By Nicholas Brown
Staff Writer

Pat Levesque, left, Gordon Vanderpool, middle, and Sandy Vanderpool of the Grace Capital Church congregation stand in praise during a service at the Hooksett Regal Cinemas. The Pembroke church, which built a new facility just two years ago, is already past capacity and has decided to tape services and show them at the movie theater.

For those who feel that films these days tend to lack a message, there’s a new alternative showing Sundays at Hooksett’s Regal Cinemas. Easter Sunday will mark the official big screen debut for Pembroke’s Grace Capital Church, which is opening a satellite campus at the Hooksett location, off Interstate 93’s Exit 10.

The regular 8:30 a.m. sermon in the church’s Pembroke building will be digitally recorded, mixed, and played to a congregation in the movie theater at the new campus’ 9:30 a.m. service.

“This is a trend that’s been emerging in the United States and not so emerging in New England,” the church’s cofounder and pastor Peter Bonanno said of the move to the big screen. “We look at this as an opportunity to reach out to people who are spiritually seeking.”

Bonanno and his wife, Lisa, founded Grace Capital 11 years ago with a congregation of 12. As it’s grown, the church has moved from a living room to a Concord elementary school to Pembroke Academy.

Two years ago, the church moved into a new facility in Pembroke, which has since fitted about 800 people over two services on Sundays.

“We never had a vision to be much larger than this,” said Bonanno, “but the people keep coming.”

Bonanno said expanding to the movie house is a natural extension for the church. Even at the current facility, church leaders spread a Christian message through high-tech means such as PowerPoint presentations and videos.

“We still think we’re a traditional church in that we’re Biblical in nature,” said Bonanno. “But we also understand the culture.”

“We’ve reached a point in American culture where using things like video is totally acceptable,” said Peter Shepherd, the Hooksett cinema’s campus pastor.

Bonanno likened the experience to a recent Billy Joel concert he and Lisa attended, where the pair spent most of the concert looking at close-ups of the performer on a large video display in the arena.

Bonanno said churches expanding into movie theaters has become so popular throughout the nation – especially in the south – that Regal Cinemas has an entire department focused on accommodating churches.

About 250 American churches have expanded to the big screen, he said. “The worst thing we can do is have people come to us seeking God, and they can’t get in because of space,” said Bonanno.

Bonanno said the only non-live element of the cinema service will be the sermon.

Many of Grace Capital’s other normal Sunday components, like a children’s ministry, live music, and worship and prayer, will still be in place.

“Even though it’s a different location, it’s still the same church,” stressed Bonanno.

Grace Capital Church is of a Pentecostal evangelical denomination and is affiliated with Foursquare, which has some 3,500 churches nationwide, but only about 20 in northern New England.

“There is a lot of freedom in our denomination in terms of style,” said Bonanno.

For more information on Grace Capital Church, call 415-4000.