By Cynthia Grau/WJEZ News

The Pontiac Kiwanis met Wednesday and heard from Pastor Shawn Jensen from Authentic Church – Pontiac’s newest place of worship.

Authentic Church, which was formerly known as Kulture Church, began in 2012 holding small worship services at Pontiac Junior High and High Schools, and recently, through fundraising by church members, were able to purchase the former Freakster’s Roadhouse on Culver Avenue. Jensen said the church has grown by leaps and bounds, even tallying more than 700 people for Easter services this past spring. He said he’s just doing what other churches do, but in a different way.

“They honestly would be finding out what this culture and the people who aren’t in church wanted to hear, see their needs and then meet those needs, if it’s being relevant, speaking their language and just breaking it down so they can understand it. Jesus was the most culturally relevant person in scripture, and I don’t think that’s changed, so we just want to make sure we’re doing the same. We just like being a church for people who don’t like doing church, so that’s what we do,” Jensen said.

Authentic Church is located at 902 W. Custer Avenue.