The postcards newhope church mails as invitations are much like the congregation's Sunday celebrations: contemporary, clever and snappy.

A recent card given out by the church showed a denim jacket on one side with the line, "This is our pastor's robe."

Newhope is a young church -- only four years old -- and a newcomer to Durham, having moved this past summer from Chapel Hill where the congregation worshipped in an old Catholic chapel on Gimghoul Road.

The church is in a holding pattern, awaiting a permanent move to a new 27-acre campus on Fayetteville Road near The Streets at Southpoint. The congregation expects to break ground sometime around the New Year.

WHAT WAS THE PRE-SERVICE ATMOSPHERE LIKE?

The "newhope experience" began when I drove into the parking lot at 4310 Garrett Road. First impression: Hey, there's plenty of parking right up front, for this is a storefront location. Music was wafting from the open front doors and bunches of people were talking, milling about and drinking coffee.

A large reception area inside had plenty for me to check out. A whole wall of publications and cards caught my attention.

I had only begun to browse when Rita Taylor from Sanford introduced herself and told me about the church. She and her husband drive to Durham every Sunday, she said.

WHAT DOES THE WORSHIP AREA LOOK LIKE?

The worship space will seat about 500 and, like other contemporary churches, seating is moveable but quite comfortable.

For folks who are accustomed to traditional churches, the worship area may seem unusual. It's a bit dark because the lights are low when you enter and there are no "churchy-looking" symbols. There's no pulpit, no stained-glass windows, no altar rail and no processional of church leaders in long robes. This is 21st century worship with everything you need to know flashed onto two large screens in front.

When the band and the worship team cranked up the music, the lights came up and the congregation stood for about 20 minutes of praise and worship.

WHO IS THE PASTOR AND HOW IS HE DRESSED FOR WORSHIP?

Pastor Benji W. Kelley, a Duke Divinity School graduate, husband and father of five children, is the man behind the newhope dream. No, this energetic 35-year-old leader doesn't look like a preacher, a holy man or a monk. He comes dressed like everybody else because as that postcard says, he is like everybody else.

HOW LONG WAS HIS SERMON AND WHAT DID HE SAY?

Beginning his 25-minute sermon, Kelley took his place on a stool behind a tall table in the center of the platform. He spoke from a text in Matthew 7:24-29, "words to build a life on," he said. The purpose of his message was to introduce a new series beginning next Sunday that's patterned after a popular TV show. The series is called "Extreme Home Makeover for Families."

In the coming seven weeks, he said, he will lay out the blueprint for remodeling families by looking into the Bible or "the window of God's word," he said. He promised to cover everything that "takes place under the roof," family life, parenting, children, dating and marriage.

WERE THERE ANY DISTRACTIONS DURING THIS SERVICE?

My first impression inside the worship center was that somebody needed to open a window. It was a bit too warm and it felt like we had used up all the oxygen. By the time the pastor began to speak, somebody recognized the problem and remedied it, however.

WERE THERE ANY FEATURES OF WORSHIP THAT ESPECIALLY SPOKE TO ME?

After the service, anyone who wished to take communion was invited to gather in front, where a lay pastor read the Scripture and served the elements. I stood with about a dozen other people, including the beautiful young woman who directed me to the communion table. In a church such as this one with members coming from many traditions -- some in which the Lord's Supper is a part of worship every week -- having communion available every Sunday is a significant gesture.

WHAT WILL I REMEMBER ABOUT THIS SERVICE SEVEN DAYS FROM NOW?

Something the pastor said in talking about families stuck in my mind. He pointed out that a relationship between people, just like a person's relationship with God, is never static. It's always changing, he said.

He suggested that married couples, for example, need to do the hard work to keep their relationship going in the right direction, and a good place to start might be with something as simple as a hug. Acting loving may well be the first step toward being loving, or as Kelley put it, "You have to do to be."

After the service, "Pastor BK" was out front, talking, laughing and doing a lot of hugging.

Sunday worship services at newhope are at 9 and 10:45 a.m. Find further details are on the church Web page at www.newhopenc.org.