The Curious Case Of Lachlan Coffey: A Humorous Case In Sojourn History

When we used to meet at Highland Baptist Church on the corner of Grinstead and Cherokee, we were at our humble beginnings for sure. Sojourn had little idea what it was doing and we were all just trying to figure it out. The congregation of maybe 100 or so was pretty much young kids. Just like most churches, we did have the “blue hairs”, BUT they weren’t old ladies. There was always some young Highlands kid who thought it cool to smurf up their ‘do.

We had new people every week checking it out because it was so underground and mysterious. But the problem with mysterious is that it always brings some of the weird ones.

I remember this really attractive girl coming once. And you have to imagine, most dudes weren’t married so you noticed these girls very quickly. (On a sidenote, I always felt bad for these girls because they always had all of us broke-down dudes clamoring for their attention.) Anyways, when she was spotted, you could hear the tons of gears grinding in the guys’ minds trying to figure out the best way to approach her right after service for a cup of yerba matte (she looked kind of hippie…they love that stuff). But then the service began.

The music was super loud back then and very “rock”. We played in front of a huge amazing church organ but we never once touched it. I suppose if it wasn’t plugged into an amp turned to 11, then it wasn’t worth playing. Anyways, during the first song, I remember this girl taking off her shoes, stepping into the center aisle and walking to the very front row.

Then she just started going crazy dancing…like pentecostal, charismatic mixed with Elaine Benes (I love her dance moves on Seinfeld). It made me feel like we were at a Bon Jovi concert. I mean, at this time in Sojourn history, we barely sang during the songs let alone danced so you can imagine how we responded to this oddity. She kept up with it for every song, which made me think she Jazzercised because how else could you not get winded.

That was the last time I ever saw that girl. I wonder if she is still the same and if she found a church where she could feel comfortable barefoot center aisle in the front row dancing. I hope she did and I hope she forgives us. In the end, I feel like we were probably the weird ones.