Well, while we're talking about Thankfulness here at the start of the New Year, it's only appropriate that we publicly thank all the folks who have supported the Layne family prayerfully and financially for the past six months while we have been planting Ridge Church.
There are many folks who have donated their hard-earned funds to provide a way for Emily and me to pay the bills as we have been meeting folks and gathering people into The Ridge. We can't thank them enough! Although I have a part-time job at the HoneyBaked Ham Store near Knoxville Center, and I work with some really great people, that job isn't designed to supply the pay, hours, or benefits to provide for a family.
Our church is associated with the Acts29 Network, a group of churches that plant churches and agree on a common theology. A29 churches connect for prayer, advice, support and encouragement. However, The Ridge is not connected with a specific denomination. We are "nondenominational" or independent.
There are certain benefits from being nondenominational, like not having an outside entity tell you how to do everything or being forced to give your money to a certain fund. But, being nondenominational also means Emily and I don't get a "paycheck" like most people think of it.
All the funds that Emily and I get from Ridge Church while our church is young and small are funds that have been donated to The Ridge for our support. The donations come from friends, family, and churches. When we grow larger, Ridge Church will become financially independent... But that takes a little time.
So, for making life possible for us, we thank our supporters! And, we thank God for creating a spirit of generosity in your hearts.
Although I don't think it's appropriate to share the names of all the individuals and families who are supporting us financially, I'd love to share the names of the churches! Some are part of the Acts29 Network, and some aren't. But, all of them are important to us and we thank them very much for committing to us as a couple and to the vision God has for The Ridge!
Christ Community Church - Watkinsville, Georiga
Discovery Church - Evansville, Indiana
Exmore Baptist Church - Exmore, Virginia
Redeemer Community Church - Johnson City, Tennessee
Sojourn Church - Huntsville, Alabama
Thanks again to all our prayer and financial supporters. You rock! By the way, if you're reading this and would like to join the list of our supporters, please do not hesitate to let me know... We can find a way for you to help The Ridge get financially on our feet!
Showing posts with label Christ Community Church. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Christ Community Church. Show all posts
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Monday, October 13, 2008
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.
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.
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