Larry Arrington, left, and Caryl Lawson sing at Grace Life Bar Church during Sunday’s service at Rock Bottom American Pub in Montgomery, Ala. in this Sunday 2014 photo.MONTGOMERY, Ala. – It’s a rainy Sunday morning at Rock Bottom American Pub. The neon signs are turned off, and the only drinks on the tables are coffee and water. There is fellowship going on, but there is no sports event on the big screen.
The patrons that fill the tables in this restaurant/bar are here to hear the word of God, to find comfort without judgment, and to be told, over and over, that God loves them, regardless of their past lives and deeds.
This is a regular Sunday at Grace Life Bar Church, a satellite campus of the non-denominational Grace Life Church in Prattville. The Bar Church, as it’s called, has been meeting here at Rock Bottom for a few weeks now, reaching people who have either given up on traditional houses of worship, or who perhaps have never been inside a church and would feel too intimidated to do so.
Phil Bevilacqua, the lead pastor at Grace Life Church, and Paul Lammon, the site pastor at Bar Church, say what they’re doing here at Rock Bottom is meeting people where they are in their lives.
“That’s what we’re out to do — just let people know, no matter where they’re at in life, no matter what they do, no matter what people have told them in the past, God loves them unconditionally,” said Lammon, who worked with Rock Bottom owner Brad Gill on the idea for Bar Church.