| Berkeley Springs church makes Exit 146 a reality By Erik AlsgaardUMCONNECTION STAFF  For weeks, the signs had been everywhere in Berkeley Springs, W.Va. Exit 146 they read, with bold white letters on a highway-sign green background.
But what exactly is Exit 146? On Oct. 5, more than 200 people of all ages gathered at the Berkeley Springs High School to find out.  Exit 146 is taken from John 14:6, said the Rev. Andrew Cooney, pastor of First UMC in Berkeley Springs. Jesus said, I am the way, and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
Cooney quickly added that the Peterson translation of the Bible reads, I am the road. We believe that Jesus is the way to God, he said. He is the road. The new ministry at the school was the realization of another dream for the church. According to Cooney, the church is moving toward one mission, one set of trustees, but two campuses, he said. The mood of the worship was set at the start. In a video produced by high-school aged youth, two news anchors combed the community, asking passers-by what Exit 146 was. No one seemed to know, though everyone had seen the signs, including the one displayed at the high school football stadium. At the end of the video, the anchors appeared in person, asking people in the audience what was going on. Cooney came forward to give the answer, and the worship was underway. Cooneys sermon emphasized authentic faith, using video projections to show cheap imitations to compare to the real thing. The comparison that drew the largest applause was Cooneys illustration of the Dallas Cowboys football team as a cheap imitation, and the Washington Redskins as the real thing. You have to understand who God is in your life and stick with it, he preached. God wants that authenticity in your life, and it starts within. He wants that for you. Cooney shared delivery of the message with Rob Morris, youth and young adult coordinator at the church. Morris was hired by the church using a grant from the Baltimore-Washington Conferences Board of Congregational Life. The boards funding comes through the conferences apportionment system. The church received a $40,000 grant, said the Rev. Ed DeLong, associate council director and head of the Board of Congregational Life. Arriving three years ago, Cooney realized that his new community was ripe for a worship experience for people 13 to 33 years old. He began doing market research and identified this unmet need in the community. Morris then began to do more research. He and others put together a praise band in the last nine months, and they were the music leaders for the worship. Morris band also played at Leadership Days event this year. Weve had great commitment from the congregation, said Cooney. We have four sets of teams for just about every function, from set-up to tear-down to nursery. The first 200 people through the doors received a free Exit 146 T-shirt. Volunteers and staff wore similar shirts to help visitors know where to turn for help. Josh Rider, 16, was the producer of the worship service. Sitting near the audio board at the back of the cafeteria turned worship space, he monitored the program from start to finish. It went fairly well, he said as the chairs were being folded and put away. We had a few bugs, but we handled them all fairly well. | 
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