This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2004, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
A crowd of twenty- and thirty-somethings, as well as a few teens and old-timers, waited restlessly in the darkened warehouse for the adventure to begin. The slick black-and-red brochure had, after all, promised them "the ride of your life."
They didn't have to wait long. Promptly at 10 a.m. Sunday, the warm-up act rode up the cement aisle on a Volusia motorcycle, revving the engine. He said his name was Andy Marshall and he invited everyone to greet their neighbors and get to know one another a bit.
Then the guitars, drums and singers cranked up as Christian lyrics bobbed on the screen, accompanied by split-second slides of famous people from Albert Einstein to Mother Teresa, Sigmund Freud and John F. Kennedy.
Next it was David Nelson, peddling a Sting Ray bicycle to applause and laughter. At least he had their attention. After fumbling with the sound system, Nelson began his sermon.
"I've been dreamin' about this day for so-o-o long," said Nelson, dressed in an untucked madras shirt and jeans and looking like a younger, thinner Tom Arnold.
People with Sting Rays always want a Volusia, he said. We all yearn for something more. That's why we created this church, he said.
This is K2 the Church, which describes itself as "a modern Christian church where ordinary people are striving for something extraordinary - a full-on, living relationship with God. It's a place where both skeptics and devoted followers of Christ can take a small step or a flying leap forward in their faith journey."
No, it wasn't started in the Himalayas.
K2 is the brainchild of Luther Ellis, a former defensive lineman for the University of Utah football team. When Ellis moved on to the Detroit Lions, he attended Kensington Community Church. He liked its hip, interdenominational style, using music, drama, dance and videos to bring faith alive. It was modeled after the wildly popular Willowcreek Church in South Barrington, Ill., which has now spawned a whole movement of contemporary churches.
Ellis thought his old friends in Salt Lake City could use a church like this. He called Nelson in 2002 to suggest that they plant a Kensington-type church here.
It took a while for Nelson to feel the call.
"All I knew about Utah was the Mormons and the Utah Jazz," he said this week.
So he and his wife, Susie, visited a number of times before they decided this was the place. They moved with their daughters, Moriya, now 3, and Ashlyn, now 1, to Sugar House and began their ministry.
First, Nelson, who has a master's degree from the International School of Theology in San Bernardino, Calif., visited many local Christian churches to "see what God was doing out here," he said.
Then he, with 30 other transplants from Kensington, began conjuring up K2.
"We need to be a church that is a community, to help people in need, to find people who maybe aren't going to church now," he said. "We are looking for 30-somethings with young families."
They rented a warehouse at 195 West 2100 South that is also home to The Rock, a church that meets on Saturday evenings and appeals to 20-somethings. They bought old sound equipment from the Zephyr Club after it went out of business.
Then they blanketed Sugar House with 16,000 brochures, announcing the arrival on Sept. 26 of "thrill ride theology . . . worth waking up for."
Last Sunday morning, the moment had arrived.
During the sermon, Nelson paced back and forth in front of his image projected on a large video screen, talking about roller coasters (''some people love 'em, some people hate 'em - that's kind of like life'') and golf (''You know where you want to go but you find yourself in the rough of life, or maybe the woods or sandtrap'') and God's plan for each life. He sprinkled Bible verses - vividly displayed on the screen - into his preaching.
If K2 is our idea, it will fail, Nelson said. "But if it is God's idea, we are going to go on the ride of our lives."
More than 600 people attended the public opening of the ministry. It's a good sign for a long future in Utah, he said.
Next week: "The Purpose: Ride Into Battle."
K2 the Church beliefs
* ''We believe the Bible is God's unique revelation to people. It is the inspired, infallible Word of God, and the supreme and final authority on all matters upon which it teaches.''
* ''We believe there is only one God, creator of heaven and Earth, who exists eternally as three persons - Father, Son and Holy Spirit, each fully God yet each personally distinct from the other.''
* ''We believe all people are created in God's image and matter deeply to him. Central to the message of the Bible is that God loves people, and invites them to live in communion with himself and in community with each other.''
* ''We believe that all believers are members of the body of Christ, the one true church universal. Spiritual unity is to be expressed among Christians by acceptance and love of one another across ethnic, cultural, socioeconomic, national, generational, gender and denominational lines.''
Source: http://www.k2thechurch.com