

“As far as praise and worship goes, we’ve tried to appeal to the younger generations,” he said. “You can’t reach everyone with music that was written in the 1800s.

“I would say that 70 percent of our members are between the ages of 18 and 35. We have a lot of young married couples, a lot of youth. It is a priority if you want to have a church 20 years from now. A lot of older churches are dying out, unwilling to bend.”

In other words, he said, some churches with a higher percentage of older members are losing members but may not be willing to do much to draw younger people. The Rock, on the other hand, makes reaching out to young people a priority.

But it’s not just the younger crowd that comes to The Rock on Sundays.

Kenneth Wright of Clinton, Iowa, has been a prison chaplain for 36 years and recently decided to make The Rock his home church after attending services there for almost a year.

“I like the spirit,” he said. “Here it seems like everyone is welcome. I’ve seen people who have been alcoholics and druggies and they’re welcome … and that’s what people need.”

Church stresses sound mind, body and spirit

Besides praising God by rocking out during worship services, The Rock is unique because services are held on a basketball court surrounded by an indoor track.

In February 2005, the church purchased the Davenport Athletic Club Inc. building and renamed it The Rock Health Fitness Club. In June 2006, the church also began conducting worship services in the gymnasium.

“The health club is an expansion of our ministries,” Lorentzen said. “We didn’t buy it to make a bunch of money off of it. We bought it to reach out to the community.”

The ministry has been successful, with the church growing from an average Sunday attendance of 120 before the fitness club opened to 250 members today — more than double the number it stood at in June.

“Every Sunday, more and more people show up,” member Jennifer Wicks of Moline said. “A lot of people are drawn to the fitness aspect.”

Lorentzen said he sees bringing church and fitness together as a biblical principle. He references John 3 1:2 in which the Apostle John prays that his friend may be in good health and well in soul:

“My dear friend, I pray that you may in all respects prosper and enjoy good health, just as your soul already prospers.” (Source: The Weymouth New Testament Online Bible)

“(Christ) is concerned with the whole person,” said Lorentzen, who has always been active in athletics. “I’ve always thought that sports was a great way to reach out to people.”

The fitness club has a coffee shop, racquetball courts, treadmills and other workout machines, a 5,000-square-foot weight room, a basketball court and an indoor track.

Lorentzen’s commitment to God and sports was apparent in a recent Sunday morning sermon. As he delivered what he admitted was a long-winded message on the topic of dwelling in Jesus, Lorentzen, a Chicago Bears fan, paused and said, “Whenever I preach too long on game day, they win … so I might stretch this one out a little bit.”

That afternoon, the Bears won in overtime on their way to playing in the Super Bowl and about 20 people responded to an altar call to recommit their lives to dwelling in the Lord.

The city desk can be contacted at (563) 383-2450 or newsroom@qctimes.com.

How it began

The Rev. Danny Lorentzen was born and raised in Davenport. After graduating from a bible college, he spent time in Minneapolis from 1985 to 1990 and moved back to this area in 1990, spending a few years helping out at a church in Dubuque, Iowa.

From 1992 to 2002, “I helped out at some churches in the area,” he said. That included Westside Assembly of God in Davenport and Calvary Church of the Quad-Cities in Moline, where he served for several years as a volunteer praise and worship leader.

“In 1990, I came back from Minneapolis with the intent of starting a church. I thought I should wait for a while. I waited for 12 years,” he said.

Then, in 2002, he did start The Rock with a small group of friends. “We started out with nothing 4 1/2 years ago and it all kind of evolved from there. Today, we have a budget of about $30,000 a month. The Lord has been very faithful to us.”

ABOUT THE ROCK

Name: The Rock Church of the Quad-Cities

Address: 4730 Tremont Ave., Davenport

Telephone: (563) 386-7625

Established: 2002

Pastor: Danny J. Lorentzen, senior pastor; Justin Dean, youth pastor

Web site: www.rockchurchofthequadcities.com

Services: The church offers an adult Bible class called E3 Sundays at 9 a.m. and a main celebration service at 10:30 a.m. There also are two children’s churches for youngsters 4-12 years old that begin after the praise and worship portion of the celebration service.

Good Graces women’s Bible study is at 10 a.m. Monday; Kingdom Youth Church is offered to students in grades 7-12 at 7 p.m. Wednesday; Also on Wednesdays is an adult Bible study that begins at 6:30 p.m. Adventure One men’s Bible study is at 6 a.m. Thursday, and a program for young adults between the ages of 18 and 29 meets at 7:30 p.m. Sunday.

Also: The Rock Health and Fitness Club is open to the public from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday. Use of the fitness facilities is free to church members who sign a worshiping partner form, and monthly packages starting at $15 for students and $19 for single members are available to the public.

Denomination: Nondenominational Christian

Membership: 250

VIDEO: Pastor Danny J. Lorentzen talks about The Rock Church and what it has to offer.