God's place on South Avenue

The Front Porch hopes to fill a void—not just empty space—downtown

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The Front Porch. It sounds like a hokey, down-home sandwich shop better suited for downtown Marshfield than Springfield. In actuality, it’s a not-for-profit, Christian outreach and social spot run by local home-church network The Core (see sidebar, p. 10), slated to open in May or June on South Avenue next door to Ernie Biggs’ Dueling Piano Bar. Downtown is a district The Core’s co-founder and pastor, Ryan Wiksell, says intrigues him greatly, both for its lack of invested Christian presence and its similarity with the church.

“There’s a gap in both worlds, the church and the urban downtown,” says Wiksell, 27, who is also an arts assistant at Bellwether Gallery of the Arts (at the Monarch Art Factory), which is owned by Springfield’s Second Baptist Church. “People are drawn downtown because of a sense of place and community and history. Yet it’s still disconnected and individualistic.”

He hopes The Front Porch will help downtown connect. For months, volunteer members of The Core have been working to renovate a long-abandoned storefront just north of Ernie Biggs. Wiksell says The Front Porch will open at least five evenings a week (lunch and weekday plans will depend on staffing), offering “free-to-cheap” coffee and a laid-back environment for anyone interested in a conversation…or Christianity, but only if that’s what the individual is looking for. “We’re not salesmen,” Wiksell says. “A lot of people, including us, resent the used car-salesman approach to Christianity. God can speak for himself.”

Wiksell says not to expect the typical, going-through-the-motions Sunday morning service at The Front Porch—there may not be Sunday activities at all. Instead, organizers are planning a slew of open-mic events, concerts and movie nights (think edgier, existential stuff like The Matrix, not cheesy flicks like The Ten Commandments). Inside, The Front Porch will be set up like a coffee bar— but with a very limited selection. “I don’t want people to think we’re doing anything like the MudHouse,” Wiksell says—with tables, couches and a stage for musicians. There’s even a small children’s play room. Sustaining funds are expected to come from The Core, as well as donations from patrons (“like a city art museum,” Wiksell says) and the minimal coffee bar income.

The Core’s (and the The Back Porch’s) start-up capital has primarily come from its leaders’ pockets—though it has gained some financial and logistical support from traditional local congregations; Wiksell refused to divulge which ones. He would say only that a number of local pastors are noticing a “disconnectedness” downtown and felt compelled to help.

It’s an ambitious plan, putting a religiously focused, family-friendly nonprofit next door to Ernie Biggs, which is quite possibly downtown’s bawdiest bar. Ernie Biggs owner Jay Hickman says he has had limited conversations with Wiksell and his wife, Christina, and says he doesn’t know enough about his neighbor-to-be to comment. “I don’t really have an opinion on it,” Hickman says. “It’s not a vacant building anymore, so that’s good.”

Rusty Worley, executive director of the Urban Districts Alliance, points to other Christian-related, nonprofit businesses like Bellwether and The Belmonte as signs that The Front Porch, at least in an arts and entertainment capacity, can succeed. While Worley also admits he doesn’t know a lot about The Core or its plans, he welcomes anything that will offer additional all-ages, alcohol-free space and further downtown’s reputation as a live music destination.

The Core’s musical mission is already taking root, though not at The Front Porch. April 7 is the next date in the group’s Open-Mic Church series, currently being held at Bellwether Art Gallery.

Wiksell himself is a 2002 Evangel University music major (theology minor) and has spent the last three years as music director at South Haven Baptist Church. “In a lot of ways I’m totally unqualified for this,” he says with a laugh. But he’s not unprepared: Wiksell knows The Front Porch will have a very different Friday-night focus than most of its neighbors. “This was exactly what we were looking for,” he says, speaking of The Core’s among-the-people mission. “People can be drunk, poor or homeless and they don’t always know how to handle it in the best way possible.”

Are Wiksell and The Core trying to “save” downtown? “I don’t like that word, ‘saving’. It’s a cliché,” he says. “We’re not going at it with the formulaic approach. Jesus got to know people where they were. If it’s your life, you know if something’s missing.”
“We don’t expect everyone to be spiritual in nature. We’re just trying to set the tone for people to listen.”