The perfect place to find God? via Horns Up

Williamsburg is a hub of youth, and old people desperately clinging to their youth, so it makes sense that there are plenty of bars, music venues and an all-night diner. The hungry, thirsty crowds don’t have much in the way of a spiritual life aside from The Reverend Vince Anderson and doing whip-its until they see God, so we guess it makes perfect sense that there are church services in the back of the Trash Bar now.

The Brooklyn Paper profiled the efforts of Pastor Michael Turrigiano of the North Brooklyn Vineyard Church to bring the Word to the tattooed, possibly gay and skinny jeans-wearing populace of Williamsburg. The seemingly godless masses are welcome, as Turrigiano points out that authority figures weren’t too hot on Jesus and the Apostles back in the days of the Roman Empire.

He shies away from a fire-and-brimstone message, which is both a good business plan and just decent human thing to do. It’s won him converts like one parishioner who keeps coming back because she says “Mike doesn’t give us rules, he give us tips. He says ‘If it works, do it. If it doesn’t, don’t.’ ” Turrigiano wasn’t asked about the secession crisis gripping Williamsburg, but he’d surely be able to mediate it in a peaceful manner.