Varsity Theatre, one of the recent businesses to fold on Franklin Street, has been given new life by a local church congregation.

Love Chapel Hill, a new local church dedicated to loving and serving the people and the town of Chapel Hill, have made the Varsity Theater its home for the past month and will continue to hold services there on Sunday mornings under the new theater management.  

“It is in the heart of Chapel Hill,” said Justin Simmons, executive pastor of Love Chapel Hill.  “You can’t be more centered on Franklin Street.”

Services began at the Varsity on Oct. 4, while the theater was closed and between management.  With the theater set to reopen later this month, Love Chapel Hill will resume services a half hour earlier, at 10:30 a.m,. starting Nov. 15.

Simmons said he hopes the earlier time will not affect the number of visitors but does not foresee it being a problem.

“We are happy to share our facility with Love Chapel Hill,” said Susan and Paul Shareshian, the new owners of the Varsity.

When asked in an interview Thursday morning if the church would eventually move to a site of its own, lead pastor Matt LeRoy said he did not see them moving anytime soon.

“We are totally OK being nomads for now,” Matt LeRoy said.  “A mirror of Franklin Street.”

“It’s kind of like Franklin Street,” said Derek Hastings, family life pastor.  “You have college students, professors, families and the homeless, anyone who would walk off the street.

“People told us in church planning that these demographics can’t coexist,” said Jeanine Simmons, leadership team member and wife of Justin Simmons, the executive pastor.  “People who wouldn’t share eye contact on the street now share a Bible.”

“I was nervous to go inside,” said Rog, a homeless man on Franklin Street. “But the music was so beautiful, I had to find out what it was.”

Matt LeRoy and his team describe their church as an “experiment in grace.”

“It means we don’t have all the answers,” Jeanine Simmons said. “And that’s OK.”

“We want to know what it would look like if Jesus showed his grace to Chapel Hill,” Matt LeRoy said. “We are experimenting in that.”

The church was formed by Matt LeRoy and Justin Simmons and their spouses in July 2008 when the couples relocated to Chapel Hill from Wilmore, Ky. Jason and Amber Tuggle and Derek and April Hastings later joined them.

“It started out as just us four,” Sarah LeRoy said.  “It has grown slowly from there.”

Matt LeRoy is originally from Chapel Hill and has felt a calling to return for a long time, his wife Sarah said.

“In high school, I fell in love with the town - with the unique and eclectic aspects of the town,” Matt LeRoy said.  “Ever since then, I have felt drawn back here.”

Matt LeRoy said their idea was to plant a church that was of and for Chapel Hill, even if that meant disregarding the accepted ideas of what a church should be.

“We were intentional to know the town and the people, so we can be authentic to where we are,” Justin Simmons said.

Formerly operating under a different name, local business owners and people working with the church began to refer to it by its Web address, http://lovechapelhill.com, so the leadership team thought the name change was appropriate.

“It’s not a very churchy name,” Sarah LeRoy said.

“It started out as our domain name and our mission, then it became what people recognized us as,” Matt LeRoy said.  “So we all just knew, this was our name.”

As their mission for the church and now as their name, the team at Love Chapel Hill wants to love the city and its people.

The church has participated in several events since its start. On Tuesday nights, the church delivers food from Trader Joe’s to Inter-Faith Council homeless shelter.  They spread cheer in July by leaving large buckets of flowers around town and handing out peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. 

They also partnered with the Chapel Hill Downtown Partnership to provide free parking on Franklin Street on August 22 when they bagged parking meters for the entire day.

“We want to tangibly love the city,” said Jason Tuggle, worship arts pastor. “But we want to do it covertly.”

A homeless man on Franklin Street was a recipient of the church’s love when he was delivered a meal after the Tuesday night Bible study.

“They just set it down in front of me,” the homeless man said. “That Sunday I went to church for the first time.”