Local believers hanging At the Cross

Jeremy Voisin’s troubled past guided him to develop Houma’s Christian alternative to nightclubs and bars.

“I am all too familiar with the kind of trouble young people can get into,” he said. “As a pastor’s son, I didn’t know where I fit in. I wanted to hang with my friends, but then I had a strong desire to serve the Lord, too. Being torn between the two caused me a lot of hardships I didn’t have to go through.”

At age 30, Voisin rededicated his life to Christ and dedicated his talent to realizing At the Cross. “My heart’s desire is to ‘win the lost,'” he said, “and wherever God opens the door, that’s where we will be.”

The pastor opened At the Cross, a Christian club on South Hollywood Road, in 2008. Aimed at locals age 17 and older, the club concept got its start two years earlier at Voisin’s father’s church, the Vision Christian Center in Bourg.

From the outset, Voisin said his hardest task was getting young people to actually attend a gathering without feeling like they were in church.

“[At the Club] gave us an atmosphere within the body of Christ,” he said. “A lot of young people are just like I was. They don’t know where they belong. This is a way to help them develop their Christian path.”

At the Cross provides believers a casual, café-style atmosphere. The evening’s outing generally includes a 45-minute service – the majority of which includes live Christian music. An At the Cross leader also delivers a brief inspirational lesson.

After the service, those in attendance can enjoy music and mingle. A DJ or live band frequently appears. Bands have ranged from heavy metal to rap to acoustic players, Voisin said. Past performers include Elyseem, 2Shay and Crave, all Houma bands; Rappers AV and Brother D of Baton Rouge; and Lafayette’s Byron Hypolite.

The house band, Syte, a heavy metal/rap group, plays on occasion. It’s six members all hail from Vision Christian Center.

At the Club also has a Wii Sport system, pool and foosball tables and arcade games Pac-Man, Battlestar Galactica and deer hunting. Christian music videos or telecasts are piped in on the big screen, and Wi-Fi Internet keeps regulars connected, Voisin said.

The club stays afloat through tithes from its patrons. “I’m just like a volunteer,” he said. “I don’t get paid to do this. I am doing this because God put something on my heart to give Houma a place where the young crowd could go and hang out.”

At the Cross is open Fridays from 8 to 11:30 p.m. Voisin said the social ministry attracts nearly 50 people.

“When we first started out at my dad’s church it was able 10 to 15 of us that would gather,” he said, “but this building allows us to minister to a large crowd of people. I guess its because we are not actually in a church but we are doing God’s work.”

In the future, the pastor hopes the facility will be able to open daily because he leases the building for everyday use. However, it is limited to one day a week because of his work schedule.

“It would be nice to be able to open everyday, but I just can’t do it,” he said. “I don’t get paid to do this. I still have to work and support my family.”

The 30-year-old minister works as an offshore production operator. He’s out for 14 days, and then returns home for a stretch. In his absence, his wife Autumn or At the Cross patrons Johnathan Morris and Rae Lyn Blanchard run the facility.

“I have trained them to handle things while I am gone,” Voisin said. “I can depend on them to keep our mission of ministering to the young people together in my absence.”