When an idea becomes a movement!

This past Sunday was yet another reminder of why this church must exist and why we started Ridge Church to begin with. It was a reminder of why we work so hard to create relevant and engaging environments...it was a reminder of why giving our hard earned money matters! But before we ever created our first graphic, sent out our first post card, had our first interest meeting, had our first worship service or even had a name for this church, we had an idea that came from a compelling burden. "What if we could create a church where people without any weekly church affiliation would love to attend?...a church where church attenders would want to invite their un-churched friends?...a church that partnered with families as the lead their children spiritually?...a church that blessed and served their community so deeply that our loss would be mourned?"...AND every week Ridge Church steps more fully into that dream!! Week by week it becomes a realization for us and continues to grow. It's truly amazing to watch what started as an idea become a movement that I'm confident will ULTIMATELY transform our city.

This past Sunday we wrapped up our series called "Hail Mary" about prayer. Go HERE for the conclusion and to download a copy of the take away. THEN Sunday night we baptized 8 children. Coolest part...every one of those children were lead to Jesus by their parents as a result of a Gospel presentation in Upstreet called "Jump Start". One of the mother's that led her daughter to Christ just became a follower of Jesus herself last year. I baptized the daughter almost a year to the day from when I baptized her mom. Unbelievable! Here are a few pics and I'll post all of the videos over the next few weeks. Amazing to be part of a "God idea" that is becoming a movement! Huge thanks to Danielle Banks for making all of this happen!

Patrick Mitchell (Family Ministry Director) Explaining Baptism

Natalie Osborne Lead a team to create the coolest environment ever. The buffet line was made of all the children's favorite foods. Quite an interesting collection as you can imagine!

Chocolate Covered Cake balls. Enough said!This was intended to be a table decoration but my Son was eating one of those bunnies when I saw him:-)

Spanky Rouse baptizing his Son, Mac. You'll enjoy the video later!

Intuition sees nearly. Prayer sees clearly.

Great start to our series called "Hail Mary". Part One is called "Intuition is not enough". You can listen to it on line HERE. Don't forget "Intuition sees nearly. Prayer sees clearly" I'm so proud of the focus and excellence with which the Ridge Church staff and volunteers create environments that partner with families. This past Sunday we had far more children in just our Upstreet environment (K-5th) than we had in our entire church when we first began. Every week kid's literally drag their parents to be a part of what's happening in those environments.

Amazing job by the adult service programming team as well. Bon Jovi and Doug Flutie helped us kick off the morning. Quite the combination for Sunday morning church. Here are a few pics from the stage: