Spreading the Word in a Different World
This article by Ann Arbor News staff reporter Lisa Klionsky hit the newsstands Saturday, March 8, 2003. That was when I was attending Concordia University and had many more piercings than I currently do, although I can still fit a ten gauge ring in my septum. (It was at a four gauge when I removed the jewelry.) I may “clean up nicely” but my heart is just as goth as it ever was.
Metamorphosis meets at Denny’s, the spiritual leader is a pierced goth, and even agnostics and smokers are welcome
Cigarette smoke chokes the air against a soundtrack of Muzak, coughs and loud discussion. It’s a typical winter evening in the Denny’s smoking section.
Typical, except that over in a corner of the restaurant, fountain glasses of Coca Cola, milkshakes, packs of Marlboros and Bibles — yes, Bibles — cover four tables pushed together, around which a dozen or so college students are focused on goth-punk-body-pierced Khad (pronounced Chad) Young.
Young is dressed completely in black, from fishnet sleeves that extend over his hands to his jacket and black leather boots. He has nine piercings above his neck, including his lip, tongue, septum and earlobes. He dressed up tonight, he says: He’s got on a black and gray striped tie.
“Thank you, God, for keeping us safe and sound this week …” Young says as he leads the group in prayer.
He coughs. He quit smoking in December but he’s fighting a cold tonight. Black makeup outlines his mascara-laden eyes; his black hair stands up unnaturally, perhaps the result of styling gel.
He tells the group, which is known as Metamorphosis and has been meeting at Denny’s at 6 p.m. every Thursday for two years, that he’s ordered a case of Bibles “so we’ll all be reading from the same translation.”
The weekly meetings are “Bible study for those who don’t want to go to Bible study,” as Young puts it, in one of what his friends call his “Khadisms.” And he deliberately holds the meetings at Denny’s, “a place where people could be themselves,” he said.
A 21-year-old preacher’s son, Young is a pre-seminary student at Concordia University, an Ann Arbor liberal arts college affiliated with the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod. He plans to attend Concordia Theological Seminary in St. Louis. He recently started a second Bible study that meets at St. Luke Lutheran Church on Monday evenings.
He said he started the Bible studies because he felt he wasn’t spiritually nourished by campus programs. He’d led one while still in high school in Clawson. So he decided to offer a study in Ann Arbor, but he didn’t want to hold it initially at a church.
“I know the stigma attached to church for some people,” he said. “I feel the ministry I’ve been called to is to reach out to people. … The point of Christianity to me is that it’s a faith for people who aren’t perfect. So often the church gives the impression you’ve got to be good enough to come to church.”
Young himself has spent a lot of time at church during his life. His dad is associate pastor at Our Shepherd Lutheran Church in Birmingham.
Young’s goth look began, he said, in junior high, when he used to hang out in Royal Oak “a lot.”
“I bought my first pair of fishnets at Cat’s Meow in Royal Oak. At the time, it was a rebellious thing, growing up as the pastor’s kid,” he said. “The gothic look appealed to me. I just went after that. … It’s just who I am.”
Despite his looks, he said, his theology is conservative.
“I’ve got Christians who say I’m too liberal and non-Christians who say I’m too conservative. Both sides are amusing. I’m just me.”
And that seems to be why he has so many friends and followers.
“He makes jokes, he’s easy to talk to. He’s the person you can come to if you need something or if you need information about Christianity,” said Debbie Savage, 20, an Eastern Michigan University student. “He just really cares about the group a lot.”
Her boyfriend, Kenny Frost, 20, a Concordia University student who describes himself as an agnostic, helps keep the group on edge with his incisive questions and wit. Frost said he attends the group in part because “Khad is really charismatic. It’s hard for him to offend people. He’s tactful. He remembers what’s important and sticks to it.”
Young’s agenda, Frost said, “is to increase awareness of what the actual message of church and Bible is.”
Doria Heap, 20, describes Young as “knowing more about the Bible than I could ever imagine myself knowing — and I’m going into teaching at a Lutheran high school.”
Despite his repeated coughing in the smoky atmosphere, Young imparts his message to the group.
“In a sense, this is a church. We are gathered,” he said. He works the group’s way through Mark, Galatians, Genesis, with group members taking turns reading passages, reminding the group along the way of “the futility of trying to hide from God,” of how neighbors, not God, need “our good works,” of how important it is “to have not just a set of rules but a relationship with God.”
He illustrates his Biblical-based points with examples: being at parties; relationships with parents; helping friends who call on the phone in the middle of the night.
“We think of Christianity as a set of rules, but it is a relationship. … It’s important to focus on our relationship with God, not on the rules,” he tells the group.
Charles Van Heck, 22, who attends and often leads the group on Thursdays, said Metamorphosis is a chance for a somewhat more relaxed look at the Bible.
“As Christians we can be very heavy handed and serious and I think sometimes it’s important to give room to be light and enjoy what you’re doing,” said Van Heck, who grew up Catholic. “We bring in a lot of sources, like ‘The Apostle,’ the movie with Robert Duvall. We bring in everything possible culturally and spiritually to engage people on many different levels.”
Those who attend say they appreciate Young’s open, receptive approach.
“No one will judge you if you’re new to the group. Everyone welcomes you and just really cares about you. … There’s a sense of connectedness to God and towards members of the group,” Savage said. And importantly, Savage said, there are no judgments based on looks.
“A lot of churches will shun those who look different, if you have tattoos, piercings, or if you don’t dress up. We’re just very informal.”
Savage said that through Metamorphosis, she’s learned “acceptance, and to love other people no matter what they’ve done, to not be judgmental.”
Heap, who has tattoos and says she considered herself an atheist for a few years, said she has been “a little shunned” when she attends church, so she appreciates Young’s inclusivity. She also said she doesn’t attend chapel services at Concordia, so the Bible study is really helpful.
“I can be with people who have similar religious beliefs as me in a comfortable setting, not worrying about what other people think of me,” she said. “Metamorphosis has definitely given me the chance to sit down and think: ‘Why do I believe in this and not that?’ It’s given me the opportunity to look inside myself and see what I believe in.”
