Leadership Journal

You can buy anything online—including one man's eternal soul. It all began when Hemant Mehta, a 23-year-old graduate student and atheist living in Chicago, wanted to explore Christianity. Raised in Jainism, an Eastern religion, Mehta had never even entered a Christian church. He also wanted to write about his experiences and get feedback. So he auctioned his soul on eBay.

The sale offered the chance to "save" Mehta's soul, with one hour of church attendance for every bid of $10. But then Jim Henderson got involved, and the direction changed radically. Henderson, a former pastor, is director of Off the Map, an organization that aims to "reinvent evangelism for ordinary Christians." Rather than trying convert Mehta, Jim wanted Mehta's take on the church.

With a $504 bid (the money was donated to an atheist organization), Henderson won the auction and the two embarked on a joint venture.

Mehta agreed to visit 12 churches they selected together and write about his experiences on Henderson's website, www.off-the-map.org.

"I went in thinking everyone falls asleep in church, and everything is just a set of rules. Most of the churches I went to were nothing like that," he said. "They were entertaining to go to; they were interesting. I have a lot more respect for them than before."

Since Mehta attended most of the churches incognito, he experienced the services as an outsider. He particularly appreciated the full-service atmosphere of some of the megachurches and understood why they had escalators and cafes.

"Obviously it's a different world than it was 2,000 years ago, and you're going to want to use some of that stuff so that people not just feel comfortable in the church, but they could really spend time in there," he said.

While the extras can be showy, Mehta said he found the sermons strong and the preachers dynamic, especially when they brought in personal stories. One pastor told the story of his mother's decline and the comfort he drew from the Bible.

"That was completely gripping," Mehta said. "I can understand why people would be drawn to the Bible when he tells a story like that. You're really telling me how I can go back and change anything that's wrong with my life."

He was also impressed with the live music, something absent from the atheist conventions he attends. The quality of the words, however, was another story: "I have no idea who writes the lyrics to this stuff, but it sounds like what a four-year-old could write: 'God is good. God is strong.' And repeat. And repeat. And repeat."

The churchgoers were friendly, and, on the whole, Mehta felt welcomed. He was, however, offended by some things that were said. At a missions prayer meeting, he encountered anti-Muslim sentiment, with followers of Islam being equated with terrorists.

He also detected a definite "us vs. them" mentality.

"It was overt in that particular church. The idea comes across that if you're not with us, you're against us. I'd love to see churches working with mosques and synagogues ...