Ridge Church Update for October

Hey, everyone! It's been a few weeks since my last blog update. I wanted make sure you know what's been going on with Ridge Church and also Kevin and Emily (and Chloe!).

First, God has been so gracious to us; we have much to thank Him for.

• Our former Ridge Church folks have the best hearts! They have done a great job of humbly joining the OneLife Church team. Many of our former Ridge Church people are serving at OneLife, most in the children's ministry area of the new church. That's great for the former Ridge Church folks, because everyone is finding a place to serve God and others. It's great for OneLife too, because they've had more children than they anticipated this early in the life of the church and needed our great volunteers. Awesome fit between Ridge Church and OneLife. That's a God thing!

• OneLife has seen 6 people commit themselves to being Christ-followers already! That's an awesome thing for a church that's only had 5 public Sunday worship services. Also, OneLife continues to grow each Sunday in numbers. This is a blessing from God, as people who are not connected to God by a relationship with Christ are inviting others who do not know God. This is great!

• We are currently in the process of finalizing the "winding down" of our Ridge Church financial situation. We will be giving some monetary gifts to some important people: Ken and Christy Garrison, the owners of Panache Hair and Body where Ridge Church met on Sundays; Andy Hughes and Journey Church of the Highlands in Boone, North Carolina; and Jeremy Rose and The Axis Church in Nashville, Tennessee. More information will be available soon on our final financial stats. I think it's important and cool to see a tally of how much of God's money Ridge Church folks sent back to church planters and missionaries! New Churches and Serving Others were two very important values at Ridge Church. We are going to live out those values all the way through to completion. Those financial numbers will be available soon here on the blog.

• If you'd like to keep up with what's going on with me and Emily, here's a link to our latest prayer letter to our prayer team and financial partners. Feel free to check it out. If you have any questions about supporting our ongoing fundraising as we trust God to provide for our financial needs while I am a volunteer staff member at OneLife Church, email me!

Thank you all so much for reading the blog over the last 15 months... I have one more post, at least, that I will put up soon. Have a great night.

A Ridge Church Update

Hey! Sunday was the first day of Ridge Church folks going to OneLife Church. I have to admit, this week has been a little weird for me.

Last Sunday, Emily and I shared with you all that Ridge Church would be folding into OneLife. It was our prayer (Emily and me) that everyone would see a couple things in this decision.

• First, we wanted people to know that Emily and I came back to Knoxville after 10 years of ministry in other places because God told us to and we plan to stay as long as He wants us to. We have been committed to and remain committed to God's plan for this city. We love Knox Vegas, we love the people here, and we want to see the Gospel of Jesus Christ bear great fruit and transform this place one life at a time.


• Second, we wanted people to know that Emily and I are committed to church planting. The Core Values of Ridge Church were Truth, Grace & Faith, Community, Serving Others, New Churches, and Fun. It just so happens, OneLife is all about those values and that shows that this is a great place for our people.


• Third, we believe that the Church (big "C", meaning all Christians throughout time and place) is Jesus's bride, as spoken about in Scripture. (This isn't creepy, it is a way of sharing just how much God loves us and how important we are to Him.) That means that God is the leader of the church (little "c", meaning individual churches everywhere). The Bible teaches that we are all one body as the worldwide Church, and we should answer to God. That means that if God wants to connect 2 churches (local manifestations of the worldwide Church) and make one, He has the right to do that. In many cases, as in ours, we can see the wisdom in it. In some cases, churches really need to combine, but we resist it, for whatever reason. I think church connections should occur more often, but that's another discussion! Anyway, we want to exhibit humility in our commitment to Christ. God is in charge here, and we know that we are obeying God and advancing the Kingdom of God by folding into OneLife. That's enough said right there. Any personal ambitions we have must be subordinated to the goal of getting the Gospel out to other folks.
  


• Fourth, by folding into OneLife, Ridge Church will cease to exist, but how we do this part is almost as important as how we started. Even during this transitional time, we have a great opportunity to share Jesus with folks. When people ask, "Why are you doing this?" you can tell them that God said for us to, we are all part of God's body, He can do more when we team up, we want to obey God... All of these reasons are true and any one of them is a great answer! But one thing you won't tell them (because it's not true!) is that we "failed" or God let us down, or there was "sin in the camp" (there's not) or that we gave up or that we didn't want to share the Gospel with other people. We are folding into OneLife so that we can accomplish the mission God gave us His way, as part of a team of people leaning on each other and God. That's simple and good! No "church splits" or "personality clashes" or "differences of opinion" or whatever other excuses people give for not living out the Christ-following life in harmony with other believers. Nope, we are making a healthy move to honor God; we're moving as one small healthy church plant into fellowship with another healthy church plant. It's a great example to those who don't follow Christ, and also a great example to churches out there that constantly fight and bicker over stuff.

In the end, God wins through what we are doing! I want you all to see that and believe that. I do. I love you all and pray that you will continue to explore what God has for you, be willing to try new and challenging things for Jesus, and obey with all your hearts!

By the way, God does move in weird ways! Last Sunday, all I knew was that I would show up at OneLife this Sunday and pitch in however I could. Today, I'm a part-time staff member, continuing to raise financial support so that God can use the gifts and talents I have to support the OneLife staff team. I'm honored and humbled and excited about what He has in store, all at the same time. For those who are supporting us financially, thanks so much! We will continue to rely on you so that we can serve in Knoxville. More info on how supporting us works out will be available soon.

See you this Sunday at OneLife! 11 a.m. at Powell High School... If you have questions or want to get involved (since that's part of my job!) email me!

The Letter We Sent to Our Prayer Partners

I didn't know exactly what to write here, so I'm posting the letter we sent to our many prayer partners. Here goes...

This prayer letter began when I asked Emily to help me with it... I have had a tough emotional ride of late. Just so all of you know that God uses Emily all the time to speak with, to, and even for me sometimes... - Kevin

After a very difficult yet very blessed 15 months, God has led us to join forces with another church plant in the Knoxville area. We have had quite a bit of time to pray, think, and talk with others about this, and we have come to a simple conclusion. We believe God led us to plant Ridge Church as a part of His sovereign plan. We have seen people who had given up on church become interested and involved again. Others had a renewed excitement about God and some were introduced to a God they had never met before, one that was not concerned with the rules and legalism that is so prevalent in this area. All of these things would not have happened if God hadn’t sent us here with the intent to plant. For whatever reason God has seen fit to greatly bless our efforts, protect us from any type of unhealthy, negative or “bad” situation, yet at the same time draw Ridge Church as we now know it to a close. This has been a very crazy time and we have sought very wise counsel and prayer from our outside advisory board, other pastors and other godly men and women.

In church planting, you never know what's going to happen... It's always a risk and success in God's eyes is not always the same as success in our eyes. Based on a ton of Scripture I've read lately, God sees human success as equal to obedience to Him. We have seen the next step God wants us to take and rather that fight for “our” plans and our own personal ambitions, we believe God wants us to obey His leading, continue serving in Knoxville as missionaries, and join the team of this new church plant. We have a network of well over a hundred “unchurched” people that we are still in contact with, still are interested in what we've been talking to them about (God), but will also take more time to be willing to check out God or understand what a relationship with Christ is.

We shared this information with our core group Sunday morning at our Prayer Gathering and were not sure what to expect. God gave me the words to say and had already prepared the people's hearts. They were sad on the one hand but excited about the future as well. Church plant core group members are typically risk-takers themselves. God has really blessed us with them and we are so thankful that this move will bring glory to Him.

Obviously, we have some massive prayer requests. First, that God will continue to give us wisdom and sensitivity as we draw our time as a Ridge Church body to a close. We want to honor those who support us financially and through prayer and ask that you continue in your support. Our work here is far from done and we plan to continue serving as missionaries in this area. Sadly, in the “Bible Belt” so many people think they know God but are just going through the motions. Then there are those that are so “righteous” they have made it incredibly hard for other committed Christ-followers to reach non-believers.

Second, pray for this transition time for God’s people. They will be walking into a new environment and a larger group. This will be exciting for some and difficult for others.

Thirdly, pray for Emily and me. It is hard to not struggle with the “success syndrome.” Pray we remember all that God has done and the amazing ways He has used us instead of focusing on what could be perceived by others as a failure. Please pray that He would guide us on the next phase of our church planting and missionary journey here in Knoxville.

A few weeks ago Emily and I went on a walk to pray in a local park. There was a really nice paved path around the entire park that we walked in silence as we were there to be quiet and seek God. When we neared the end of the paved path, there was a little beaten-down dirt path that took us off the paved path, but it was clearly a path. Most people would pass it by but we, of course, had to check it out. Emily noticed it first, quickly stepped onto it, and I noticed and followed her. It was beautiful and ran along the creek. Along the way we were poked by some thorns, but Emily saw where it ended up and we returned to the main paved path. I asked her where the dirt path led and she said, “It joins back up with the main path.”

A realization hit both of us like a ton of bricks: We are THOSE people. We are the people who will always get off the smooth, easy, well-traveled path, in search of those hidden treasures that require getting your arms and ankles scraped along the way. In the end, God brings us back to the smooth path. Some would say we’re the dumb people who don’t know how to follow directions. But we look back and know that we follow the dirt paths in life because of how God has wired us. He uses that wiring to accomplish His greater purpose in our lives. God has created us all differently and each one of us is a special and wonderful creation of His.

So, we are now continuing on the path God gave us over a year ago, planting a new church in Knoxville. We remain focused on missions, service, and evangelism, driven by the desire to reach this community for Christ, throwing aside anything that hinders us in that pursuit. We pray that you would continue to support us in this effort! We will continue to keep you updated.

We love you all!

Kevin and Emily

A Sick Kid...

Well, Chloe got sick again this week! It's been several months since she's been under the weather, but this weekend has reminded us of just how often kids catch bugs. Emily took her to the doctor on Friday, and she got a shot of antibiotics and a prescription. It's a blessing that she started having a fever on Friday instead of before the long weekend... Especially for Mommy and Daddy!

Everyone who's been a parent has experienced sick kids and the stresses that they cause you... If you haven't been a parent, then you've been the sick kid! (I think we all have done that one!)

In our current Bible teaching series, we're talking about "Things I've learned from Chloe." Last Sunday, we discussed how I've learned some things about God and prayer from our daughter. The first thing I've learned: we need to pray BOLDLY and PERSISTENTLY. Babies have both of those things down... When they need something, they make sure you are aware of it. Jesus' teaching in Luke 11:5-8 shows us that we should communicate in similar ways to babies when we pray about our needs! God wants us to seek Him with boldness and persistence. How often do we fail to do that? Alot, in my case at least. The challenge: approach the "throne of grace" with boldness and persistence when you pray!

This Sunday, we'll be worshiping with the folks at the Catalyst service at Central Baptist Church of Fountain City. Snacks are available at 10:10, and worship starts at 10:30. Emily and I will be there for snacks... But Chloe is going to sit this one out with Grandma Sue to be on the safe side. See you there!

A Good Weekend

Yep, it was a good weekend... I had to work Saturday, but I talked to a couple of good friends, too. First, I talked to my friend and a former missionary with us in West Virginia, Malcolm. Malcolm lives in Ohio now... If you'd like to pray for something, you can pray for his part-time job situation and also pray for his wife Emily to find a new job. She and "my Emily" are good friends!

Later, I talked to my friend Andy Hughes, another Acts29 church planting buddy. Andy is the pastor of Journey Church of the Highlands in Boone, NC. The Ridge supports Andy, his family, and his church financially with 5% of our tithes and offerings... This is part of our commitment to one of our six core values: New Churches! Many of you got to meet Andy when he drove here one Sunday this spring to share about his family and their church plant in Western North Carolina. His church has a new website in the works... Check it out!

Today was a good day, too! I attended the second "preview service" of One Life Church with Emily, Chloe, and Becca Thiele, our children's ministry intern. Becca just got back for the fall semester at Johnson Bible College and is excited about being back and working with our kids! She'll be back in action on Sunday, August 30th at 10 a.m. at our next Ridge Church Worship Gathering at Panache Hair and Body in Fountain City. We'll again be having child care for kids age 0-5... Make sure to say "hey" to her!

Later on, Emily and I met some new friends for coffee at Starbuck's in Powell. It was cool... They just moved back to Knox Vegas from North Carolina (alot like us) and we have alot of things in common. That's cool... New friends are great! Chloe got tired on us at Starbuck's, but all in all, she did pretty good! She's such a "big girl."

If you'd like to pray for us this week, feel free to! Emily, Chlo Chlo and I are heading to Indianapolis, Indiana for a denominational church planter assessment Monday morning. We have been invited for some free training by a leader in that denomination... We'll be back on Saturday and look forward to seeing you Sunday!

Prayer and Pakistan

I had a great time Sunday at our monthly Ridge Church Prayer Gathering. I always enjoy getting together with you all, and Sunday was cool because we got together to pray!

Last month, we prayed through the ACTS process. For those of you who aren't familiar with it, ACTS is a "recipe" to follow in prayer so that your prayers make sure to honor God and "cover all the bases" that you want to pray about. This is way better than the random "beef stew" prayer that we often send up to God, full of all kinds of stuff that just gets added into our prayers willy-nilly. (Maybe this isn't a good analogy, but it's what I got right now.)

Anyhow, A stands for adoration; it's the time for adoring God for who He is. C stands for confession; it's the time for admitting our sins to God and requesting His strength to obey Him in our lives. T stands for thanksgiving; it's the time to thank God for all kinds of stuff. Finally, S stands for supplication; it's the time for praying for others and ourselves, and is at the end on purpose!

Anyway, this week we decided to pray through the Ridge Church values. In an hour, we got through the first 3: Truth, Grace & Faith, and Community. I had a great time, and I hope you all did, too. The Krispy Kremes that Sue Irving brought were a nice treat! At our next prayer gathering in September, we'll "pray through" our other 3 values.

On Sunday we also took up a special offering for our Pakistani brothers and sisters in Christ. You all shared more than $50 that will go directly to Pakistan to provide clothes and lodging for Christ-followers who have had their homes burned by angry Muslims. Thank you for sharing what God has trusted to you so that we can be an encouragement to others in Jesus' name!

This Sunday, we'll meet at One Life Church for worship. At our Prayer Gathering, I said we'd meet at 9:45 at Powell High School. The time for their worship gathering is 11 a.m., not 10 a.m. as I thought. So, we'll gather at 10:45 at Powell High School this Sunday the 23rd. Childcare is provided by OneLife, so kids are welcome! After worship, everyone is welcome to eat lunch with us as always!

See you at small group and on Sunday!

An Important Cause for The Ridge to Get Behind...

This Sunday is our monthly large group prayer gathering at Panache at 10 a.m. This is an important time for us to gather as Christ's community. We praise God, get right with God, thank God, and ask God to intervene in others' lives and also in our own lives.

It is a great time to get together. It's informal and anyone interested in praying with us is welcome. After we pray, we'll eat lunch together afterward! Child care is not provided, but kids are welcome and parents can always step out with them if they need to!

This week, we are going to pray especially for the Pakistani Christ-followers who have recently been viciously attacked by their Muslim neighbors. You can read a Washington Post article about the Muslim arson and murders here.

The Christians in Punjab are showing Christlike hearts by not retaliating and by publicly praying that those who perpetrated these attacks are changed by God. I pray that we would offer so much grace in the same situation!

The truth is that there are Christ-followers in many nations who, even in the 21st century, find themselves persecuted or killed for their faith. Voice of the Maryrs is a great organization that has much information and serving opportunities regarding persecuted Christ-followers.

Our friends and sister churches in the Acts29 Network have committed to provide food, clothing and shelter for 315 Pakistani Christ-followers whose homes have been burned. The cost is $47,250; American dollars go a long way in Pakistan. An Acts29 pastor friend of mine in Raleigh, North Carolina, Elliot Grudem, has put up a webpage on his church website with more information about this tragedy and some pictures here.

Because the need to help our brothers and sisters in Christ is urgent, we are going to have a special offering time at our Ridge Church prayer gathering on Sunday. All the funds that we collect in the offering will go directly to an Acts29 church in Washington State with direct wire capabilities to Pakistan. 100% of your offering will go to Pakistani believers to provide for their basic needs at this difficult time. We will pray for these families on Sunday as well.

If you'd like more information, please email me.

Have a great week, and thank God for the blessings you have... See you at small group this Wednesday at our home, or have fun at small group on Thursday at the Irving home!

KidFest Slideshow

Here is the slideshow from Ridge Church's two day KidFest. Thanks to everyone who made it possible. Enjoy the pictures!

SkateTown was Awesome... Info Meeting this Sunday!

I had a great time with you all and our community at KidFest! I also really enjoyed our first-ever worship gathering and skating party at SkateTown in Fountain City. The worship and skating time is something that we hope to do again sometime!

Thanks to all the Ridge Church folks who worship God by giving financially. Your obedience to God and financial giving makes events for our community like KidFest possible. Also thanks to the churches who support us!

It was good to be able to celebrate the results our first KidFest at SkateTown on Sunday. Emily made a PowerPoint presentation of pictures of kids and their parents, as well as our awesome Ridge Church volunteers who made the event happen. (Also Trey and Kitten McClain and Keith Zenker, the Discovery Church folks who came down from Evansville, Indiana to help us out!) We hope to be able to put a version of the pictures Emily presented up on the blog for you soon.

This Sunday, we're having a Ridge Church Info Meeting at Panache at 6 p.m. We haven't had one of these for a long while... Basically, this meeting is an opportunity for new people at The Ridge or people who are investigating Ridge Church to come and learn more about us. We'll talk about our Vision and Values, get to know each other better, and answer any questions folks may have. It's gonna be a good time!

We are not gathering as a fellowship on Sunday for worship. My encouragement to you is to get out and worship at a good, Bible-believing church near you. Emily and I will be investigating a church we haven't been to before, in anticipation of bringing all of you there with us in the near future. As long as Chloe cooperates... She has her first "real" virus right now. Feel free to pray for her to feel better! It's so sad to see babies sick, especially your own!

Have a great weekend!

KidFest was Awesome! SkateTown Tomorrow!

Wow! Today was our second and final afternoon doing KidFest in Fountain City Park! It was a blast. It was very cool to be part of it, and as your pastor, I am very proud of you, Ridge Church!

For those of you not aware of KidFest or the reasons behind it, the two day event had a simple purpose. We believe that people are important, because God believes that. We believe we should love people, because God does. So, we asked ourselves how we could show our community they are important and we love them. We came up with doing all kinds of fun stuff in Fountain City Park for kids and families absolutely FREE! It turned out to be awesome and fun for everyone... I have a feeling we may very well do another KidFest again someday!

I am proud (of course that's the good kind of pride) that 23 Ridge people volunteered on Friday and Saturday to love our community and serve as part of KidFest. We had folks painting faces, painting hair, putting on temporary tattoos, playing games, doing crafts, watching babies, and participating in object lessons that were fun and shared Bible truths... I saw people come out of thier shells, I saw people doing things they had never done. I saw, most of all, people realizing that we can ALL be "ambassadors for Christ" and share Jesus' love with others, even strangers!

I am proud of everyone who pitched in with their time, money, and stuff. Great job loving others in our community, with no strings attached or expectations for "payback" of some kind.

I want to especially thank Trey, Kitten, Alyssa, and Morgan McClain and Keith (I can't spell your last name, email me it dude!) for coming down from Evansville, Indiana to help us serve our neighbors this weekend! Trey is the pastor of Discovery Church. Emily and I have been best buds with Trey and Kitten for a decade. His young church supports The Ridge financially and prayerfully. They came to join hands with us in loving our community, and they rock! Thanks!

At The Ridge, two of our six core values are Serving Others and Fun. These last couple days, you did both. Great job!

Tomorrow (Sunday), we will have another big day! We've rented SkateTown in Fountain City so that we can have some fun together. We'll have worship at the usual time of 10 a.m., followed by FREE stating for us and our friends and neighbors from 11:30 until 1 p.m.!

Make sure to bring a chair to sit in for worship! If you have more than enough for your family, please bring the extras for others to use!

This will be another day of fun, worshiping God and rolling in circles together! See you there!

Cool Weekend Ahead!

This weekend is our first KidFest! I'm excited about the great opportunity that's before us.

Most churches, when they want to do something fun for their community, invite the community to come into their building. This is nice, and really is a good idea. For many people, however, it is not enough. Especially for those who have been burned by "church people" or have misconceptions about what "church people" are like, it is scary. Have you ever been somewhere for the first time and not been at least a little nervous? I haven't. Especially if that place has to do with your "immortal soul."

Always having community-friendly activities in our church edifices doesn't show the people in our community that we really want to hang out with them where they are. It doesn't show them that we care enough to leave our secure base camp and come out and rub elbows with them.

Of course, The Ridge doesn't have the temptation to invite people into our building all the time... We don't have our own place! Although we meet on Sundays for worship and prayer at Panache, we don't have our own building. So, we are often faced with the challenge of being creative with our meeting locations! One of the several benefits of not having our own permanent location is the flexibility to meet where we need to or want to. We also have great opportunities to be "ambassadors for Christ" in the places where our friends and neighbors live and work and play.

In the past, we have met for various gatherings in a restaurant, a storefront, a cafe, a pizza place, a bowling alley, and in homes! We still meet in homes for our weekly small group gatherings.

We've also met at Fountain City Park! We last met together at the park for our Easter worship gathering. It was a ton of fun! This Friday and Saturday, we will meet there again for our KidFest.

KidFest is simply a fun way to love on the people in our community! We believe that Jesus commanded us to love Him, love others and share His Gospel with them. (See the "Great Commandment" and the "Great Commission" in the Bible.)

KidFest is a two-day fun event, from noon to 2 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, July 31 and August 1. We'll have spots where kids can get their faces or hair painted, play games, and other interesting and fun stuff. There are no strings attached! We won't ask people to sign up for anything or fill out any cards. The idea is simply to bring Christ's love in front of people in the form of simple and caring people (us!).

Then, to add a fun finale to the weekend, we'll have our Sunday worship gathering at SkateTown USA in Fountain City! We're gathering at our usual time of 10 a.m. We'll have worship, and then FREE skating for our church and community from 11:30 to 1 p.m. It should be a blast!

We could certainly use some more volunteers to help out on Friday and Saturday. If you're interested, please email Emily or call her at 244.7278. Thanks and see you in the park!

Moving Stinks, but God is Cool

Well, I sit here on Saturday evening in the Panera Bread in Fountain City. I love this place (except for their new coffee style, not a big fan of that), especially when I'm in an "Internet pinch."

I'm in just such a pinch now. We just moved from a rental home in Gibbs to a rental condo in Fountain City on Thursday. (P.S., I'm a big fan of "Two Men and a Truck!" Shout outs to Eddie and Anthony, if they read this!) The Internet is set up with Comcast, but we just cleared out enough room in the condo to actually get the cable jacks within arm's reach last night at about midnight. I had to work at my "real" job all day today, so no Internet at the condo yet.

The great thing about Panera is that Emily and I can meet here for a pre-birthday supper (her birthday is tomorrow...) and then I can stay and "compute" and finish up my sermon and stuff for tomorrow's worship gathering at Panache at 10 a.m. Love to see you there, by the way!

Now I totally believe moving stinks, since packing up and then living out of boxes, and trying to do it all with a Chloe in the room, is tough. But, God has provided us a cheaper, and closer-in place that will be great for our small group to meet in. We loved the green spaces of Gibbs, but we are committed to our ministry in the more urban areas of our town. So, this is great for us!

Finally, many of you have been praying that God would send our core group the worship leader and ministry partner that He wants us to have. As a result of an ad on craigslist, and also putting the word out to some pastor friends, we have been connected with several prospective dudes. So, your prayers are working... Keep praying that the Holy Spirit would work in the heart of the right guy and he would be as excited about loving Knoxville with Christ's love as we are!

See you tomorrow!

Prayer and a Wedding

Well, I had a great time this Sunday at our first Ridge Church corporate prayer gathering. We have committed for the near future to have two gatherings each month at The Ridge. The first is a "regular" worship gathering, where we will enjoy musical worship, teaching from the Bible, and communion together. The second gathering is one devoted to prayer.

Jesus was God's Son, "God in a bod." And, He prayed alot. You could easily make the case that we should pray 24/7, since we're not perfect, as Jesus is! Fortunately, Jesus had alot to say about prayer and how to pray. We are told to pray constantly by the Apostle Paul.

So, prayer is important! And, I think you would probably agree that we don't pray enough, either as individuals, families, or churches. So, at Ridge Church, we are aiming to change that part of our lives and approach God more often in many different settings and styles. We will praise Him, repent of sin to Him, thank Him, and intercede for the needs of others and ourselves. It's good stuff for the Christ-following soul!

This Friday through Sunday, Emily and I are going to Charlotte, NC to participate in a wedding. One of our former student ministry members is tying the knot and we've been invited to be part of it. I'll be co-performing the wedding, and Emily will be reading Scripture as part of the ceremony. Speaking of prayer, please pray for the couple, Daniel and Vanessa. They are great "kids" (not anymore!) and we want God's blessing on their lives. Please also pray for our travel to be safe and for Chloe to hang in there during the drive and non-Mommy time... Thanks!

This Sunday, we are not having a gathering at The Ridge. Most weeks when we don't gather, we'll go to another local church together and then eat lunch at a local restaurant to fellowship. This week, since Emily and I are out of town, I want to encourage you to visit another local, Bible-believing church. If you learn anything interesting or "steal" any cool ideas, let me know!

Have a great rest of the week!

A guest blog from one of our own...

Today, I thought it would be cool to have a guest blog post. Today's post is from one of our Ridge Church folks, Bill Irving. He and his wife Sue host a Ridge Church small group at their home in the Alice Bell area. (They are also Emily's parents and Chloe's grandparents!) They had a super-cool fun night last week that I thought you'd like to hear about. Here's Bill's post:


"Acts 1:8 talks about Christ-followers being 'witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.' On Thursday, June 25, the small group that meets at our home had a watermelon slicing. The main families that we invited were the eight households that touch our property. The people we invited are our immediate Jerusalem.

There were about 18 people who showed up, with half of the households that we invited being present. We got better acquainted with people we already knew, but met people that we did not know, too. We also took watermelon to one of the families in our neighborhood that is homebound.

There was not a lot of pre-planning. Each family in our small group brought a watermelon and on the previous Monday, Emily and I passed out invitations to the surrounding homes. We used the postcards that Kevin had given us the week before, which included the church's website. So there was not a lot of prior notice. This is something that we will try again not only in our neighborhood but it could also be tried in the neighborhoods that our group members live.

With the modern inventions of air conditioning and TV most families don’t get out of their houses as much and talk with their neighbors. This will give you an opportunity to meet your neighbors"

- Bill Irving

What Bill and his small group did was awesome! Their whole idea was to get to know their community, have some fun, and share God's love with other people, while enjoying an evening together as a small group. This is a great idea, because God has called us to live as witnesses to Him starting in our neighborhoods and moving out from there.

One important thing to note is that Bill and his small group didn't "push" Jesus on anyone at their watermelon slicing. They didn't all bring Bibles out and hit their neighbors over the head with them. They did, however, show that they cared about their neighbors, and they did make their neighbors aware of their small group. They made sure folks knew that they were welcome to come to their small group and our Sunday gatherings. Awesome!

Great job Ridge Church people! May your example serve as a reminder that we can all reach out to be witnesses for Christ anytime, anyplace. Enjoy the pics of the watermelon slicing below!

A Year One Update and Some Important Changes at The Ridge

Hey everybody! I just wanted to take some time and put out here on the blog some important changes that are taking place at The Ridge. It's hard to believe, but it's been nearly a year since Emily and I moved back to Knoxville (June 30 of last year)!

The last year has been a tough one for Emily, Chloe, and me. Emily's pregnancy was stressful, but Chloe was our "little" miracle child when she was born in November. There's too much to share about that here, but Emily will if you want!

Chloe has had a disposition toward giving us first-time parents little scares by being sick a lot. Fortunately, after getting ear tubes about a month ago, Chloe has only had one infection of any kind! That's kinda nice, because since leaving the hospital in November, three month-long ear infections (requiring 3 different meds and two shots), and five other infections. Chloe's went to the doctor more than 20 times this year from January to April... And to Children's Hospital for tests twice.

We are by no means complaining, since we have a healthy child! Many other parents care for chronically ill children with major health issues. We have been very blessed to have Chloe and have all her "issues" be minor. But, as a first-time Dad, this has not been something I could have been ready for, that's for sure!

Talking about numbers, Emily and I have driven more than 4,500 miles since our church planting journey began, visiting churches to raise support for our plant, meeting other pastors, and being the subject of prayer from entire churches (thanks alot for those prayers!). Chloe has already been to 7 states outside Tennessee!

So, it's been a wild year in several ways, incuding being a church planter and first-time dad while also working full-time at a retail establishment (HoneyBaked Ham Store) and watching our old townhouse in Charlotte sit on the market while we have been unable to make payments on it.

To be completely honest, much of our human "planning" for our church plant has been completely tossed asunder over the last 12 months by God. I have come to realize over the past year that the church planting experience is a wonderful tool that the Lord uses to enact major remodeling in the spiritual, physical, emotional, and social world of the church planter and his wife and family. I have found that this "remodeling" has to occur before the church planter and the church plant can be effectively used by God to lead others to Christ and to spiritual growth.

Relatively little has gone "according to plan", from the recession affecting the lives of so many of our Ridge Church folks and our personal fundraising efforts, to Chloe's doctors' visits, to needing to work full-time at a non-church job to support our little family.

I was once pretty upset at all the stuff that didn't go the way I wanted it to over the last year. However, God has changed my mind about all of it. I have been supremely humbled by the Lord since June 30, 2008. He has grown me in many, many ways. I have seen Him at work, come to a new realization of His Sovereignty in my life, and finally given the totality of my life over to His control and guidance. This is tough for a Type A kinda guy and Type A kinda girl (Emily).

Anyway, with regard to our important Ridge Church changes: We've found that we are a little "ahead of ourselves" in acting our age as a church plant. Just like Chloe should be expected to act like a 7-month old, our church should act its age as well. We want to offer God a Sunday worship gathering that is worthy of His greatness. We want other people as the Body of Christ at Ridge Church to be involved in serving and leading. We want to be a healthy church planting family and make sure that we have healthy time and involvement boundaries. This way, Emily, Chloe and I have our priorities in order and enjoy the family God has blessed us with.

Last Sunday at The Ridge, we shared that our church is going to move to meeting twice monthly on Sundays. We are seeking to "act our age" and strive to be a place of spiritual health for the planter, God's people, and our city as we remember our focus must be upward on God and outward on others, not inward on ourselves.

I have created a PDF document from my PowerPoint slides that we talked about last Sunday. I'd love for you to read it if you'd like to learn more about our re-commitment to our Ridge Church Vision and Values and also to the Lord, each other, and our community. Feel free to check it out here, and also feel free to email me any comments or questions you may have.

Emily, Chloe and I continue to be committed to this great adventure that God has called us to, and we want to encourage you to stay the course with us as we move forward under a renewed sense of the Holy Spirit's leadership.

Have a great week!

Great Small Group Opportunities This Week!

We have two small groups at Ridge Church. They are our first small groups, and they've been meeting for about a month... They're awesome!

One thing that we believe is very important as part of our small group concept is "knowing and being known." They idea is that when you participate in a small group, and really buy into the concept of living as part of a community of Christ-followers, you will know others, and you will be known by them as well.

It's a cyclical, building-on-itself process. As you share about yourself, you show you trust others, and they get to know you. As others share about themselves, they show that they trust you and you get to know them. All the time that this sharing is going on, you are building community.

As trust is built in Christian community, people allow others to be God's "broken tools" that He uses to help us fix our brokenness. As wild as it sounds, God is glorified when we help each other, even though none of us are anywhere near perfect. This is part of God's plan of helping us to grow spiritually. It is part of the "discipleship process" which means that you are becoming a more devoted follower (disciple) of Christ.

Things work really well in relationships when we consider others as more important than ourselves (Philipppians 2:1-11), when we "speak the truth in love" (Ephesians 4:15-16), when we don't make assumptions about folks and try to fix their problems while ours are obviously hindering us (Matthew 7:1-5), and we truly submit to the useful assistance others can provide us in our lives (Proverbs 27:17).

In Ridge Church small groups, we love the verses above (and other verses), because they guide our behavior and attitudes in our small groups, and they show us how God wants to work in our lives.

Of course, part of "knowing and being known" is having fun together! Fun is even one of our Ridge Church core values! So, each of our small groups has a "fun night" each month.

This week, the Alice Bell small group, (led by Bill and Sue Irving) is meeting at Bill and Sue Irving's house at 6:30 pm on Thursday night. Everyone is welcome! You can click here for directions to the house. Their small group's fun night is coming up soon, and I've heard something about a watermelon slicing!

The Gibbs small group (led by Kevin and Emily Layne) is having a night of Lunar Golf at Knoxville Center Mall this Wednesday night at 7 pm. Anyone is welcome to come to this group, as well. Click here for more info on Lunar Golf.

If you're not involved in a small group, this week is a great time to jump in! It's also a great time to bring a friend to check out your group and make some new friends.

Have a great week!

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday!

Sunday Sunday Sunday! See the alcohol-burning funny cars at the Bristol WinterNationals! Tickets go on sale Friday! Your ticket gets you the whole seat, but you'll only need the edge!

I've always wanted to be that guy that does the drag racing commercials... Maybe someday I'll get scouted to do that and make the big bucks!

Seriously though, we have a big weekend coming up for Ridge Church! Saturday, we are having a picnic in the park at Adair Park in Fountain City. It's a laid-back, bring-your-own-food type thing, from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. You can come and go as you like, and feel free to bring food, football, a frisbee and a friend to have some fun!

We'll be gathering together at the parking lot near the playground. Please join us for a time to hang out and enjoy each other's company!

Sunday, we're going to be talking about our Ridge Church core values and what you can expect for the next few months at The Ridge. We'll talk some about our plans for the future, share about a cool summer event coming up, and put something cool in your hands. It's going to be a great time to be there on Sunday at 10 a.m. at Panache!

See you this weekend!

Cleaning Up First Creek, Stewardship, and Sovereignty

Hey! A big public thanks to all the folks who came out on Saturday and helped us to clean up First Creek as one of our Ridge Church service projects! Thank you for sharing your love for our city with others who enjoy nature!

First Creek is one of the city's major tributaries that runs through Fountain City area (apparently it starts up near Parkdale Road where it traverses Black Oak Ridge) all the way to the Tennessee River. It is a historic part of Knoxville's very existence! In 1786, James White built White's Fort right near where First Creek runs into the river. And White's Fort became Knoxville, and Knoxville is where we live!

For you history nuts out there: In 1863 during the Civil War, First Creek became a strong part of the Union defense line during the siege of Knoxville. The Yankees damned it to flood the area and keep the Confederates from attacking on that side of town. You can read about Knoxville Civil War battles here. (It's a cool driving tour. OK, at least I think it's cool...)

Anyway, why do we do stuff like cleaning up First Creek? Because we believe that God has called us to be stewards not only of our funds but of the planet He made for us to enjoy. That means we are supposed to manage it well, and it means that the Earth is God's and it is good. We should take care of it; it is not merely ours to abuse as we see fit.

All in all, it's an issue of Sovereignty. We believe God is our King, and our world is part of His Kingdom. As members of God's family due to our faith in Christ, we have a responsibility to take care of His stuff and set an example for others to follow. So, that's why we cleaned up First Creek! (Incidentally, that's why the Layne family recycles everything Knox County will accept. It's not hard and it keeps nasty stuff out of First Creek!)

To be very clear... At Ridge Church we are not "Tree Huggers" who worship nature, we are "God Lovers" who believe that His trees and flowers and mountains and "critters" are awesome and give us a small glimpse of God's majesty and glory.

As Romans 1:19-20 notes, nature points Christ-followers and even those who have yet to place their faith in Christ to our Creator and Lord and Father. So, we should enjoy and maintain it with care, as this was God's command to Adam and Eve. That's our approach, and it's really pretty simple. Besides, who wants bikes and monster truck tires and road signs in First Creek? Those aren't good for the ducks and who wants to wade in that? Haha!

Anyway, thanks again to those who served, and have a great week! See you Sunday at Panache at 10 a.m.!

A Wedding, Small Groups, and a Service Project

Hey! Hope you all enjoyed your Memorial Day Weekend! I know I did. It was tiring, but good! I also learned that it's hard to drive 10 hours in 2 days with your 6-month old little girl. Lesson learned!

Thanks to those of you who prayed for Hugo and Emily. Their wedding in Charlotte went off just fine... Nobody objected to the marriage, so that was good! We also got to visit the church where Emily and I served in student ministry there for 6 years, and have a special Sunday lunch (at Bojangles!) with some of our "old" students there... They are growing up so fast! Many of them just graduated college, and one of them just bought a house! How time flies...

We have a great week of Ridge Church ministry going on this week! Wednesday and Thursday, we have our two small group meetings. Pick one and come see us! Our Wednesday night small group is led by Emily and me, and meets at our house in Gibbs at 7 pm. Our Thursday night group is led by Bill and Sue Irving, and meets at the "Irving Estate" in the Alice Bell community at 6:30 pm.

Small groups are where we study God's Word in a small group setting, some really great relationships are built, we pray for each other, and we have fun together! For more info call me at 865.244.7279 or email me.

We have a Ridge Church service project this weekend! Meet us at Fountain City Park Saturday at 9 am as we participate with Keep Knoxville Beautiful in cleaning up First Creek. We'll be working in the park area, so this is a great opportunity to serve our city with your kids as we live out our value of Serving Others! Come on out and work those muscles improving our community. Email Emily if you have questions.

See ya at one of our small groups, on Saturday, and Sunday morning at Panache!

No Worship Gathering This Weekend...

Hey, everybody! Just wanted to remind you that we're not having a worship gathering this weekend. Emily and I are about to leave to go to Charlotte for a wedding today... It's a young man who I had the privilege to lead to Christ several years ago. It's very exciting for us to be part of it and see old friends!

It just so happens that it's also Memorial Day Weekend, so we made the decision to hold off on a worship gathering this week. That way, folks can travel, hang out, or visit another place of worship if they like. Enjoy your time! We'll be back at the same bat channel and same bat time next week, May 31, at 10 a.m. at Panache.

By the way, feel free to pray for the young man and his new wife. They are Hugo Muraco and Emily (Newton) Muraco. Thanks!

Awesome Child Dedication Last Sunday, Communion/Lord's Supper This Sunday!

Hey! We had a great time Sunday at our first Ridge Church child dedication. Our daughter Chloe and Kahlan Carter were dedicated to God by their parents. It was a great time of worshiping God for the gifts of our children. It was also a great time of community, as the Christ-followers in attendance all committed to pray for the children and their parents, and provide any assistance possible in helping the parents to raise their kids in a way that glorifies God.

As part of a Christian community, we all have a responsibility to each other. The Bible refers to us as all parts of the "body of Christ" with Him as the head. Paul talks about this alot... Check out 1 Corinthians 12 for one cool passage on the topic.

Here's a pic of our child dedication... My prayer is that there are many to follow!


The parents all thanked God publicly for their children, praising Him for His gift. They all also publicly committed to raising their kids in God's paths, teaching them about Him and Christ's gift for us on the cross. The parents' prayers are that their kids would some day make their parents faith their own, and will become Christ-followers who in turn will raise their children to follow God. Cool stuff!

This Sunday, we are enjoying another worshipful Sunday gathering. We are going to share Communion or the Lord's Supper together. At Ridge Church, all Christ-followers are welcome to share in Communion with us. Anyone who has placed their faith in Christ alone for the forgiveness of their sins and committed to follow Him all their days is welcome to participate. This is a wonderful time of community and sharing together the grace that God gave us in sending His son to die for us. This is a great time to teach your children about Jesus and His love for us, and an awesome time to praise God for Jesus' victory over death.

So, join us this Sunday at Panache at 10 a.m.! We look forward to seeing you there!

Mother's Day this Sunday!

Hey! Mother's Day is this Sunday. This is a cool holiday for Moms to be celebrated and encouraged for all the hard work they do. But, it's also a cool holiday to recognize our kids and what a huge responsibility we parents have toward them.

This week at our worship gathering, we'll be dedicating several children to God. What does that mean? It simply means that we recognize that our children are a blessing from God, and they belong to God entirely. If we are followers of Christ, then we want to raise our kids in a way that would honor God. But, that's no easy task!

Sunday is an opportunity for parents to dedicate themselves to raising their children God's way, with the dual gifts of Grace and Faith. Of course, parenting isn't easy, which is something Emily and I have already learned... and today is just Chloe's six-month "birthday!"

So, here's how it goes: On Sunday, our parents will acknowledge publicly that their children belong to God. They will commit to striving to honor God in their parenting, and ask for His help in doing that. We will pray for them, encourage them, and thank God for their children. Then, we will also, as a church, commit to encouraging and supporting the folks in our midst who are raising the kids. This is a great picture of the body of Christ working in harmony!

So, be sure to be there on Sunday and encourage our parents (Emily and I included!). It will be a great experience.

Of course, not everyone is a Mom, and not everyone has kids. And, that is OK! Emily and I didn't have kids for the first 10 years of our marriage; God just chose to bless us in other ways!

Because Moms are important, and because we value everyone at The Ridge, we want you to come even if you're not a parent. Get behind our parents and support them, and praise God for all the kids at Ridge Church. Again, it's a great picture of the Body of Christ!

Speaking of Chloe, she finally had ear tubes put in this morning! And, she seems to be feeling much better. Will this result in less crying on Sundays? Come this weekend and find out! Hahaha!

A Prayer Request from Fountain City's Firemen

Hey! I hope you all are having a great day today... Hope you're staying dry in this rain!

I have a minute to post a blog update, and was reminded of a visit I had earlier this week with some guys at the Knoxville Fire Department's Station 15 in Fountain City. I've driven by the fire house at the corner of Jacksboro Pike and Essary Road alot lately. God put it on my heart more and more each time to stop by and ask the firemen (firepeople?) there if The Ridge could serve them in any way.

So, this week, after a visit to our dentist (praise report: "Look Ma, no cavities!"), I stopped by the fire house at about 4:30 in the afternoon. The guys in the kitchen were making Sloppy Joes for supper and just hanging out. I introduced myself, mentioned that we were a new church in the area, and asked if there was any way that we could support them in their dangerous work to protect our families and property from perhaps the most feared manmade scourge: fire.

The guys were a little surprised: 1) to see me enter the firehouse (I assume it's kinda rare for a civilian to roll up in there), 2) to have a local pastor ask if there was any way his church could pray for them.

This is sad, but beside the point, I guess. The main point is that the guys took a couple minutes to come up with an answer to my question, but when they did, they simply asked for prayer. They mentioned the dangers of their jobs, and that their families worry for their safety. I told them I would pray for them, which I have. I also told them I'd pass the request along and that they could ask for us to support them anytime.

This is a really simple thing to do, but it means alot to folks! So, next time God tells you to pray for someone or speak a kind word of encouragement to them, do so! The guys were curious where we met, and I told them. You never know, you may get to meet one of them some Sunday at Panache! Inviting the guys to our worship gathering was not the reason I went to visit the fire house, but God opened a door. He may do the same for you to present Jesus' love to someone in a special way.

People are curious when they hear of a new church where God is worshiped and the people are serious about serving others. So, keep all this in mind, pray for the fire"people" and have a great Saturday! See you tomorrow at 10 am!

Small Groups at The Ridge!

Yep! We're starting our first small groups at Ridge Church. And, they begin just one week from tonight!

Small groups are awesome! What are small groups? Small groups are groups of people from The Ridge who gather together during the week to share a time of fellowship and friendship, Bible learning, and care and encouragement. Gathering together on Sundays for worship is awesome and VERY important to our Christian growth and maturity. However, small groups are the best environment for people to "know and be known" by others, because there is a greater opportunity for closeness and true personal interaction than we can have on Sunday mornings.

Our core values at Ridge Church are:

• Truth
• Grace and Faith
• Community
• Serving Others
• New Churches
• Fun!

Small groups provide a wonderful venue for Truth from the Bible--the Gospel--to be discussed and learned, Grace and Faith to be shared and encouraged, Community between believers to be built, and Serving Others to be practiced and enjoyed. Our value of New Churches may very well be lived out sometime soon as small groups assist new churches in creative ways. Finally, our small groups will be Fun! Fun is an important part of small groups... You'll learn more about that when you get to that first gathering!

Wednesday, May 6, we'll start our first two small groups. One will be led by Bill and Sue Irving, the other by Kevin and Emily Layne. This Sunday, we'll share all about times and locations and what you can expect. So, keep your Wednesday nights free, and be at Panache on Sunday to worship with us and get all the info you'll need about small groups. See ya soon!

Lotsa Good Stuff Coming Down the Road...

Hey! I hope you all are having a great week!

Just wanted to touch base, say hey, and let you know a brief summary of what's coming up in the next weeks at The Ridge. God is up to alot in our midst!

First, I want to thank Ken and Christy Garrison for hosting our Sunday worship gatherings at Panache. Thanks guys... You set a great example of hospitality and service.

Here's a little bit about what's going on:

• We're meeting every Sunday morning for worship at Panache from 10 until 11:15 (ish) a.m. We have graciously been invited to stay as long as we need to meet there. So, invite a friend, family member, or co-worker and come join us Sunday! After a week off after working hard to prepare for our Easter celebration in Fountain City Park, our worship team returns this week... Thank them for their faithfulness!
• Our Ridge Church small groups start on May 6! I can't begin to tell you how pumped I am about this... Small groups are where we believe the local church finds its greatest and purest expression. Sunday morning worship gatherings are wonderful and necessary for honoring our God and building community. But worship on Sunday is not personal enough to stand alone as a discipleship tool. Along with the guidance of the Holy Spirit in our lives and personal prayer, we need the community, encouragement, and discipline that only real relationships with other believers in the name of Christ can give us. So, make plans to "know and be known" in one of our first two small groups starting Wednesday, May 6! More info on Sunday!
  
• We're having a special "baby dedication" time in our Mother's Day gathering on May 10. We'll be dedicating our children who have not already been dedicated to God. Really, this time is a time for the Christ-following parents of "Ridge Kids" to dedicate themselves to raising up their kids in a way that God would be honored by. See Ephesians 6:1-4 (there are many other verses on parenting in the Bible!) for an idea of what we mean. If you have questions or are interested in dedicating your child to God (and any age is appropriate!) let Emily know. We're taking a break from our awesome study of Colossians on Mother's Day for a chat about kids and parenting. As a new parent, I don't have all the answers, but God certainly does... See ya there. Bring a friend!
  
• We're taking a break from our Sunday worship gathering schedule on Memorial Day Weekend, Sunday May 24. This is a way to honor our hosts at Panache, our worship team, and me (hey, the pastor works too!) with a break. It's also a way for Emily, Chloe and me to take a trip to visit our old friends in Charlotte and attend the wedding of two of the students from our student ministry there. So, worship at another local Bible-believing church, or take a trip out of town... Have fun!
• We're having our regular Ridge Church Service Project on Saturday, May 30 from 9 to noon. We're helping the folks of the Fountain City Town Hall clean up First Creek in the Fountain City Park area in partnership with Keep Knoxville Beautiful. This is a great way to serve our city, get to know our town leadership, and honor God's creation as stewards of His wonderful Earth. Parents and kids both are very welcome! You will need to make plans to hang with your kids in the park area if you bring them, however.

Well, that's a bunch of cool stuff! Rest assured that The Ridge is not all about programs. However, because of our core values, we are committed to small groups, Sunday worship gatherings, and regular corporate service projects (and fun events!). See you soon, and don't forget to tell someone about The Ridge so they can hear about Jesus and get to know us!

Easter

I couldn't have imagined a more enjoyable Easter Sunday than Easter 2009!

God truly has been good to us! Although we lost our awesome free meeting location last Sunday, God gave us a beautiful day on Easter for us to enjoy our worship gathering and picnic in Fountain City Park. Of course, He gave that day to everyone in our area, but maybe we appreciated it more than most of Knoxville did!

This was our first worship gathering outside. More importantly, it was our first worship gathering where we shared the Lord's Supper or Communion together. After the teaching on Jesus' identity as fully man, Jesus' crucifixion--taking the punishment we deserved for our sins, and Jesus' proof that He is fully God through His resurrection, sharing the Lord's Supper as a community of believers in Christ was extra meaningful for me. I hope it was for you, too. We will observe Communion regularly as a church, so look forward to it!

As I mentioned Sunday several times, Jesus has done all the "heavy lifting" (as well as the "light lifting" and "any lifting at all") to secure our forgiveness from God for our sins. We cannot earn our forgiveness from God no matter how badly we may like to try. We can, however, respond to God's calling in our lives and trust Him with our entire selves in faith. This all can happen because of God's gift of grace in Christ's death on the cross. When we celebrate the Lord's Supper together, we celebrate God's love for us, and Jesus Christ's obedience to die on that cross. We also look forward from the cross to the resurrection of Christ three days later on that first Easter. The Lord's Supper is so much to celebrate in such a simple act... It's a big deal and it's awesome to participate in it with you.

I pray that every Ridge Church Easter gathering is as glorifying to God as this one was. And, I pray that you are here to enjoy it with us!

As I mentioned Sunday, we have moved meeting locations... This Sunday, we will be meeting at Panache Hair and Body at 3501 Tazewell Pike in Fountain City. We're still meeting at 10 am (we'll keep as many things "regular" as we can!) until 11:15 or so. Ken and Christy Garrison have been very generous in allowing us to use their facility on Sundays, although they are already there six days a week!

If you read my last post, you know that having a building to meet in isn't everything and doesn't make a church. However, it does make things easier when, for instance, it rains! We'd also of course like to have more room as God blesses us and more people join into community with us. We want every friend and family member and neighbor who is invited to come to The Ridge to hear about Jesus to have that opportunity.

Rest assured we are keeping our eyes peeled for available, affordable meeting locations near I-640 and the general Fountain City area. Consider this an open invitation to participate in the search! Feel free to email me any ideas you have. No stone will be left unturned... Either way, we trust God will send us to our next location in His perfect timing!

One more thing you don't want to let get past you... Our April fellowship time! This Saturday, at Cris Patterson's house, we are having a cookout! This event is open to anyone who is interested in coming... Ridge folks and their friends and family and anyone else who is interested! This is another great time to bring someone who isn't too sure about Jesus or His people so that they can get to meet us and find out we're "normal" and really do care.

We're hanging out from 5 to 10 pm at Cris' house at 1718 Woodhaven Drive. If you want to eat, bring your own meat (and buns)! It's a really casual evening, so come and leave when you need to. Thanks a ton to Cris for hosting this evening. Hope to see you there!

Hello on Good Friday...

Well, today was Good Friday, the ironically-named day commemorating the crucifixion of Jesus Christ in Jerusalem at the end of His earthly ministry. The day is named "Good" because although Christ's death was absolutely horrible, it is unbelievably good for us that He chose it. Because Jesus took the punishment for our evil and sinfulness that we deserved and surrendered Himself to die on the cross, the way for us to be forgiven by God through faith in Christ was created. The Gospel, the Good News of Christ, is right there before us in the story of Jesus' act of obedience.

So, Good Friday indeed is a memorial to the greatest, best Good ever to happen in time. Our sinfulness met its required perfect substitute and sacrifice in God's Son Jesus. Thank God for His perfect plan to fix our relationship with Him, His perfect Son, and His perfect sacrifice of Himself for us... Even us.

Sunday at the Ridge, we will honor Jesus for His gift of life that was made possible by His gift of death on the cross. There will be some quiet time to worship and thank Jesus for His death. Then, we will celebrate His resurrection... Proof that He is Lord over death! There will be some happy, joyful time to worship and praise Jesus for His Lordship and status as God. At the end of our gathering, we will celebrate our first Communion together as believers and as a church. You definitely want to be there!

This Sunday, we will meet at Fountain City Park. We lost the meeting location we have been enjoying for free this last Sunday. Our landlord has been great to us, and even called me this week to check on our arrangements for Sunday. The time just came that he needed to rent out the space to someone else.

So, we don't have a whole lot of leads on new, fancy meeting locations. We do have a place to meet next week, so no worries there. (We'll let you know that on Sunday, so come to our Easter gathering!) But, it's OK that we don't have a new fancy meeting location!

So many churches are so hung up on their building/facility/fortress/comfort zone/idol. Unfortunately, many Christians are so dependent on their church buildings that they can't imagine "doing church" outside them, rarely seem to have any gatherings or fellowships that aren't at them, and even are confused about "the church" being a building.

This is unfortunate and so sad! I can go on, as this is one of my pet peeves... But just let it suffice for me to say two things:

1) Jesus (our Great Shepherd) didn't have a building. Luke 9:58 (ESV) says: "And Jesus said to him, 'Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.'” Jesus wasn't a building manager. He was a guy who went all over talking about His Kingdom to people (who act just like sheep!). He preached in houses, on a boat to people on shore, and on hillsides. He loved His Father's creation and hung out in it with others. That's pretty cool to me.

2) The early church had no buildings. Folks met in the homes of those who would open them in hospitality. Believe it or not, Christianity had very few dedicated buildings until Roman Emperor Constantine made Christianity a legal religion in 313. In fact, worshiping openly would in many cases result in arrest and did result in death for many believers. Many Christians even today meet in homes for fear of their government (China, North Korea, Iran) or due to financial constraints (Brazil, etc.). Meeting in a home or other location makes sense for alot of reasons!

So, we'll keep our eyes open for a new place to meet... And we'll keep you updated on our progress! But, we're not too worried about it because having a building has absolutely nothing to do with spiritual authenticity. It just makes things easier, in exchange for costing some of the money God provides to His people. God will provide a new location when He's ready, and his church (His people) will keep on being the church at The Ridge. We'll keep on worshiping Jesus and focusing on our Core Values. No matter where we end up, we're Ridge Church!

A Great Month of Worship Gatherings...

Hey! We've had a great time at our Sunday morning worship gatherings together over the past couple weeks, and there's more to come...

Two weeks ago, we had a special guest, Andy Hughes of Journey Church of the Highlands in Boone, NC. Our church supports Andy with our finances and our prayers. We want you to get to know all of the church planters that we support, so we invited Andy to visit and have some time to share with us on a Sunday morning. He had hoped to bring his wife and kids, but he had a sick child in the house, so that didn't work out. Maybe next time!

Andy drove nearly three hours to be with us because he is excited about what's God is doing in Boone, and also because he is excited about what God is doing through Ridge Church in Fountain City. Please pray for Andy and his family... Boone is a tough place to plant a church. If you'd like to send an email greeting or prayer to Andy, just email me, and I will get it to him.

Last week, we discussed the future of The Ridge and what you can expect to see, hear, and experience with our church in the next year or so. Believe it or not, Emily and I have been back here in Knoxville for 9 months, and we're pretty pumped about what God is going to do through our church in the next 9 months!

We talked extensively last Sunday about what commitments are expected from everyone who calls Ridge Church home. We also talked about what you can expect The Ridge's leadership to commit to as part of our relationship to each other. Being part of a community of faith is a big deal, and we take that "community" and "faith" stuff seriously at Ridge Church! (As a matter of fact, those words are both in our Core Values!)

We shared last week our core values and also our statement of faith. I will be adding these to the website soon. Also, if you don't have a copy of those from our worship gathering, keep your eyes open for them this week and pick 'em up. Or, you can just let me know and I'll email you a copy.

This week, we're celebrating our first Palm Sunday together as a church! This will be a great two gatherings... Next week is Easter!

This is a perfect time to bring a friend to check out The Ridge. For those of you who've been bringing friends and family to see what Jesus and Ridge Church is all about (and there have been several of you)... Awesome! It's the invitations of family, friends, neighbors and co-workers that carry the most weight and are most often used by God to draw people into a relationship with Himself. Keep it up!!!

A Thank You to The Ridge from the Fountain City Ministry Center!

Hey, everybody! I had a great time serving with you this Saturday morning at the Fountain City Ministry Center. I'm excited about everyone who came and lived out our core value of Serving Others! I'm proud (the good kind) of all of you who shared your time to help the less fortunate in the name of Christ.

Here's the highlights of a nice email I got from Becky Warwick, the Chairperson of the Board of the ministry center

"Dear Kevin: What a great day we had Saturday! You've got some wonderful church members. I look forward to getting to know them better in the future. I just thought Saturday went wonderfully well... I hope it was a good experience for your family and members.

From all of us, thank you for all the laundry detergent and diapers that you brought AND for all the volunteer hours given. The detergent will be given out this week and the clients will be thrilled to receive it... Your group is to be commended! I can't say enough good things about your members. What a great day we had serving the Lord together.

...Sure do appreciate you and our new friendship! Look forward to working together in the future!

Becky"

Great job giving of yourselves, everyone. Here's some pics of the day for you to enjoy. See you this Sunday for our worship gathering!

MInistry Center Service Project and Sunday Gathering!

Hey! Just a a couple reminders!

First, I hope to see you all tomorrow morning at the Fountain City Ministry Center for our Ridge Church service project there!

We're meeting at the Ministry Center, in the back of Central Baptist Church of Fountain City, at 10 am. We'll serve until lunchtime, and then eat lunch together in Fountain City Park (as long as the weather is OK.) If we meet in the park, everyone can bring their own food and then we'll camp out in a pavilion. You can check out a map to the Ministry Center here.

Feel free to bring your kids, but make sure that you are ready to keep an eye on them, as there is no child care. Also, please bring along some diapers and/or powdered laundry detergent. We're going to give a gift of diapers to the ministry center for their patrons, and also divide up laundry detergent into sandwich bags so it can be distributed to those who visit the center. Whatever else they have for us to do, we'll pitch in there as well.

The Ministry Center does some great work helping our neighbors in Jesus' name, and we're glad to be able to partner with them. It's important that we, as Christ-followers, care for those who are less fortunate or going through tough times. Jesus had alot to say about how we treat the poor and needy in our world, and we do too! One of our core values is Serving Others, and we take it seriously. (But, serving can be fun, too!)

The second reminder: We're having our Ridge Church worship gathering on Sunday! I know it's just been a week since we met, and we've been meeting every two weeks. But, we've got some important things to talk about regarding our Core Values and how they apply to all of us, some future things going on in the Spring and Summer, and also information about how you can become more involved in living out the love of Jesus in our community.

I won't be continuing my preaching on Colossians this week, but sharing some information and challenges for our people. Also, our Children's Ministry will not meet. We want our kids' volunteers to participate in this time with our entire group.

See you tomorrow and Sunday on this big weekend!

Special Guest This Sunday and St. Patrick

Hey, everyone! Just wanted to remind you of a couple things heading into the weekend.

First, we are meeting this Sunday at 10 a.m. at our new location! Join us at the Conference Center at Smithwood Corner at 4901 Jacksboro Pike in Fountain City. It's actually just across Sanders Road from our previous location, Marli's Restaurant.

Our special guest this Sunday is a fellow Acts29 planter. We support him financially as part of our commitment to New Churches (we give 10% of our offerings to church plants). Our special guest sets a great example for us in our town as he serves as a missionary in the culture in Western North Carolina. He'll be sharing some ways that God is working and we can pray more specifically for him, his family, and his church.

Bring a friend or two to connect with God and us and see what He's up to in our midst! Feel free also to join us for lunch... Those who have the time always head someplace together!

Also, here's a little something that goes off the Ridge Church blog into the mind of a guy I really respect, Mark Driscoll. He's the founding pastor of Mars Hill Church in Seattle and the co-founder of Acts29. In honor of the recent celebration about an Irish dude and the color green, here's Mark's cool blog post about St. Patrick. That dude had it right, we'd do well to imitate his commitment and creativity in sharing the Gospel over 1,000 years after he died... Enjoy!

A Full Week!

Wow, what a busy week. I'm beginning to learn just how crazy life can be when you have just one kid, and two part-time jobs, and a spouse! I really feel for those of you out there who have 3+ kids and a job and still have your wits about you... Props to you if you're that person! I can only hope that I learn to manage my life a little better each day with God's help... Emily and I would like to have another child someday, Chloe isn't even old enough to crawl and get into stuff yet, and we're already feeling a little wave-tossed!

I want to keep you all updated on some things going on with us and Ridge Church... Here's a list of some things that went down lately.

• Sunday, we had a great final worship gathering at Marli's restaurant! We have been given a multimedia projector by a generous local church, Knox Life, and we used it in our gathering for the second time on Sunday. I really enjoy teaching God's Word using PowerPoint, and I think we all find it easier to have musical worship with the words on a screen instead of on a sheet of paper. For those who like paper, we still have a "handout" that has our weekly Psalms chapter that we're reading together, some announcements, and an area for you to take notes!

• Two weeks ago, Emily and I met with Becky Warwick with the Fountain City Ministry Center. She's a really cool lady and loves the people of Fountain City! She and I have been trying to get together and chat about ministry since just before Chloe was born (it took about 4 months!). Emily and I finally got to visit the ministry center, and we saw that they are doing some great stuff in Jesus' name for the less fortunate and down on their luck folks in our community. We are looking forward to serving with the Ministry Center (it matches our value of Serving Others). Come join us there on Saturday, March 28 at 10 a.m.! Mark your calendar now and look for specifics about what we'll be doing and some things that you can bring with you soon.

• Many of you have been keeping up with Chloe's several infections and issues... A week or so ago, she had her second trip to Children's Hospital for a test on her bladder and kidneys. It was not fun! They strapped her down to a board to take X-rays of her after filling her bladder full of liquid. She made it, though, and after a visit to the urologist last week, she is over the infection she had and the doctor gave us a good report! Last night, Emily took Chloe to the UT Hospital after-hours kids' clinic and she got a new diagnosis: her first ear infection. Nothing that more meds can't solve! Thanks for praying for Chloe with us through all of her many, fortunately minor, health issues.

• I still work my part-time job at the HoneyBaked Ham Store, which is a blessing in this economy. It's hard work sometimes, but I'm making some good friends and meeting alot of people. Stop by and see me sometime at the store in front of Kohl's at Knoxville Center!

Enjoy your weekend, and since this is an "off Sunday" for us at the Ridge, why not visit another place to worship and see how other churches' Sunday mornings go? Feel free to bring ideas back and email them to me!

See you next Sunday the 22nd at our new meeting location, and on Saturday the 28th at the Fountain City Ministry Center!

Marli's, Becca, and My Friend Jason

Most of you probably have heard by now that Marli's Restaurant, where Ridge Church meets for our Sunday morning gatherings, is closing.  It's been difficult for many restaurants to stay afloat in our current economy as people stop eating out as much and stay home to save money.

In these times, it only takes one problem to be "the straw that breaks the camel's back."  For Marli's, it was a plumbing problem.  A plumbing issue forced them to close down temporarily; now the cost to repair the issue and to restock the food that Marli's was unable to prepare and sell is going to keep the restaurant from reopening.

So, we are losing a great place to eat in Fountain City...  But, God has provided for The Ridge's long-term and short-term future.  Leo Cooper, who runs Marli's, is going to allow us to continue to meet in his restuarant until he leases it out.  This is very generous!  Please pray for Leo and his family, as well as the Marli's employees who are now unemployed.  Like many people out there, the recession is changing their lives in some difficult ways.

Joe McTeer, who runs Frontier Pest Control on the second floor of the building across the street from Marli's, also rents the Conference Center located on the first floor of that building.  Not too long ago, we asked him about using his space as a meeting location for our adults, while our children's ministry would continue to use Marli's. The idea was to expand to two buildings as we grow numerically and prepare for weekly Sunday morning gatherings.  We would also increase our parking exponentially.

Joe, who is a Christ-follower and goes to Corryton Church (in Corryton!), quickly and graciously offered to let us use his facility on Sunday mornings!  That means that we will be moving there for our Ridge Church worship gathering on March 22.  We will still be at Marli's this Sunday, March 8...  So, come on out this weekend! (Make sure to set your clock FORWARD an hour Saturday night!)  We will discuss our "move" a little more on Sunday.

Please pray for our Children's Ministry Intern, Becca Thiele.  Her pickup "died" the other day, and she is without a way to drive to The Ridge on Sundays from Johnson Bible College.  That stinks!  Please pray for transportation to happen soon for her.  She loves Jesus and our children and really wants to serve on Sundays!  If you can help, let me know!

Please pray also for my friend and fellow Acts29 church planter Jason Martin of Journey Church in Austell, GA, west of Atlanta.  He has a passel of kids, loves Jesus very much, and is in difficult shape financially.  The short story is that he is "replanting" an existing church.  That means they have a building (and all the costs that go with it) but they are still numerically and financially small.  Jason is a carpenter and had been paying his bills by making cabinets, since his church can't pay him a salary yet.  Unfortunately, there is no work available in his area.  His family is really hurting financially.  Please pray that God would provide for him.

I could go on about how life can be hard even for those who love Jesus, but that's a different blog post for a different time.  The big thing to take out of this is to pray for Leo and his family, the folks who worked at Marli's and their families, Becca, and Jason and his family.  It's about people.  That's why Jesus dropped into Bethlehem in a stable with a bunch of furry critters.  Because it's about people.

See you and all the people God has blessed me to be the pastor of this Sunday at Marli's at 10 a.m.!