Thankfulness Train Keeps Rollin'...

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!

A Bunch of Thanks!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Until next time, have a great week!

A Great Vacation and Sunday at Redeemer Community Church

Emily and I had a great vacation in Charleston, SC last week! It was a relaxing time for us to visit our favorite town and enjoy the beach as well. We stayed in a great location in Mount Pleasant, SC, just a few minutes from the beach at the Isle of Palms and a short drive to downtown Charleston. I highly recommend the location if you like both the historical and market stuff in Charleston, but also want to hang out at the beach.

Saturday and Sunday, Emily and I spent some time with our friends John and Lindsay Fooshee (pronouned Foo-shay--it's French) and their son Sterling. Their daughter Kate was at a sleepover, so we missed her... But she's great too!

John is the Lead Pastor of Redeemer Community Church in Johnson City, TN, a member of the Acts29 Network, and my church planting coach. He invited Emily and me to worship with their church on Sunday and graciously invited me to preach. We enjoyed spending the morning with Redeemer and it was rewarding to share from Romans 7:1-6 as their church moves through that great book of the Bible.

Emily's parents from Knoxville and my parents from Chilhowie, VA were there, which was really cool. Also super-cool was enjoying the Redeemer worship team. Jim Fickley, the Leadership Coach on staff at Redeemer and an Acts29 member, played the piano and also has a fine singing voice... I was impressed at how good he was on the keys just a couple weeks after shoulder surgery!

This weekend, Emily and I are visiting The Point Community Church in Frankfort, KY. Rick Long is the Lead Pastor there and another Acts29 member. He's generously invited Emily and me to visit and share with his church on Sunday morning about the vision God has given us for the new church we are planting in the NE Knoxville area. We're looking forward to enjoying Sunday with his church and seeing what The Point's worship time is like.

It's always nice to make new friends and have people to encourage you... The Acts29 Network is a great organization for a church planter to belong to and the member pastors have proven to be a wonderful group of awesomely supportive guys!

A simple request...

Hey all you folks in Knoxville (or who know people in Knoxville) who are checking out our blog: I'm going to make a request of you.

Emily and I are going on a little mini-vacation this week to Charleston, South Carolina. It's where we went on our Honeymoon 10 years ago... And our favorite place to go. I wanted to take Emily there for our 10th anniversary, but with all the stuff going on with moving to Knoxville from West Virginia, we didn't get to celebrate our anniversary.

My friend John Fooshee (who pastors Redeemer Community Church in Johnson City, TN) has an awesome mother-in-law named Jayne who is allowing us to use her condo in Charleston for a week!

So, while we're gone relaxing, spending our last vacation together before our baby is born (either the last week of October or first week of November, probably), thinking and praying about The Ridge and the next few months of preparation, will you do me a favor?

I've been looking for a part-time job. As a matter of fact, I've interviewed for two of them. One of the jobs turned into a full-time job (which I don't have time for as a pastor). The other one didn't work out, probably due to my inability to commit for longer than a year or so.

If you know of anyone who's hiring for part-time help, would you let me know? I believe I've been spending too much time scouring the Internet and paper for the right job. It's been taking away from other things, like meeting new people and spiritually preparing to lead Ridge Church.

So, I am going to rely on the folks who read this blog (surely there are millions by now) to hook me up! I'm just looking for something around 20 hours a week with a regular paycheck that allows me to have a relatively-regular schedule and meet as many folks as possible.

There's a bunch of good reasons for a pastor to have a part-time job, by the way, in case you're wondering:

1. I can make a little money, allowing The Ridge to save some cash it would normallly pay me and reserve that dough for launch needs like a sound system, video stuff, children's ministry stuff, etc. Just an FYI: I am paid on a part-time basis by Ridge Church right now from charitable donations that friends and family are sending as financial support for The Ridge--they believe God wants to do big things in Knoxville and so do I! (If you'd like to pitch in, let me know!)
   
2. I am not tempted to be "super-pastor" and try to do everything, but will need to gather a ministry team and work hand-in-hand with other people to do "God stuff." Believe it or not, pastors often try to do it all and "burn out" every day. The healthy thing (and much more fun thing!) is to serve as part of a team.
   
3. I can meet new people who I may be able to invite to Ridge Church events so that they can get connected.
   
4. I can network with businesspeople-types who may be able to introduce me to their networks... Who may be able to introduce me to their networks... So we can invite people to Ridge Church events so they can get connected.
   
5. I can have a front-row seat to the culture around us... And even be on stage a little! Too many pastors are holed up every day in an office someplace, away from the people they hope or claim to serve... Not so with The Ridge! We don't envision our future offices as places to spend our entire workdays. Although there certainly are times for study and prayer, we want to be among the people of Knoxville on a daily basis and serve our community. How can we serve a community we don't move about in? We can't.
   

I'm sure there are more reasons for me to be a part-time employee, but you get the point! I plan to have a part-time job for at least a year, maybe up to three. We believe that The Ridge will be self-sufficient financially by that time, and I will me a much busier bee with Ridge Church stuff by that time as well.

More discussion of that stuff later, but for now, if you have good job ideas for me, just email them to kevin@ridgechurchknoxville.com.

We're a team--no one person can do it all, and that includes everything you might think of. Thanks so much!

Kevin