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.!