Church's Plan to Worship At D.C. Theater Hits Snarl

But Che said she remains concerned. If 800 people show up for Sunday services, and half of them drive, "that's 400 cars," she said. "We don't have room for 400 cars."

And parking isn't the only issue. The evangelical mission of the church has also turned off some residents of Cleveland Park, where a large synagogue stands less than two blocks from the Uptown.

The church and Solomon are strong backers of Jews for Jesus, a controversial messianic Jewish group that conducts periodic evangelical campaigns in the Washington area. In June, Jews for Jesus conducted a two-week campaign at Metro stops and Washington Nationals baseball games.

"I have no doubt that there are people who are disturbed that an evangelical church is coming in to proselytize," Idelson said. "Lots of people have lots of reasons to oppose it."

Mike Hurt, McLean Bible's director of community campus development, declined to comment on the recent decisions. But according to the church's Web site, it has dropped plans to leaflet Metro stops to publicize the Uptown services, and it has canceled a series of Sunday morning worship service preview events that were to start this month.

Nonetheless, the church isn't giving up on the Uptown.

"I should have known that Satan wasn't going to take this lying down," Solomon told the congregation in a recent sermon. "We're going to fight, and we're going to let the Lord Jesus open the door."