Today, I decided to check out the 12 Stone church main campus! It was a beautiful June day today. I choose the 11:00 am service because, I am lazy. No not really, I decided to go to my church at 9:30 and then went to 12 Stone, so it was a God filled summer day. Just like I like it.
To start off, I want to say that this is just one person’s opinion of this church and not take it too seriously. There are such things as good days and bad days even for churches. Luckily, 12 Stone seemed to be having a pretty decent one.
12 Stone Church Review
I want to go over every single thing in this review and that means coffee, greeters, sermon, chairs, bathrooms, seating, study areas, and maybe even tell you a little secret I know about this church at the end. With that being said, lets dive into the review!
General First Impressions
On first impressions, I have to say wow. This church is an amazing site and experience all together. To be completely honest about it, it felt a bit much initially. First world problems am I right? I come from a pretty modest non denominational church where it almost feels like family. Going to 12 Stone felt like going to a ball where I was the female date and everything was taken care of. I will give my conclusion at the end of my feelings afterward on everything.
With general impressions out of the way, lets get more detailed about parts of the church.
Parking
Finding 12 Stone Church (main campus) is not too hard. It is right off 20 if you are headed towards the mall of Georgia from downtown Lawrenceville, Grayson or Snellville. Once you see all of the cops, you know when to turn.
Once you see the small 12 Stone sign, turn in and follow the cones. If you are a first time visitor, you are supposed to turn your flashers on for special treatment on parking. In reality, parking is not bad at all. This is one of the many amazing things about this location, there is PLENTY of parking. I had no problem at all finding a spot and making a short walk to the venue.
Additionally, there are about 20 parking attendees directing every move you make from the entrance to your parking spot. I do not mind this as they try to make sure all the spaces are filled. I am sure it speeds things up too with a venue of this size.
Greeters
At most churches, you will have one or two greeters and maybe a person directing parking for ease. At 12 Stone, there is a swarm of greeters from the parking lot, to walking on the bridge, to the door, to entering the worship areas. You will get greeted around 10 times before you even get to your seat. It was a bit much for me coming from a more family style church. Almost felt like a famous person at some points.
It is nice that the church focuses so much on greeting people and making them feel welcomed, but it could take some people a little while to get used to.
Diversity
It is important to feel at home in your church. Diversity is very important and 12 Stone has plenty of it! You will most certainly feel at home in this church since the greater Atlanta area has such a diverse pool of inhabitants.
Coffee
This is a very very important part of any church. If a church does not have good coffee, then why go? I am totally kidding, but seriously I love coffee.
At 12 Stone there are actually coffee stations on either side of the main lobby before you enter the worship area. Yea, there is plenty of it too for both regular and decaf lovers. Additionally, there is actually a Starbucks inside of the church. Crazy, am I right? Even if you need your double pump latte and low fat muffin, they got it.
Study Area
In addition to the coffee, there are some pretty sweet spots in this church to get a good read in. Specifically, there are some areas upstairs that are secluded for those who like to study privately at church. My favorite spot was actually on the deck outside of the Starbucks. It is lofted into the trees that surround the venue. On a lovely summer day, it is the place to be.
Bathrooms
This really does not need to be added, but the bathrooms are kind of small at this church. You would think they would be much larger, but they are very nice and extremely clean which is always a plus. Complete review right?
Chairs
A big thing to me personally is the chairs. Oddly enough, the chairs I sat in were very similar to comfy stadium chairs. The kind that do not go down until you sit on them or put something heavy enough on them. I am not the biggest fan, because I bring my bible and feel I can not place it anywhere. I am sure there is a work around, but the chairs were very comfy with cup holders for your coffee!
Worship Music
The artists, singers and band members at 12 Stone were amazing as expected. I have no real comments other than get ready to sing some awesome praise and worship when you go here!
Sermon
The Sermon was well organized, illustrated and a decent length. I do not like short sermons, and this church does not give real short sermons so buckle up. The pastor I heard speak was a Senior Pastor, Kevin Myers.
Let me start by commenting that overall, the Kevin’s sermon was deep, thought provoking, and engaging. Kevin had the pleasure of teaching on father’s day and even put in a funny comedian clip in the talk for all the dads.
Everything worthwhile is uphill. People tend to have uphill dreams, but downhill habits.
– Kevin Myers
The message came from 1 Corinthians 3. He jumped around but mainly stayed between 15:18. The main purpose of the message was to describe a “real man”. Real men go after God. It was a pleasant and peaceful message meant to drive the hearts of men to chase after the lord, hold each other accountable through brotherly bonds, and seek wisdom. The kind of message anyone would like to hear.
Additionally, they have a simple hand out sheet that is one page, with a lot of blank space for notes. This was awesome, because I clearly like to take notes.
The only comment I did have for Kevin was, engage more with your audience in front of you and not on the camera. Kevin mentioned T. D. Jakes and Furtick in his message, but perhaps he should study how they focus on the audience and not on the camera. It felt a bit forced at times like he was on T.V. or creating a show. This is also a problem with the additional campuses using a live video instead of a live pastor. This is a small critique, but still I feel it should be noted.
Overall Experience
My overall experience was a positive one. I would definitely go back to this church, and I probably will from time to time. The coffee was good, the people were friendly, the parking was a breeze, and the sermon was delightful.
A secret to getting involved in this place is that there are tons and tons of groups, events, and weekly meet ups. You can even sign up for some of them online or watch certain live streams put on by the church.
Specifically, there is a college group for ages 18 – 25 that meets on Thursdays and has an amazing worship time. This is an awesome chance for you college kids looking to meet people and have a good time with other believers. When I attended this college group, there were easily hundreds of young adults all worshiping and enjoying life.
