DELAND -- In a strange juxtaposition, tapered candles on a memorial table set the stage for the first service of New Light Methodist Church at the Carpenter-Curry Funeral Home.

The 25 people who gathered for the 10:30 a.m. service Sunday shared a laugh with the Rev. Richard Chandler about the offbeat location. He started his sermon with a joke about a man fearful of dying during a preacher's sermon.

"If anyone should have any fear of dying at all," said Chandler, a retired United Methodist minister, "we'll take care of you."

There were no caskets in sight, and the sea-foam-green walls bordered by white marbled sconces gave a serene feel to the chapel. Chandler said he approached the owners of the funeral home at 935 E. New York Ave. in DeLand with the idea.

"It was the first place I stopped and asked," said the 57-year-old father of five who retired from Trinity United Methodist Church three years ago. He said he got tired of "doing nothing" and decided to start his own church.

Chandler was a minister for 28 years at United Methodist churches in Georgia and Florida. He did his seminary work at Emory University in Atlanta and has a doctorate in theology and divinity from Evangelical Bible Seminary in Greenacres, near West Palm Beach.

At the turn of the past century, most new churches were started in funeral homes, Chandler said.

"During these new times, when people are less churched, there may be a problem with the location. But we'll just have to overcome it."

Robyn Constantino, owner of Curry-Carpenter Funeral Home, said she liked Chandler's idea of filling the chapel each Sunday. She said the home "is normally not busy Sunday mornings, so there should be no conflict" with a funeral service.

The New Light church has a six-month agreement to pay $50 a week to use the chapel.

Ashley Cowell, the 11-year-old acolyte who carried a lit candle with a Bob Dylan compact disc attached to the bottom to catch wax, called the setting "strange" but added that she was glad Chandler was preaching again.

Ashley's family lives in Astor and has followed Chandler to three churches. Her father, Brad Cowell, a 60-year-old retired Daytona Beach policeman, said he grew up in the Methodist Church but got away from it.

"I just got tired of people coming to church to see new hats," Cowell said. "There were those who were telling people how good they were, then doing dirty all week long -- a bunch of hypocrites."

Cowell said his wife urged him to return to church.

"It took a lot of bugging from my bride to get me back to church," he said. "He [Chandler] relates everything to something you can understand, not just telling you about 2,000 years ago. You seldom see kids fidgeting during his sermons."

Most of the 18 pews were filled with 25 people of all ages for the hourlong service, which included the Apostles' Creed, the Our Father and a sermon that compared Acts 27 to starting a new venture. The silver-haired reverend apologized for the recorded music but added that the Philadelphia Philharmonic couldn't fit into their present location.

Shirley Vollmer, 81, said she didn't mind traveling from her Daytona Beach home to the DeLand service.

"A lot of ministers' sermons go right over my head, or they can put me to sleep," said Vollmer, who also has heard Chandler preach at Trinity Methodist and several churches where he filled in for vacationing pastors. "He [Chandler] really gets the point across. I will definitely join this church."

Chandler warned people that starting a new church could be a frustrating journey filled with sacrifices. He said he wanted New Light to be "a place of refuge, safety and comfort" and not a controlled church filled with bureaucracy.