A Spiritual Home Far Away From Home

The Rev. Oliver Subryan of Ebenezer New Testament Church of God prays for fathers in his congregation during a Father's Day service. (By Hamil R. Harris -- The Washington Post)

The stark white walls and fluorescent lighting don't conjure up a mood of reverence or contemplation. The oscillating fans struggle to provide a cool breeze. And the PowerPoint images accompanying the preacher's high-octane sermon are projected onto a wall panel that congregants on either side of the rectangular room have to strain to see.

But every Sunday, more than 400 people, most of them immigrants from Jamaica and other Caribbean countries, spend three hours worshipping inside this abandoned bakery at Route 1 and East West Highway in Riverdale Park. They savor the aroma of salt fish and curried goat coming from a basement kitchen. They leap and shout in the name of the Lord while a choir performs songs of praise that are accented with keyboards, tambourines, guitars and drums and have an unmistakably Jamaican flavor. The cramped space only brings everyone closer together.

"I come here to exhale," said Christine Robinson, a native of Manchester, Jamaica, who lives in Bowie. "This reminds me so much of home. You clap your hands, you cry hallelujah, and you just praise God from the bottom of your heart, the way you were taught when you were young."

The 3,000-square-foot Ebenezer New Testament Church of God is one of a dwindling number of storefront sanctuaries in the stretch of Route 1 that extends from College Park to the District line. Many of the churches have been torn down to make way for retail and condominium developments.

Ebenezer's congregation is in real estate limbo. It agreed a year ago to sell its building to a developer in exchange for a parcel on Route 450 in Landover Hills, where it plans to build a $1.5 million, 500-seat church. But Prince George's County officials have yet to issue a building permit.

So the members continue to meet in the three-story white-brick storefront that has been their home since 1995, led by the Rev. Oliver Subryan, a 47-year-old Guyana native. They worship in three shifts -- morning services at 8 and 11:30 and an evening service at 6.

On Father's Day, Subryan preached about King David's rebellious son Absalom, then called all the fathers to the altar for a special prayer while his wife, Rosa, presented each man with a gift-wrapped necktie. On June 25, he preached from the book of Esther and, as he often does, showed slides of recent trips he has made to the Amazon, where Ebenezer's mission is to install solar panels at 25 churches that have no electricity.

"God knows how to turn things around!" he shouted as he concluded his sermon about how Esther went from being a slave girl to a queen. "Is there something in your life that you want to be turned around today?"

? Open House is a monthly visit to a house of worship in the Washington area.

? To watch a short video documentary about Ebenezer New Testament Church of God, visithttp://www.washingtonpost.com/religion.