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!

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!

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!

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!