Andy Heis doesn’t mind if you call him a Jesus freak. It’s a term the lead and founding pastor of Desperation Church takes to heart.

Being a Jesus freak wasn’t always the path Heis followed.

“I was in the clubs with my buddies on Friday and Saturday nights,” he said. “I was going to church on Sunday mornings for all the wrong reasons. I was looking for a church girl.”

Heis was in his early 20s running a Coca-Cola route in Bessemer. His parents had divorced about 10 years earlier.

“I got to thinking that there had to be more to life then this,” he said. “One morning the pastor spoke a message that hit me between the eyes. I knew the truth but I wasn’t living it.”

At 24, Heis said he got saved. “And 15 years later, I’m still a Jesus freak,” he said.

The Kimberly native is new to the Cullman area. Heis spent 12 years working with the Gardendale First Baptist Church in their college and singles ministry before planning the new Desperation Church.

Desperation Church took over the old Sports First facility at 202 Elizabeth St. NE, across from Depot Park, in March 2010.

While Heis said the group is growing and doing great things in the community, it’s the name that catches a great deal of attention, and that’s OK with him.

“The name developed from a desire to describe who we are and to make people think when they drove by, something out of the ordinary,” he said. “The people who got God’s attention in the Bible were desperate people. If I ever get to a point in my live when I’m content, then I’ve got something wrong. I want to continuously be desperate for God.”

The name has drawn both good and bad responses.

“We have gotten some negative comments, because we’re not traditional,” Heis said. “We’re not a cult, just new. We are a non-denominational group.”

One of the primary goals the group has is to fill needs within the community.

“I wanted to be involved in the community,” he said. “We have a desire to be mission-minded. The best way to do that is to start in your own backyard. Once a month, we do something to minister to the community. If we were to close our doors, we want to be missed. There is a lot of poverty here, hurting people. We want to help restore, rebuild and revive lives.”

That mission-mindedness has translated into the organization of small interest groups.

“We don’t do Sunday school,” Heis said. “We have small groups that are relationship oriented that promotes fellowship. Our small groups are based on interest groups. We want people to follow their passions. Everybody is a 10 at something. Our goal is to find what people’s 10 is. Whether it’s fishing, teaching Romans, cutting coupons, whatever. That’s what serving is – discipleship taking place in doing what you’re passionate about.”

Growth has occurred faster than they anticipated, Heis said. They had 540 attend services on a recent Sunday. “We’ve had 250 who say they want to be members,” he said.  “More than 100 salvations. Forty to 45 baptisms. Several marriages have come back together. Lots of folks who’ve never been to church are giving their lives to Christ. We’re blown away by what God is doing. And the numbers continue to grow. We’re ahead of where we thought we’d be due to God.”

Currently, Desperation Church offers two Sunday morning services, but will likely start a third to accommodate the growth they’ve seen, Heis said.

“We have all sorts of people who attend Desperation – charismatics, Baptists, Lutheran, Catholic, agnostic,” Heis said. “Everyone worships together. It’s fun to see all those thought processes worshipping together. Most of the people we’ve seen attending are the unchurched, those who don’t go to church anywhere.”

Located in the old Sports First location, the church has maintained the basic layout of the former gym. Where the front desk used to be is now an open area with couches and chairs for people to gather. Down the hall where offices and exercise classes used to meet is classroom space for children. The former daycare area is still childcare for babies. What used to hold treadmills and elliptical machines now features tables and chairs for small groups to gather. The large center area where the track and weights were housed is now the worship area.

Heis said the Sunday services are band-driven.

“Sunday services are laid back, come as you are,” he said. “We don’t want anybody turned away. Jesus loves everybody. Just get here. We’ll love them and do everything we can to point them to Jesus. Come with the clothes on your back and the sins in your life.”

Heis moved to Cullman with his wife, Leah, and children, Avery and Caleb, about a year ago.

After serving in ministry at Gardendale First Baptist, Heis said God placed in his spirit the desire to start another church.

“The church where I was at was incredible,” he said. “Then God called me to plan a church. I had no idea where.”

So Heis said he started seeking the Lord about it.

“I did an extended fast, and didn’t listen to what men said,” he said. “In September 2009 we gathered a launch team of 20 to 25 people. I have been blessed to have great mentors. We prayed every Wednesday night about this. And God led us to Cullman.”

The group’s Wednesday night service is dedicated to prayer.

“We protect that Wednesday night time,” he said. “That is our foundation. Prayer is the key to why we’re seeing God stir this community.”

 The church had three preview services in 2010 – one in June, one in July and one in August – and then started meeting regularly on Sept. 12, 2010.

Heis and the leadership team have spent much of their time trying to learn the needs of the community. “We want to see what needs we can fill,” he said.

The group hopes to start a soup kitchen soon.

“We want to help the Hispanic community,” he said. “We want to work with foster kids. We hope to offer some sort of rehab for addicts. We just need to find the people who are passionate about these things to lead these ministries.”

Besides the local community, Desperation Church wants to help across the nations, as well, Heis said. “We’re saving money to purchase a handicapped accessible van for an orphanage in Uganda,” he said. “We’ve got a lot of ideas that we’d like to do.”

To learn more about Desperation Church, visit their website at www.desperationchurch.tv.