(This story first appeared in the Sunday edition of the Wisconsin State Journal)
Just a few hours after comedian Mike Vecchione finished his set on a recent Saturday night at The Comedy Club on State, the space was turned over to a rental customer. Bibles replaced beer. The jokes largely disappeared. This is where Madison Alliance Church holds Sunday services. The new church is one of several religious startups ? called “church plants” ? trying to gain a following in the area. They pop up in storefronts and rental buildings, their leaders sometimes working second jobs until their religious ventures establish themselves.
….The church has done no paid advertising. Stewart and Rhodes handed out about 1,000 flyers at the freshman convocation at UW-Madison. Stewart said he loves the people the church is attracting, but to be successful the church will need to broaden its appeal.
“That’s our biggest challenge,” he said. “Financially, we cannot exist as a church with only college students and the homeless. We will need to be very intentional about reaching out to all demographics.”