Hello!

Hey, everybody! Long time, no post. I apologize for my absence... It's been a wild ride these last 7 weeks since our daughter was born on November 7.

A little update: Chloe is fine, finally putting on some weight. She's still a little thing, but healthier and getting happier. Her trip home from the hospital was followed by an eye infection, major gas issues, and then acid reflux. We've had two different eye medications, changed formulas, found out the value of those gas drops everyone uses, experienced projectile vomiting, and received a prescription for her acid reflux. Now, she's kinda colicky! But, things are improving for Chloe.

Mom is doing well, too, but she's had her own issues. Emily had a nasty case of mastitis (mentioned in a previous post) and finally started getting over that, only to have some serious bleeding the week before Thanksgiving. We spent an afternoon in the Emergency Room at Ft. Sanders Hospital downtown, where Chloe was born. In the end, they chalked up Emily's issues to "abnormal bleeding" and sent her home. She has a prescription for iron supplement pills since she lost to much blood through all of that.

Finally, right after all that fun stuff, the holiday rush started at the HoneyBaked Ham Store, where I've been working a seasonal job since August selling hams and turkeys to business customers. Things just died down the day after Christmas, but boy is that place wild from the week before Thanksgiving to the day after Christmas! I worked 34 hours on my feet, "slinging hams" outside in the cold from December 22 through 24. I was a tired puppy after that.

Throw in all the visits of family and friends, having some issues with our former mission organization, and a few other surprises, and we are all three worn out. But, that's how life goes sometimes! There are seasons of rest and seasons of business. Hopefully we are entering a season of rest for a bit!

Just wanted to let you know what's been going on with us. I hope your holiday season has been great, from Thanksgiving to Christmas, and you have a great and safe New Year. There's some great Ridge Church stuff coming up after January 1, including opportunities to be involved in our new small group gatherings and Sunday large-group gatherings... So, be ready for more info soon!

Specific Info about This Sunday's Service Project

Here's the information about Sunday's service project that my wife put on our Ridge Church Facebook group and emailed to folks. Not on our email list? Let me know and we'll take care of it! If you haven't signed up for Facebook, it's a great place to stay connected to other Ridgers, keep up with what we're doing and RSVP when we have events.

The Ridge is helping KARM with their Thanksgiving Basket Giveaway on Sunday, November 23rd, from 2-4 pm. We must meet at the KARM parking lot at 1:15 pm to meet up and check in as a group at the volunteer table. There will be NO parking there, but attached is a parking pass with places you can park. (Since there's no attachment, email Emily for one if you need it.)

Here are some helpful hints:

• You will be outside, so dress accordingly.
• No one under 16 is allowed at this event. We try to make all things kid friendly but this is not! So, we will have childcare available at Nicole Johnson's home. Emily will be staying there and Becca Thiele will be there as well. If you need childcare please email Emily or call her at 704.579.2022 to get the address. Also, Emily needs to know how many children we will have in case we need additional help, so please let her know before Friday November 21st! Kiddos will need to be dropped off at the Johnson home by 12:45 pm. We will NOT be providing their lunch, so send it with them or feed them before they get there.
• You will need to fill out a Volunteer Waiver and bring it with you. Email Emily to get one.
  

Please call us with questions! 704.579.2022 (Emily, the event planner) or 704.579.2235 (Kevin).

Directions to KARM are below. We look forward to partnering with you on Sunday and serving our community together! Serving Others is one thing The Ridge values greatly--it's not just something we do at the holidays.

Thanks guys! We are excited to hear who is able to participate so please RSVP...

Emily

From West:

• Take I-40 East to exit #388.
• Take the right hand split on the exit ramp labeled "Western Ave./Summit Hill".
• At the end of the ramp, turn left at the light. This will put you on Western Ave.
• Go to the next traffic light and turn left. This will put you on Broadway.
• Follow Broadway until you go under the Interstate overpass. We are the first building on the right after you go under the Interstate overpass.

From East:

• Take I-40 West to the 5 th Ave. Exit.
• Turn right onto Gill St. that is the second street to the right after coming off the ramp.
• Follow Gill Street to the first traffic light and turn left. This will put you on Broadway.
• Follow Broadway through the next two traffic lights. After you go through the second light, we are the last two buildings on the left in the next block. If you go under the Interstate overpass you have gone too far.

MapQuest Map to Knox Area Rescue Ministries

Why This Sunday's Ridge Church Gathering is Cancelled...

Hey, everybody! I hope you're having an awesome week. Our little girl Chloe is a week old today... God has blessed us with a healthy baby girl.

We have two prayer requests this weekend that are sickness-related. First of all, Christy Garrison's grandmother Virginia ("Tootsie") is very ill. Christy has been spending nights at her grandmother's bedside at the hospital and is exhausted. I spoke to Christy's husband Ken this evening and he let me know that they will be unable to host our Sunday evening gathering at our announced location, Panache Salon in Fountain City. So, we are cancelling this week's meeting, originally scheduled for 5:30 to 7 pm.

Second, Emily is sick with mastitis. She has been running a fever for several days now (pretty much since we brought Chloe home Monday night) as a result. It looks that God is answering our prayers and she is not going to need to be re-admitted to the hospital for IV antibiotics. (She has antibiotics in pill form instead.) She's also in alot of pain from her C-section and is still on pain medication.

Needless to say, our first week as parents has been a struggle, with Emily sick and me basically clueless about how to care for a baby! I'm learning slowly what to do... But we are both exhausted due to lack of sleep with a crying baby. Also, we're stressed out more than we have ever been in our lives due to being new parents. Your prayers on that front are appreciated!

I want to encourage all of you in two ways with this post:

1. It's all about God and people! Our gathering on Sunday is not as important as our hosts caring for their family in a time of sickness and need. It's also not as important as me attempting to care for my sick wife and our new child.
2. That said, everyone who is a believer in Christ is called to worship Him with our lives daily and with other believers regularly. Since there's no Ridge Church gathering on Sunday, check out a local church in our area Sunday morning or night. If you need a list of cool churches we've visited, let me know!

Our Ridge Church service project is still on the calendar for Sunday afternoon, November 23, at 2 pm. Please make plans to be there and join us as we "tip off" (Vols basketball, anyone?) the holiday season by serving those less fortunate at Thanksgiving!

Pics of Chloe

Hey! Here are some pics of Chloe! There's a bunch that Emily picked out for your viewing pleasure, courtesy of box.net. You should try their file storage site if you haven't yet.

Have a great night... And thanks for your prayers and concern!

Our Little Girl is Here!

Yep! This morning at 10:29 am, Chloe Fionna Layne was born at Ft. Sanders Regional Medical Center in Knoxville, Tennessee. We thank God for her! She is and will always be a blessing to us.

Chloe weighs 6.0 pounds and is 19 1/4 inches long. She's got all her fingers and toes... Mother and baby are doing just fine.

We were also blessed to have Emily's parents, Bill and Sue, along with Emily's aunt Rosie come and stay the day with us. They live here in Knoxville and are a wonderful support to us.

My parents, Roy and Frances, also came to see us. They drove in from Chilhowie, Virginia and spent most of the day before driving home. I'm sure Chloe will see a lot of all her grandparents!

Here is a link to video I think you'll like, it's on Google Video and can be downloaded there... (Sorry the video disappeared earlier.) Links to pics are in the next blog post.

God, Sovereignty, and Our Kid, Part 2

The reason I shared all the info about Emily and having a child is to help state our belief that God is sovereign.

What does that mean? You can click on the definition above from Merriam-Webster's online dictionary, but what does it mean for us, in real life?

I've been reading through the book of Job. Not that I feel like him, not by a long shot! But, there is much to be gained by reading about how a man who encountered difficulty dealt with his own life and his relationship with God. One verse especially, Job 1:21, is an awesome one. After God allowed his entire family (except his wife) and all that he had to be destroyed, Job refused to abandon his God: "And he said, 'Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.'"

Now those are some big words! Could you say them if bad stuff happened to you? We pray that God allows little Chloe to be born "just fine" and score well on her first test: the Apgar test. However, we would love her no matter what happens... That is because we believe God is, as I said last time, "large and in charge."

Here's some reasons we believe God is sovereign. (Really, maybe you should click that definition above!) I've stolen the list from Norm Geisler. He's a smart man... A good representative Bible verse is after each point below.

1. God is prior to all things. (John 17:24)
   
2. God produced all things. (Colossians 1:16)
   
3. God sustains all things. (1 Corinthians 8:6)
   
4. God transcends all things. (Psalm 8:1)
   
5. God knows all things. (Psalm 139:4)
   
6. God can do all things. (Matthew 19:26)
   
7. God owns all things. (1 Chronicles 29:14)
   
8. God rules over all things. (1 Chronicles 29:11-12)
   
9. God is in control of all things. (Proverbs 21:1)

This is a pretty good list of ideas and biblical passages to support the concept of God's sovereignty. The good thing is that just as the old song says, "He's got the whole world in His hands!"

Please pray for us as Emily goes to the hospital tomorrow morning (Friday) to have Chloe! We will post info here when we have a chance!

God, Sovereignty, and Our Kid, Part 1

Today was another tough day on the "having a baby" front. Emily and I went to the doctor for her second amniocentesis this morning. I had a good feeling about the test showing that our baby was ready to be "taken out of the oven" but I was wrong. The lung-readiness test showed that she isn't.

The new plan is to have another growth ultrasound on Thursday morning, and if everything looks OK, have the C-section on Monday. If everything doesn't look OK, we will have a C-section ASAP after the ultrasound. If Emily goes into labor, we will have a C-section immediately. So, we don't know when little Chloe will be in this world!

Emily's pregnancy has been a difficult process for us. Many of you know that we've been married for 10 years. And, this is our first child. For a long time, we didn't feel led by God to have kids. We were student pastors for 10 years, and loved students. We were told more than one time that we had "plenty of kids already." And, for a long time, that was just right for us.

But, a couple of years ago, we really felt that God wanted us to adopt a child. Since we had already "adopted" tons of other people's kids, that just seemed natural for us and felt as if it was God's plan. However, after a couple years of pursuing adoption, we finally got a straight answer: we did not have the net worth, financial stability (living on support is not a plus to social services!) and residential stability that the child-placement agencies wanted.

So, we didn't know what to do. Then, we felt that God told us it was OK to try ot have "our own" child. That was a step of faith for us, since Emily has some major physical issues (I call it "battle damage") from a car accident in college. Her pelvis is plated together, and won't expand for natural childbirth. She also has a hip replacement (a residual problem from the car accident) and epilepsy that is controlled by medication. All in all, Emily is as healthy as any young woman her age, but for having kids there's lots of potential issues. Besides the structural stuff, epilepsy leads to a much higher risk of birth defects.

So, with God's leading, we attempted pregnancy early this year. To be honest, we didn't even really believe that Emily could get pregnant. We didn't know what kind of issues she might have with her plumbing as a result of her surgeries. But, God blessed us and Emily got pregnant almost instantly!

That was a buge blessing, but then came the waiting game for weeks and weeks as we had test after test to check for the possibility of birth defects and major spinal issues. We knew that our baby could have serious problems. We also knew that no matter what happened, we'd love our baby and treat him or her as a blessing from God. We were repeatedly offered extra tests that were intended to allow parents to abort their unborn children if their kids had major birth defects. We rejected the ones that we could, but doctors insisted on several.

To make a long story short, this has been a stressful time for us. (Plus, we just moved to plant a church, and we rely on the gracious financial gifts of others for our living expenses.) So, if we sound super-ready to have our little girl, we are... We just want to get the pregnancy thing done and see our little girl. But, no matter what happens (and thank God, all systems are go so far!) we will love little Chloe.

I want to ask you all to pray tonight for another Acts 29 Network pastor, Brad Hovis, and his wife Haley and son Owen. Brad and Haley's daughter Molly was born two months ago. She was expected to live just a few minutes after she was born. But, she held on until last night, when she died on the operating table as she received an organ transplant. Brad and Molly and Owen could really use your prayers, so please remember them.

God is truly large and in charge. His ways are not our ways, nor can we always understand them. Some children are born healthy, and some are not. We'll talk more about this in the next post... But for now, please pray for the Hovis family. They are hurting in a way I hope I never feel.

On God and Autumn Leaves

Yesterday, Emily and I drove up the road to Maynardville to look at the autumn leaves... We didn't have a ton of time on our hands since it was kinda late in the afternoon. But, I wanted to drive her someplace out in the country where we could get away, have a nice drive, and check out the colorful leaves as the valley and Knoxville gave way to the bigger hills and smaller towns. We hope Emily is going to have a C-section on Tuesday, so this was probably our last chance to drive around "peacefully" for awhile.

The funny thing I noticed was that the further we got from Knoxville, the less colorful the leaves seemed to be. There were some really cool colors, like lemon-lime, UT orange, and maroon-red. (I won't say 'Bama crimson!) But, the intensity we expected just wasn't there. Apparently the weather hasn't been all that great for leaf colors. It was a little disappointing, until we drove back to Knoxville late in the afternoon.

What we noticed is that some of the most beautiful colors are just outside our front and back doors! Black Oak Ridge is showing some beautiful fall colors. And Emory Road from Halls to Gibbs and Tazewell Pike from Gibbs to Fountain City feature just about the most colorful displays we've seen this year.

So, on the day that we left town to "see the leaves," we realized that the very trees I pass every day on the way to work at the HoneyBaked Ham store, and the leaves we pass on the way back from Wal-Mart are just about as cool as any out there this year.

Isn't it true that we often fail to see God at work around us, in our lives, and in the lives of our friends and family because we are too focused on other places, things, and people? Sometimes we just need to open our eyes to things around us. Sometimes, we will see God at work in our lives. Other times, we will see ways that we can love others in the name of Christ. It's something to think about as you go about your daily routine, whether it's driving down the road or in your daily relationships.

There's no super-duper verse in the Bible that talks about fall leaves... But Psalm 1 is a cool chapter in a cool book. Check it out and enjoy a book that's been the favorite of many over the years.

Have a great week!

A Spooky Holiday...

Today is Halloween! Everybody seems to do something different for this holiday. Many folks take their kids trick-or-treating, all dressed up as Hannah Montana, Batman, Peyton Manning, or Sarah Palin. (That's a joke...)

Anyway, it seems alot of churches have taken the stand of being totally against celebrating Halloween by trick-or-treating, and they are instead having Trunk-or-Treat things at their church parking lots. While I applaud the attempts of churches to do cool stuff for kids and their parents, I wonder if there is a better way to love folks at this time of year?

I guess the big question is, how can God work through our culture's celebration of Halloween? (Yes, I know it is a pagan holiday at heart.) How can we represent Christ in such a way as to make the biggest possible positive impression on our neighbors on this night? How can we best take the Gospel to others and allow Christ to shine through us on Halloween? I think that's the most useful question, with the greatest possible result. I believe it's nice to invite people to your church building. But, I think it's always better to hang out with people in their neighborhoods and invite them right up to your front door!

Ryan Mobley of Delta Church in Springfield, Illinois has written a cool article about Halloween in his blog. Ryan is a fellow Acts29 Network pastor, and shares some good, simple wisdom about how God can use us to engage folks with love as Christ's representatives on Halloween.

You may be seeing more links to trusted pastors' blogs in the near future, as Emily and I hope to have a baby here real soon! She is scheduled for an amniocentesis (don't worry, it's a very safe procedure at 38 weeks) on Monday, with a possible C-section on Tuesday. We'll keep you informed and post pics, but for about a little while I may need the backup of other good bloggers while I figure this whole sleeping thing out!

Have a safe and fun night...

RIdge Church Value #6: Fun

Well, we're finally to our final Ridge Church value! It may be the last one on our list, but it's pretty important, because it affects the way we approach our other values.

This weekend, when we held our first Ridge Church Pumpkin Carving, we had fun. When we meet in our small groups early in 2009, we will make sure to have fun. When we start our weekly worship services, we will have fun elements then as well.

It's evident that many churches have eliminated the concept of fun and enjoyment from their activities and programs. Step into many (but not all!) churches' Sunday worship services, weeknight activities, or whatever else is on the schedule, and you are likely to become bored and disinterested very quickly. This is so sad, because the Bible is a pretty exciting book, and the Gospel of Christ is the one thing that all Christians believe can completely transform a person's life!

Did you know that the Bible doesn't prohibit fun? Nope. Never. Does it say that you can't poke fun at things? No way. Smile and laugh? Nada. Does it have things to say about disrespect toward God and others? Yep. Cruel and biting sarcasm? Roger that. Dirty jokes? You betcha. So, we'll avoid those... They hurt God and others and therefore are not a good route to take.

That said, I like to think that Jesus and His 12 disciples didn't walk all over Israel in silence and with a frown on their faces. I like to think that maybe Jesus told them "the one about when the Father, the Spirit, and I were talking about making the platypus." Maybe Peter and the boys even played some games by the campfire, like the one where you assign a person to be "it" and they blink at people, and then other people have to figure out who is "it" before they get blinked at.

Anyway, I digress, but the point is that it's OK to have fun and talk about God or praise Him at the same time! Fun is just the polar opposite of boring, lame, and forgettable. David, the King of Israel, even had some fun worshiping God way back in the day. And, so will we! We are committed to doing things that are interesting, engaging, and fun, because they are cool to do as a group and result in enjoyable times of fellowship, learning, and worship. We believe the Bible is interesting and God is pretty engaging!

So, here's what Ridge Church has to say about our value of Fun, specifically in regard to our worship times:

"Worshiping our holy God should be an enjoyable activity. Although there must be serious times of repentance and spiritual challenge in the lives of all believers, the experience of meeting God in worship should be exciting, anticipated, interactive, and practical."

Some Bible passages that support our value of fun in worship and group life are Exodus 15:19-21, 2 Samuel 6:12-19, Nehemiah 8:10, and Matthew 26:17-20.

Since you read the whole post, here's a link to a funny video that brings back memories from my youth pastor days! Enjoy!

Big Orange... Pumpkins!

Today was a fun day for Ridge Church! We held our first Pumpkin Carving at Fountain City Park today from 2 to 5 pm. A bunch of cool folks came out and brought a bunch of melons and creative attitudes as we shared the afternoon together carving away.

Congratulations to the winners, both kids and adults, in our three carving categories: Most Creative, Most Fun, and Best Craftsmanship!

The prizes for our winners came from 4 cool local sponsors from Fountain City:

• Gift certificates for kids' ice cream cones from Baskin-Robbins at 5228 North Broadway.
• A $15 gift certificate from the Fountain City Creamery at 114 Hotel Road.
  
• A $20 gift certificate from Leo's Cafe at 3029 Tazewell Pike.
• A gift certificate for a free haircut from Christy Garrison at Panache Hair & Body at 3501 Tazewell Pike.

To our sponsors... Thank you very much! You helped us to have a great time!

There's some great pics from our Pumpkin Carving below for you to check out. We did have a couple of carved hands, so here's best wishes for those that left with band-aids to heal up fast.

If only the other Big Orange could have had a good day... But, there's always next Saturday!

"Battle for the Bible"

Tonight, I watched a show on PBS called "Battle for the Bible." It was a great show... for the first 30 minutes. The second half was a bit too much commentary and too little history, but that's PBS for ya. The topic of the show was the difficulty that English people went through to get a translation of the Bible in their own language.

Even as a church planter, I often forget just how much struggle, sacrifice, and even martyrdom precluded our modern English Bible translations. We have so many Bibles available to us today, from the Bibles for sale at Christian bookstores, to the Gideon Bible you can find in a hotel room, to the Bibles (dusty, maybe?) that most of us have in our homes.

But the truth is that for hundreds of years the Catholic Church (the only one in Europe until the 1500's) prohibited the common folk (like you and me) to possess a Bible. On top of that, the only Bible available to the priests in the Catholic churches was written in Latin. The Catholic worship service, called Mass, was recited in Latin. Only Catholic priests and a very few other elite, educated people were able to read Latin or understand spoken Latin. So, knowledge of what the Bible said was pretty much out of reach for almost all people who called themselves Christians.

In the 1380's, Englishman John Wycliffe took it upon himself to translate the Bible into English, so his countrymen could finally read it. He believed that only good things could come out of people having access to God's Word. The Catholic Church condemned Wycliffe and other Bible translators who attempted to render the Scriptures in English and other vernacular languages. The new translations threatened the power of the Catholic Church, because they called its leadership out on many teachings that were not found in Scripture.

Wycliffe and his assistants had to translate the Bible painstakingly by hand, since Gutenberg had yet to invent the printing press! Wycliffe died of natural causes, but for the next couple hundred years, the Catholic Church labeled those who attempted to translate the Bible into English as false teachers. They chased them around Europe and repeatedly burned them at the stake when they caught them.

Martin Luther started the Protestant Reformation in 1517, when he nailed his 95 Theses to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenburg, Germany. During the struggles that followed this event, many men rose up to translate the Bible into the languages of the various people of Europe.

In 1525, William Tyndale was the first man to have his English New Testament translation mechanically printed. He was burned at the stake by Catholic authorities in 1536.

Myles Coverdale and John “Thomas Matthew” Rogers had worked with Tyndale on his New Testament. On October 4, 1535, they published the first complete Bible in English. This translation is known as the Coverdale Bible. In 1537, Rogers published the second complete English Bible, and the first to be translated from the original languages (Hebrew for the Old Testament and Greek for the New Testament).

In 1539, the King of England finally allowed the Bible to be legally printed in English and read on English soil. Thus began the era of widely-available English Bible translations, although there were still periods of persecution of those who cherished the English Bible. For instance, during the reign of Catholic Queen "Bloody" Mary, hundreds of people (including John Rogers) were burned at the stake for being Protestants.

These days, hundreds of years after Wycliffe, we take our English Bibles for granted. Today, why not think about all that went into giving you the Bible you read today, and thank God for courageous men who would not give up until they made it possible for you to hold that priceless Word of God in English.

A Great Night Together with Ridge Church

Hey, everybody! Emily and I had a great time with you tonight at our second Ridge Church gathering! It was great to see all of you folks that we've been talking to about The Ridge. We're so glad we were able to get together, share our hearts and get to know each other better. It was good to talk about our vision for Ridge Church, our values, and what those values will look like "lived out."

Toward the end of our meeting, we talked about our timeline for The Ridge for the next couple of months and how you can be involved in helping us launch our Sunday worship gatherings in the new year. That said, if you have any musical ability, like playing an instrument or singing, and you'd like to learn more about using that ability as part of the Ridge Church worship team, contact Emily. If you'd like to learn more about working with children and being part of our children's ministry team, contact Emily. You guessed it, Emily is the admin part of this couple... You can call her as well, just dial 704.579.2022. (Only 2 months before we are out of our North Carolina cell contract!)

For those of you who weren't able to make it, we missed you! I've posted our Ridge Church Vision and Values on our website for you; check out and download the PDF document here.

Our next Ridge Church gathering is scheduled for Sunday, November 9, from 5:30 to 7 pm at Panache hair salon at 3501 Tazewell Pike in Fountain City. It's a great location, and we're thankful to Christy Garrison yet again for sharing it! One of the things we'll be doing at the November and December gatherings is discussing the second chapter of the book of Acts. This chapter is the description of the first Christian church in Jerusalem in the early days after Christ returned to Heaven... It's a great passage to talk about when your new church is in the same situation!

The gathering schedule is November 9, November 16, December 7, and December 14 (all Sunday evenings). More info on our Sunday, November 23 service project will be posted soon, but you can mark the date.

We're excited about our next Ridge Church Event this week! We're having a Pumpkin Carving at Fountain City Park this Saturday, October 25th, from 2 to 5 pm. It's gonna be a great time for all ages... Who doesn't like using a knife on a defenseless late-season fruit of the vine?!

BYOP (Bring Your Own Pumpkin), and have a great time carving up that big gourd with us. We'll have prizes for Most Creative, Best Craftsmanship, and Funniest categories. Kids can win, too! Our prizes are gift certificates from local businesses in the Fountain City area.

Note: This is an excellent event to bring your friends to who may be interested in The Ridge! It's a comfortable place to be (outside in the Fall) and a fun thing to do (chop up produce) with cool people (all you Ridgers!). So, bring a buddy or a neighbor family and make sure to introduce me to them so I can make new friends!

If you're on Facebook, join our group, and also check out the Pumpkin Carving event page. If you're not on Facebook, make sure we have your email address so we can keep you updated with Ridge Church happenings... Then think about Facebook... It's fun and safe!

See you Saturday!

Important Ridge Church Gathering This Sunday!

Hey, everybody, just wanted to make sure you are all aware of the Ridge Church gathering this Sunday (the 19th) and are making plans to come! We're meeting at 5:30 pm at Panache salon in Fountain City. The address is 3501 Tazewell Pike. Kids are welcome, so bring 'em along. We'll be done by 7 pm, and Emily and I will be grabbing supper afterward; anyone who'd like to join us is welcome!

I want to thank Christy Garrison for generously allowing us to use her awesomely-located place of business for our gathering. When you're a new church, finding space to use for getting together can be tough... Thank you a ton for sharing what God has blessed you with!

As far as the meeting on Sunday goes, it's an important one. We wouldn't invite you if it weren't!

We'll be talking specifically about what you can expect from The Ridge for the next couple of months as we move toward the Thanksgiving and Christmas seasons. We'll talk about the ways that you can connect relationally with other Ridge Church folks in this foundational time as we plan for regular Sunday worship meetings. We'll talk about ways that you can be involved in ministry teams both within The Ridge and outside it in our community. We'll also share a little about how Ridge Church will look in the new year.

Of course, all of these things are crucial, but one thing is super-important: your involvement! We want everyone interested in Ridge Church to feel welcome at all our gatherings, feel like an important part of our group, and have the opportunity to serve and support The Ridge.

On Sunday evening, we'll talk about this and also give you time to ask specific (or not-so-specific) questions about our vision, values, beliefs, plans, structures, hopes, dreams, you name it. Just don't ask what our baby's name is gonna be... We may not quite be there yet! (She's not probably gonna be here for about 10 days... We'll get it figured out!)

So, see you Sunday! And, feel free to bring a friend or two. New things in life are much easier to try when you have a buddy with you.

If you have a Facebook account (if you don't, you should sign up!), check out our Ridge Church group page and our event page. This blog post is your invitation to join the group so you can stay updated! Also, let us know if you're coming on Sunday on our event page so we can plan ahead... Thanks and see you Sunday evening!

Monday, Monday

Yesterday was a long, but good day! I think the tiredness factor was due to my big trip this weekend to Georgia... But, sometimes you have to pile a bunch of stuff together and make a crazy week out of it. I'm sure you've all been there!

First, I went to work at my part-time job at the HoneyBaked Ham Store near Knoxville Center. I've worked there for about 6 weeks now selling holiday hams, turkeys, and gift certificates to local businesses and manufacturers. Having the job allows Emily and me to not take a salary at this time from the funds that we are raising for our new church's financial needs... We want to be good stewards of God's funds and provide for as much of our financial needs as possible, therefore freeing up money for some of God's other purposes.

My job at HoneyBaked is an interesting one that puts me in contact with a ton of people in the area, even though it's usually on the phone! I also deliver lunchtime catering to our customers on most days.

A cool thing about my job is that I work with some really nice people. Most of them don't go to church, and so I've had some cool opportunities to talk to them about The Ridge and its values, and how we're going about starting a church. I learn every day more and more about why folks around our area have chosen not to go to church, and I believe more and more each day that Ridge Church is "on target" for what Emily and I moved to Knoxville for: "to be a community of people transformed by Christ, reaching out to share Christ with others."

Monday afternoon, Emily and I met with Grant Standefer, the Executive Director of the Compassion Coalition. I was connected to Grant through Jim Thompson, the Executive Director of the Coalition. I was connected to Jim through Max Reddick, the Senior Minister at Fountain City Presbyterian Church here in Knoxville. Max is a great guy who gave up a couple hours one afternoon last week to share with us what he knows about the area (he knows alot!).

The Compassion Coalition is an awesome ministry connecting over 150 churches in the Knoxville area to local government and non-profit agencies for the purpose of serving our community. It's a great concept that is long overdue, and it sounds like every city in America would do well to copy it!

As you can see, networking when you're planting a church is a pretty cool thing... There are alot of people out there who want to help those in need and reach our community with Christ's love. Every day, Emily and I are more glad to be here and more excited about continuing to serve our city in the future.

To top off a great, but long day, we had a great time at our "Man Night" at Spicy's in Powell. Some of you guys out there mentioned that you couldn't make it, and we missed you. Stay tuned for our next guys' thing... We'll have another one sometime soon.

Another cool weekend on the road...

This weekend was a great experience. Except for having to leave my 8-months pregnant wife at home and spend 10 hours driving solo, it was a cool 36 hours.

Saturday, I drove to the Atlanta area to visit with Jason Martin, the Lead Pastor of Journey Church. He is doing some really cool stuff down there, although his celebration of the UGA victory over UT Saturday was a tough intro for me.

Journey is a "restart," which basically means taking an old church that is slowly dying and "restarting" the church in the same location, but with a new energy and focus. He's got a great thing going down there. Jason and I spent about 3 hours Saturday evening talking about church planting, connecting with those who don't follow Christ yet, and Acts29. He's a cool guy. If you're in the Austell/Mableton area, check out Journey Church!

Saturday night, I stayed at the Hyatt Place in Duluth, GA. You should check out that Hyatt Place decor. I don't know if people aren't traveling as much due to the cost of gasoline, or if everyone and their mom was staying in Athens for the UT/Georgia game (listened to it on the radio, very sad), or if there are too many hotel rooms in the Atlanta area...

All I know is that I got a 3-star hotel room in Duluth for $34 on Priceline. Sweet, sweet deal. I had honeydew and cantaloupe for breakfast, and some awesome Starbucks coffee. I love sugary melons and fruit big-time. And, having them already cut up and in a bowl for me to grab in the morning is super cool. Big check plus for the breakfast! Unfortunately, I found the room to be too New York/European/modern. I mean, I like a 42" plasma as much as any guy, but I like my hotel room to feel warm and inviting, not cold and feng shui or something.

Anhow, Sunday morning I visited Christ Community Church and hung out with their Teaching Pastor, Matt Adair. Matt is a 'Bama fan who leads a church down the road from Athens and has 100 UGA students in his crowd. Go figure on that one! Definitely cool to see so many 20-somethings excited about God.

Big thanks to Jared Bryant, Christ Community's Director of Ministry to Parents and Children, for showing me around the campus of the Christian school where they meet. I really enjoyed worship with Christ Community, especially Matt's comments at the time that we took Communion.

Matt mentioned something that really struck me... So often, when we share the Lord's Table, we Christians focus on ourselves and how unworthy we are to share in Christ's sacrifice for us. However, we should focus on Christ, because it's His sacrifice on the cross that makes us worthy. We can never ask forgiveness enough times of God to be worthy of having our sins forgiven. Christ has done all the work of being punished for our sins and making a way for us to connect to God. We should focus on Christ during Communion, not ourselves. Heavy stuff, and very full of grace. I think I will quote Matt when his sermon gets on the Internet.

You should definitely drop by Christ Community if you are ever in Watkinsville or you go to UGA to watch the Vols beat the Dawgs in 2010... Ha ha.

This weekend was another reminder of how cool the Acts29 Network is. I met with two guys from historically disconnected denominations who share a common theology and commitment to new churches. Worship and teaching styles may differ from church to church, but it's awesome to be part of such a focused group of guys who are impacting our world with God's love.

Ridge Church Value #5: New Churches

People ask me all the time: "Why are you starting a new church? Why are you "planting" a church in Knoxville, Tennessee? Aren't there a million churches there? Isn't church planting something you do in Africa or Asia?"

These are great questions! And, if I didn't have an answer for them, you might assume I'm a little nutty. But, I do have good answers for those questions...

The first answer is that planting churches is a biblical idea. Here's what Ridge Church has to say about New Churches:

"We believe that beginning and supporting new churches is a healthy, noble, and God-honoring activity. New churches are the most effective means for Christians to reach to others with the grace and love of Christ; all Christians should support the planting of new churches."

Some Bible passages that support our value of New Churches are Acts 16:6-15, Titus 1:5, Romans 15:19-24.

Planting churches is also a logical and intelligent thing for those who want to share God's love with others and spread the truth of Jesus Christ in our country (as well as the rest of the world). Here are some interesting stats:

• There are 120 million secular people in the US.
• The number of "unchurched" people in the US nearly doubled from 1991 to 2004.
• In 1900, there were 28 churches for every 10,000 Americans. In 2004, that number had fallen to 11 churches for every 10,000 Americans.
• 3,500 to 4,000 churches close each year in the US.
• New churches are 6-8 times more likely to bring people into God's family as new believers in Christ than older churches.

In short, church planting is a biblical, wise, logical and loving way to engage our culture and bring the truth of the Gospel to the toughest audience: people who do not go to church and are not interested in God. That's why we're planting Ridge Church in Knoxville and why Ridge Church is part of the Acts29 Network.

Because we are a church plant that believes in church planting, we're "putting our money where our mouth is." Ridge Church is committed to giving 10% of all the finances that we receive once we start meeting regularly toward supporting new churches. We believe that is a worthy way to share the money God gives us with other churches who are seeking to share Christ with thier communities.

I can talk for a long time about church planting! Feel free to email me if you'd like to talk about Ridge Church or why church planting is so important.

Man Night next Monday

Hey, all you guys out there... I've been looking for a good place for guys to hang out. It had to be a place that had good food, stuff to do, and plenty of TV's. Last night, Emily and I went to Spicy's in Powell for a "date night." It's a cool place! They've got pool tables, a bunch of TV's, and a friendly staff.

Mondays at Spicy's are 30-cent wing nights. You can get all the wings you want and just chill, you can shoot some pool, and you can watch Monday Night Football with your buds.

So, if you're checking out Ridge Church and you're a guy, come on out to Spicy's and join me for some Monday night wings and football next week! If wings aren't your thing, they've got sandwiches, burgers, and even salads, and their Ranch Fries are pretty awesome. Bring along any of your buds that you want and hang with us.

Spicy's is at 950 E Emory Road in Powell, right off of the Emory Road exit off I-75, and not far from Halls. We'll get together at 7 for dinner. Then, anybody who wants to can stay and see Peyton's little brother and the Giants try to stay undefeated against the Browns starting at 8:30.

Just drop in and have some fun hanging out! Could be lots of touchdowns in Cleveland for Eli...

Two opportunities for you to help Ridge Church

Well, Emily and I have been back in Knoxville for 3 full months now. We've got settled into our rental house in Gibbs, and we're getting ready for the birth of our daughter in about 4 weeks. We've reconnected with a bunch of people we haven't seen in years, and we've met a ton of new people as well.

Now, there are two very important ways that you can help The Ridge as we continue to add interested people to our group and prepare to someday soon meet on Sundays!

First, we are looking for people who are interested in serving as part of a band. We are excited about having a worship team to lead us in music on Sundays at our weekly worship times. If you play an instrument or sing, or you know someone who does that might be interested in The Ridge, just let Emily know! She loves singing and knows way more about music than I do... She's excited about being part of a fun Sunday worship Team.

Second, we are looking for a place to have worship once we start meeting on Sundays. There are a ton of options out there, from movie theaters to schools to who knows what! There are probably alot more places that we don't know about that would work for a Sunday worship gathering. Since kids are really important to us, we want a place that ideally will allow us to have an area for young children while we are having a worship gathering for "big kids." So, just email me if you have any ideas... And remember, there are no bad ideas!

One note about locations... We want to extend a big thanks to the Christy Garrison for allowing us to use her hair salon, Panache, for our next Ridge Church gathering on Sunday, October 19, from 5:30 to 7 pm. Panache is a great meeting spot, at 3501 Tazewell Pike in Fountain City.

Everyone (including children) is welcome for our gathering! We'll be talking about what The Ridge will look like, what we will be about on a weekly basis, and also some things that we won't look like and be about. There will be time for your questions, so join us in a couple weeks and get them answered... Feel free to bring a friend!

Serving together Saturday was cool

This past weekend, before the glory that was the UT/Auburn game (very sad sarcasm there), we had our first Ridge Church service project.

KARM (Knox Area Rescue Ministries) is a great ministry here in Knoxville. Their mission is "to seek to rescue the poor and needy of the Knox Area by providing services in Jesus' name." They do great work with the needy and homeless folks in our area. To give you just a glimpse of the scope of KARM's ministry, they served 371,876 meals last year (that's over 1,000 per day!). To get some other cool facts about KARM, check out this page.

Saturday, a group of Ridge Church peeps served at the new KARM thrift store on Merchants Drive, helping to sort the clothing donations they've received. The store will be open soon (if it's not already!) so check it out! KARM's thrift store operations pay for about 25% of the meals they serve at their ministry center. The other 75% is paid for by the donations of "viewers like you."

The Ridge is looking for "a few good ministries" to partner with as we move forward with our church plant. We are committed to seeking the welfare of the city we live in. (See Jeremiah 29:3-7--but rest assured Emily and I do not feel "exiled" to Knoxville!) We also want to follow Jesus' last directive to his followers: take His Gospel to all the nations/peoples of the world. (Acts 1:6-11) Since we're in Knoxville right now, Knoxville is where we'll start!

It's important that a church be about both helping the needy and sharing the truth of Christ's life, death, and resurrection with them. Many churches have created an imbalance there. Either they only help the needy and never share the story of Christ's love with them, or they only preach to them and never help them with thier problems.

The Ridge firmly believes in ministering to the poor as a way to "earn the right" to tell them about Jesus and help them in their suffering. We also believe in telling the poor about Jesus so that our ministry can have a spiritual impact as well as physical, social, and emotional impact. It's kind of like the old "chicken and egg" riddle...

Deuteronomy 15:11 is one Bible verse (of a great many) that supports helping those who are in need. However, Christ also strongly commanded us in the Great Commission to "make disciples" (followers of Christ) in the whole world.

Perhaps the Great Commandment sums it up best in Mark 12:28-31: "And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, 'Which commandment is the most important of all?' Jesus answered, 'The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.'"

So, in short, we're going to be all about loving God and loving people at Ridge Church. And serving our community's ministries, schools, and neighborhoods is one way we're going to show that love. Join us and see God do some awesome stuff!

An update on my sister-in-law, Tina

My mom, Frances, emailed me this info today about Tina, my sister-in-law. I mentioned an important prayer request for her a couple days ago.

My mom and dad, Roy and Frances (you can pray for them too, if you want!) heard from my brother Keith last night. He and Tina "learned that the nasal tumor was indeed a pregnancy - related thing that just happened to end up in her nose. Apparently the spot in front of her ear has gone down some. She still has headaches, too, but maybe they are better. The great news is that the situaion seems a lot better than we originally thought. Praise the Lord! It sounds like she is seeing a group in El Paso who will decide Friday about when to do the surgery."

The quotes contain most of the email from my mom. Below is the final sentence of the email:

"Kevin, someone misunderstood the info earlier and there is apparently no spot in her brain, so that needs to be clarified on your website."

So, I guess that clarifies it! Such awesome news! No "spot on the brain." (Wow, isn't it hard to pass along information that doctors share? Who knows where that misinformation/overreaction occurred, but who cares. Ever try to play "telephone" with about 5 friends? You get the point.)

Please join me in praying that Tina's nasal tumor and other spot can be removed easily and harmlessly.

I choose to see God at work here in Tina's life! I have no problem believing that He can heal anyone, anytime, anyplace.

On a continued happy note, here are some pics Keith sent me of their new little girl, Isobel! The last two are pics of Aiden (their middle kid) and Jeremiah (the oldest).

Of financial crises and daily life...

This has been a weird last week or so... Banks failing and people losing their homes. Accusations of lying, stealing, and corruption at the highest levels of corporations and government. Inflation (or maybe deflation), oil prices, lending rates, lack of liquidity in lending, debt, and repossession.

So much stuff is going on that it's hard to get your hands around the problem to figure out what to do about it. Such is the way things go when money becomes a problem.

Maybe the only good thing in all this is that we have some simple principles from God that we can follow to help us with how we deal with money.

In both the Old Testament and the New Testament, God speaks about the evil of corruption (Proverbs 15:27) and the dangers of chasing after wealth. (1 Timothy 6:9-10)

In a crucial discussion of wealth and money, Jesus told us about the importance of spiritual wealth and the shortcomings of greed and material wealth. (Luke 12:13-21) He then goes on to share about how much God loves us and how we don't need to worry about material things... There are more important things for us to be concerned with, like following God. (Luke 12:22-31)

The Bible has much more to say about money, stewardship, giving, and everything about living life in a way that is both enjoyable and brings honor to Him.

For more info at a great website, check out Crown Financial Ministries. It's a great place to start exploring ways God can give you financial peace and contentment, and take away worry and concern!

An important request...

Hey, everybody. I'd like to deviate from the values discussion we've had lately and focus on something that's much different. I want to ask you to pray for my brother's wife Tina.

She just gave birth last week to their third child, and had been dealing with some type of mass in her nasal cavity for awhile during the pregnancy. She's been having horrible headaches. Doctors ran a scan on her this week soon after delivery and are very concerned about the nasal cavity mass and another one they found in different location in her brain.

My brother Keith is in the Army, so Tina's doctor is attempting to help them get a referral outside the Army system, in the expert civilian hospital community. Whatever is done as a treatment, it will be difficult, since surgery in the facial and brain area is never easy.

My brother is stationed at Fort Bliss in El Paso, TX (a long way from our family already) and is due to ship overseas to Kuwait early next year for 12 months. So, there is even more drama in this whole thing.

Please join me, Emily, and the rest of my family in praying for Tina, my brother Keith, and their kids Jeremiah, Aiden, and little Isobel. This is a super-trying time for them and they need God to show up in their lives on this!

Please pray that this issue turns out to be something small and easily-fixable or that God provides healing outright for Tina. Please pray that God would comfort Tina and Keith, and help them to comfort the kids. Please pray that God would give them strength to face this difficult time and that He would show His grace to them and draw them close to Him.

Thank you for praying! I will keep you updated.

Ridge Church Value #4: Serving Others

The fourth core value of Ridge Church is "Serving Others."

Here's what our Launch Proposal says about Serving Others:

"We believe that serving others is a natural lifestyle of committed believers in Christ. Christ-followers should seek to serve both those we encounter in our community and those at the far ends of the earth as a means of sharing the Gospel with all people."

This value flows forward from our third value, Community. There is one very foundational difference between the two values, however. We use the words "serving others" instead of just the word "serving" because our fourth value, Serving, is not aimed at those who are already part of our church or fellowship.

Serving Others means serving those outside of our current group, church, or fellowship (you pick the word you like best). Serving Others means serving people in our neighborhoods, communities, schools, and workplaces. It means serving those in other cities, states, and countries. It is a way to show the world that those who follow Christ care about them, love them, and are representatives of Jesus Christ. It is a way to bring the truth of the Gospel to ears who have learned that they can trust us.

It is important to remember, however, that Community and Serving Others are related. Those who are part of the Ridge Church family should serve each other; we should just remember that serving each other and Serving Others are two different and equally valid expressions of love. One is love for a brother or sister who is in Christ with us, the other is love for a neighbor or friend who may not know Christ. Matthew 20:25-28 links the serving found in our value of Community and the serving found in our value of Serving Others very well.

Proverbs 14:21, Matthew 28:19-20, Isaiah 49:6, Acts 1:8 are just a few of the many verses that support our value of Serving Others.

We have a great opportunity for you to practice this Ridge Church value next weekend! We are helping to set up the new Knox Area Rescue Ministries Thrift Store at 314 Merchants Drive (the shopping center with Outback Steakhouse and the Mandarin House restaurant) on Saturday, September 27 from 12 to 2 pm. Everyone is welcome to join us as we serve our community together. Bring your friends if you like--it will be a great time to meet people who are interested in The Ridge. Kids are welcome, and we'll be done well before game time!

If you'd like to chat about Serving Others or have questions about our service project, just email kevin@ridgechurchknoxville.com. Have a great week!

A lesson from the latest gas craze...

This weekend was a pretty weird time here in Knox Vegas. Friday after work at my part-time job (as a business-to-business sales rep for the local HoneyBaked Ham Store), Emily and I headed to Charlotte for her baby shower. That morning, rumors began circulating that there would be a gas shortage in Knoxville. I filled up at about 10 am, with prices at $3.69 for regular gas. Friday afternoon as we left town, many stations were out of gas, and prices at the stations with gas were hitting $4.49.

Our trip was great, but I worried about not being able to buy gas on the return trip Sunday. However, it soon became evident that although there were stations throughout the Southeast that had run out of gas, most stations had at least regular fuel available at a pretty high price. Driving through South Carolina was nice, since they had ample fuel at pretty low prices. (We usually drive to Spartanburg and up to Charlotte, since it's easy and there's cheap gas.)

Anyway, Monday and Tuesday were strange days. Gas at local stations that had fuel was at least $4.99, and many stations were over $5. We officially had the nation's most expensive fuel prices. It seems that the stations that didn't order more gas from distributors at inflated prices and therefore ran out were not upsetting people nearly as much as those with gas that were charging high prices. (People are funny like that...) Most stations simply had no gas and removed the prices from their signs as an indicator of that fact.

The big takeaway for me in all of this comes from the scene at the local convenience stores that had run out of gas. Our local Weigel's is usally a busy place. It's a neighborhood market and deli as well as a gas station. But when they didn't have gas on Tuesday when I bought milk there, business was dead. There were just a handful of cars. Folks that wanted milk (They have the cheapest, and some say best, around. Maybe due to the Weigel family history as dairy farmers?), beer, bread, and random sundries were in there, but that's it. Checkout ladies were bored. It was surreal when compared to the usual long lines in the store and jostling for a parking spot outside it.

Gas drives our culture's habits. People spend money at Weigels for lots of stuff, but they come there because they can also buy gas. As our nation spends less money on gas and we put more fuel-efficient cars on the road, convenience stores will suffer. They exist to serve the needs of gas-fueled car drivers. When the internal combustion engine really starts to decline with the advent of electric cars and vehicles powered by who knows what, convenience stores will really be in a pickle.

I read recently that The Pantry has 1600 stores. What will they do when everyone is averaging more than 40 miles per gallon in their Civic Hybrids and Toyota Priuses? What will they do when people plug their cars in at home? It seems only the cleanest, brightest, best-located and cheapest convenience stores have a future. Time will tell how it works out, but the future was here this weekend when $5 gas hit Knoxville.

The question is, how flexible are our churches and church leaders? How flexible are our ministries and our denominations? Are we flexible enough to respond to the needs of our extremely fast-changing culture? Are we flexible enough to respond to the changing beliefs of our community members? Are we flexible enough to respond to the next major 9/11-like crisis?

Churches that have Kingdom impact are like the Boy Scouts. They live by the motto "Be prepared." Let's hope that we, as church leaders, are ready for all contingencies and changes in our local communities and we also have prepared ourselves for the likely futures that we will soon live through. Let's not be prepared to serve just the person who lives in our community today, as the convenience stores serve the gas-hungry car. Let's be ready to serve the person in our community 5 or 10 years from now, who is totally different from the current resident. Let's keep an eye to our culture and community's changes so that we can always proclaim the Gospel in ways that resonate with our culture and our people.

Ridge Church Value #3: Community

As I said recently, Ridge Church has six core values. These are the core beliefs that guide our new church, both now and in the future. They are the concepts we stand behind and the hills that we will fight on, the things that make The Ridge unique!

Our third value is "Community." Here's what our Launch Proposal says about Community:

"We believe that all people need healthy, growing relationships based on biblical ideals. These relationships are best found in the Christ-centered family and in a small groups of Christians meeting regularly to encourage and support each other as part of a larger local church community."

It's pretty simple, really! We believe that everyone was created by God to live in community with other humans. We also believe that every Christ-follower needs relationships with other Christians in order to grow to be more like Christ. We believe that God created us that way, and that community is a deep emotional need of all humans. Regardless of how modern and post-modern Western philosophy and culture tend to individualize life, we need each other to be all God wants us to be.

Not only do we believe in community, we believe that community starts in the home. For too long, churches have been willing to take on the responsibilities of the parents in spiritually educating our children. Churches have said, "Here, drop your kid off on Sunday for an hour, and we'll handle all the teaching about God that they need." This is both insufficient in providing a quality spiritual education for children and also unbiblical.

Check out Deuteronomy chapter 6. The Bible clearly teaches here and in multiple other passages that the spiritual guidance of our children should start in the home. We believe that at Ridge Church and are committed to it. Because we are committed to the concept of parents teaching their kids about God, we are also committed to helping parents learn how to spiritually educate their kids.

The bonus prize is that when parents answer their kids' questions about God, it motivates them to learn and apply spiritual concepts in their own lives... Isn't God smart in planning things that way?! (The answer is "YES!")

Ridge Church is committed to providing small group environments for parents (and all those who call The Ridge home) to grow to be more like Christ. We look forward to a not-too-distant future in which Ridge Church has small groups for all age groups. We see groups where mature believers in Christ help both new believers and non-believers to interact with the Bible and life experience in ways that draw them toward faith and surround them with grace.

Finally, we believe that folks at The Ridge should look out for each other. This means that small groups will serve their group members. During tough times like illnesses in the family, small group leaders will provide "triage" care. When new babies come home, small group members will bring food to new parents. When small group members' kids make poor life choices, other members will rally around the family in crisis and provide support and encouragement. When a bread-winner loses a job, small groups will be the at the "front lines" in battling for the family and helping them through hard days.

The list can go on... And it will! Community is a crucial value at The Ridge. And, it leads to another one: Serving Others. Stay tuned for a discussion of that value soon!

There are several verses in the Bible that support our value of Community. Check these out: Proverbs 27:17, Acts 2:42-47, Matthew 18:19-20. If you want to chat about our value of Community, email kevin@ridgechurchknoxville.com.

A Bunch of Thanks!

I think tonight is a great time to issue a massive "Thanks!" to a bunch of folks that have really blessed my life and Emily's life lately... And also the life of Ridge Church!

First, a big thanks goes out to John Fooshee, Jim Fickley, and Kurt Hannah. John and Jim are pastors (lead pastor and leadership coach, respectively) at Redeemer Community Church in Johnson City, TN. Kurt is the lead pastor at Missio Dei Church in Asheville, NC.

These three church planters have graciously accepted my invitation to form Ridge Church's first Outside Advisory Board. Our outside advisory board is a group of men who are qualified by the Bible's standards for leadership to serve as "elders" in a local church setting.

The reason that we need an outside advisory board is to provide wise "elder-level" leadership to The Ridge at a time in our church's life when we do not have "in-house" elders. Discovering who should serve as a local church's elders is not an overnight process, and a time of service and training is required to identify these kinds of men.

I, as the lead pastor, serve as the sole local elder at this time. John, Jim, and Kurt are the outside board members. All of us have been rigorously evaluated and assessed by other pastors and have been approved as members of the Acts29 Network. Together, the four of us form the elder board that oversees major decision-making at Ridge Church.

Over the next few years, Ridge Church will become self-supporting financially and leadership-wise, and we will have a full board of local elders that will replace the outside advisory team. Until that time the people of The Ridge can know that they have a group of qualified men who are committed to their growth and spiritual maturity.

This post isn't really the place for a further discussion of elders, but we will have that one later... Until then, if you'd like to read about the Bible's qualifications for elders, check out 1 Timothy 3:1-7 (The version here uses "overseer" instead of "elder," but these words are often used interchangeably for this role.)

Second, I would like to give a huge thanks to Redeemer Community Church for giving a sacrificial financial gift to The Ridge. Finances are crucial to a church plant, not because "it's all about money" but because all the materials a church needs, from a facility to meet in, to paper to print info on, to "Pack 'n' Plays" for kids to hang out in, costs money.

It is a huge honor to have the support of other churches who are committed to being behind new churches. Prayers, encouragement, and finances are all vital in the church planting process, and Redeemer has provided all of those to me, Emily, and Ridge Church. Thanks, and thanks to other churches and people who are supporting (or considering supporting) The Ridge with finances, prayer, and encouragement!

Third, I want to thank all of our friends in Charlotte who gave Emily a wonderful baby shower this weekend. She and I appreciate it from the bottom of our hearts. We've never done this baby thing before, and all the wisdom and "stuff" we can get is deeply appreciated! Also, since as church planters we are relying on God to provide for our financial needs through the support of other people, very little money is available for baby stuff. So, for several reasons, this weekend was a massive blessing. Thanks!

Finally, I want to thank the folks who braved the highest gas prices in the United States over the weekend to come to our Ridge Church gathering at Mr. Gatti's in Halls on Sunday night. We had a great time stuffing ourselves with pizza, getting to know each other better, and talking about Ridge Church's values. Thanks for being part of a group of people who are becoming The Ridge and for bringing your unique personalities and gifts into our midst. Things are getting pretty darn exciting and I'm honored to be part of God's work in and among us!

Until next time, have a great week!

Once again, an awesome weekend on the road!

This weekend, Emily and I visited Evansville, Indiana and our friends Trey and Kitten McClain, and their two girls, Alyssa and Morgan. Trey and Kitten are planting a church on the West Side of Evansville called Discovery Church.

Sunday morning was Discovery's first weekly worship service. They have been having monthly "Preview Services" for the past 3 months. Preview services are a way to "practice" how the public worship services of a church plant will look. They are a great opportunity for the children's ministry, worship team, pastor, setup and tear-down teams, and everyone else at a church plant to prepare for weekly worship services.

We took Emily's mom, Sue Irving (and her truck!), who along with her husband Bill have committed to helping us plant The Ridge. Unfortunately, Bill couldn't go due to some other responsibilities here in Knoxville. It was great for Sue to help in the children's area at Discovery, since she will be helping lead Ridge Church's children's ministry when we begin our weekly worship services.

Although it's fun to visit other churches and learn from the way our friends are leading their church plants, it's also nice to be home, too. We've been on the road a bunch lately and we're about ready for a break.

Emily and I are looking forward to spending some time with new friends (and old friends) who are checking out Ridge Church this Sunday night at Mr. Gatti's in Halls... I'm excited to share about the Vision and Values of The Ridge and for us to share some time chatting about what our church will look like.

So, join us (and feel free to bring your kids and your friends) this Sunday from 5:30 to 7 pm at 6903 Maynardville Highway. Gatti's has graciously offered us a meeting room, so everyone can eat pizza until about 6 pm, and then we'll talk about the future and The Ridge.

If you have questions about Sunday or Ridge Church, just email kevin@ridgechurchknoxville.com. See you Sunday!

Some Pics from our Picnic at Fountain City Park

Emily took these shots, and I wanted to share them with you.

Don't forget, our next Ridge Church gathering is this Sunday, September 14 from 5:30 to 7 pm at Mr. Gatti's in Halls! You can get directions and more info here.

If you have questions, just email kevin@ridgechurchknoxville.com or call 865.223.5851. See ya Sunday!