For years, Kevin Geer worked with churches across the country that were struggling. Most often, it wasn’t a financial issue; the problem involved attendance, especially among young adults.
“We would have to shut the doors on people and they were wonderful people and they had money — money’s not the issue — but they didn’t want to adjust with the times,” Geer says. “Sadly the message they were communicating, which was the true message, became irrelevant to a culture they were trying to reach.”
Church attendance among young Americans ages 18 to 29 is barely 20 percent, compared to 39 percent for those 30-49 years old, according to the latest data released by the Pew Research Center.
In order to captivate younger generations and stay relevant, Geer decided it was important to reshape the culture and identity of the church around modern times.
Two weekends ago, the 39-year-year old, now a lead pastor, formally introduced the manifestation of that goal at one of Kalispell’s classic churches. The Christian Center, the prominent 75,000-square-foot site off U.S. Highway 93 overlooking the north side of town, has been largely remodeled and rebranded into Canvas Church.
The main stadium room, which seats 955 people, features a stage for a live band that plays worship songs during Sunday gatherings. Giant television screens hover overhead, helping Geer deliver his message from an informal podium where he uses an iPad for notes and presentations. A new smartphone application has ben developed for the Canvas Church, which allows people to follow Bible passages, take notes and listen to Geer’s past sermons. New carpet and other interior changes sweep throughout the entire campus, which includes a coffee shop, kid’s nursery and an expansive auditorium for youth ministry. An additional 5,000 square feet of space is being added to the lobby in the coming months to accommodate the crowds of people who want to gather afterward.
Two weeks ago, more than 1,800 people attended the first official gathering of Canvas Church, including a large group who attended the first Spanish service that the church is now offering.
For those familiar with traditional religious services, it was likely an unusual experience.
“The message doesn’t change; just the way we deliver it,” Geer says. “The minute you stop making changes in the delivery of your message, you have an expiration date. There’s a lot of churches sitting 50-60 people that are not reaching anybody else, and they’re going to close someday because they didn’t adapt with the times.”
Change doesn’t always come easy, as Geer found out. Especially for an age-old establishment like the Christian Center. The original church was founded in 1915 and became officially established in 1926 as a denomination of Assemblies of God, an international body of Pentecostal Christians. The church moved to its current location on Summit Ridge Drive in 1986.
A Glendive native, Geer began serving in ministry in 1996 and graduated from Northwest University in Kirkland, Washington, a year later with a degree in Church Ministries. After graduating he married his wife Tiffany and they began ministering together in Seattle, where they spent nearly 20 years.
While Geer spent many of those years helping other churches, he hoped to someday become a lead pastor. Two years ago, the opportunity arose and he came to Kalispell.
The Christian Center was well known for its choir and orchestra and the annual Christmas program, which gathered widespread attention throughout the valley.
As part of the sweeping changes at Canvas Church, the Christmas program will no longer be held. It was a difficult yet important decision, Geer said.
“We had to revamp the church,” he said. “We’re really shifting our focus. Our focus now is weekends, consistent weekends that offer the same quality week to week. Sometimes when you do a big Christmas program, the main mission of the church can be lost. That didn’t happen, but we wanted to cut it before that could happen.”
Along those lines, Geer and others began envisioning a way to greatly update the identity as a multi-generational church, which offered something for everyone in the family, young and old.
At Canvas Church, the primary gatherings are Sunday mornings at 9:30 and 11:15 a.m. Geer preaches in the main auditorium while youth ministries take place in the other auditorium, all following the same Scripture. During the morning’s 9:30 a.m. service, a “Softer Sundays” gathering is held downstairs in a large room, which is designed for older attendees who can see Geer preach on television along with live music that is more traditional. At 11:15 a.m., a service for Spanish-speaking residents takes place to accommodate those in the valley who are not fluent in English but still want to attend a religious service. It features Latin music and Geer’s message with Spanish subtitles.
All of these changes in the past two years have been hard for some to accept, Geer acknowledged.
“When we first came here, we lost a good chunk of people, but at the same time we were seeing a lot of people’s lives getting changed,” he said. “It’s hard to complain when you see people’s lives being transformed and seeing people find hope when they’re lost. That gets me excited.”
The challenge that Geer is focused on addressing is delivering a message to different age groups.
“To lead a multi-generational church is really hard because you’re never going to please everybody,” he said. “We know that, so what we do is pick a direction. We gear to the young and we lean into the wisdom of the old.”
In the last two years, attendance has grown from roughly 600 regular weekly attendees to 1,700, Geer said.
As a new era begins, Geer said he is excited to see how one of Kalispell’s largest, original churches makes an impact in the community. The impact, he said, will be closely tied to the church’s new name, which stems from Geer’s belief that, “Our lives are canvas that God displays as glory.”
“God’s painting in our lives and sometimes we want to be the painter and we mess it up,” he said. “So when we give our life to Christ, he paints his love in our hearts and people see that. With canvas, we display God’s love to our community.”
Canvas Church is located at 255 Summit Ridge Drive in Kalispell. For more information, visit www.canvaschurch.net or call 752-6426.