Relevant Magazine

Late Nite
Baton Rouge, LA

Late Nite is a young adult group with a passion: “to be a healing place for a hurting world.”

Vicki Ohlerking, a member of the promotions/production team for Late Nite’s mother church, Healing Place Church, explained, “ We believe we can have a great impact on our culture by providing an environment where hurting and broken people can allow Jesus to heal them of anything from emotional hurts to addictions.”

This mission is lived out through sending out a weekly team to pass out food to the poor communities of Baton Rouge; teams to support organizations in the urban areas of the U.S.; and teams to India, Africa, Peru, Brazil and Mexico.

For their Late Nite gathering, Ohlerking said Late Nite Pastor Mike Haman dreamed of ways to relate 1st century values into 21st century life. What developed was a twentysomething service characterized by relevance, creativity and sacredness. “Late Nite has a ‘traditional’ flow, but we put a different spin on it,” Ohlerking said. “The atmosphere is highly relational, casual and very laid back. The back of the sanctuary is the main gathering place, where you find anything from chicken fingers to Krispy Kreme donuts, and always CC’s coffee. The worship is an unharnessed, authentic expression that sets an atmosphere where God is in the forefront.”

Late Nite currently has a lot going on—“Late Niters get together to do servant evangelism, grub, play sports, pass out food to needy families, study the Bible or whatever else they have in common,” Ohlerking said—but they hope to broaden their influence by taking Late Nite “on the road.”

“We have a service planned on the campus of Louisiana State University, and would like to go to more campuses in different cities,” Ohlerking said. “Our vision is to see young people living the life God intended. We don’t want to mimic culture, but realize we are a part of it.”


[Article used by permission of RELEVANT Leader magazine, Sept./Oct. 2004. www.relevantnetwork.com ]