By NEAL WAGNER / City Editor

Every Sunday night, Brandon Matthews’ house in Alabaster’s Sterling Gate subdivision is filled to the brim with people of all ages looking to share a unique worship experience.

Matthews and his wife, Jennifer, took what they said was a “leap of faith” in July when they moved from North Alabama to Alabaster to begin the Cultivate Church in their home.

“We saved personally for six months so we could move down here to plant this church,” Matthews said. “We came down and looked at the house on Friday, went back and packed a moving truck and moved in on Monday.”

After moving to Alabaster, Matthews and fellow Cultivate Church pastor Brandon Doss began spreading the word about their new church through events such as a free outdoor movie night for their neighborhood, and by completing several community aid projects.

The events helped the family draw a core group of between 40-50 worshipers to their weekly worship gatherings, which are currently held every Sunday at 6 p.m. in the family’s living and dining rooms and basement.

“We left the furniture out of our dining room and living room, and we just put chairs out,” Matthews said, noting another church volunteer leads children’s worship classes in the home’s lower level. “We just squeeze and pack everyone in.

“We will do snacks and finger foods, things like that,” Matthews added. “It’s a great time for everyone to be together in a very comfortable environment.”

As the startup church’s congregation has grown over the past few months, Matthews has been making plans to move the church meetings to the Thompson High School building on Jan. 8, 2012.

By holding services in non-traditional church buildings, Matthews said he is hoping to attract those who are looking for a different type of worship experience.

“We feel the high school will be a neutral enough location for us to connect with the people who don’t attend a church currently,” Matthews said. “That’s who we are looking to reach. We don’t want to take anyone away from the church they attend now.

“Some churches recruit people to fill the needs of the church. We want to recruit them for the need of the people,” Matthews said. “We aren’t trying to be an answer to anything, because there are a lot of great churches here already. We just want to help reach a growing population.”

The church is hosting an interest meeting at THS on Sunday, Nov. 13 from 6-7:15 p.m. During the meeting, church worship leaders will share information about their plans for the church and will answer questions from those in attendance.