On Sunday, May 31st, folks who have been involved in the Riverside Church planting project, both past and present, gathered together to celebrate the fruit of what God has done through Riverside in the past two years and to send one another out to future kingdom ministries.

Celebrating Fruit

Someone from each household was able to express thanks to God for the fruit borne in their lives as they told stories about how He has used Riverside in their lives.  Here are a few samples:

• Our Chinese friends talked about how God led he and his wife to Riverside through their relationship with the Garlington family after moving into their neighborhood.  Originally from China, he and his wife are new to Christianity and are learning more about it through Bible study.  “Even though we are not believers yet,” he said, “we have appreciated the love and care that the people of Riverside have given us.”  They will continue to come to Riverside and also attend the Garlington’s international Bible study group.
• The Garlingtons shared how God used the Riverside community to give their son, Daniel, a place to practice his musical gifts and to learn how to lead in worship.  Ned Garlington enjoyed the opportunity to teach on Sunday nights and was able to develop his thinking on Biblical worldview which he now teaches in a small group for internationals.  Anna Garlington helped Riverside get involved in the lives of refugees and other internationals in Knoxville.  The Garlingtons expressed their gratitude for the care and prayers they received from Riverside during job losses.  They are launching out into new ministries to the international community here in Knoxville through Cedar Springs Church.
• The Larsons expressed a deep appreciation for the personal growth and healing that God worked in them during the times of worship, teaching, and men’s and women’s Bible study over the past two years at Riverside.  God has done some wonderful things in the lives of their children during these past two years, which has more to do with what He’s done in their parents’ lives than any direct ministry Riverside had to them (that’s my thought, not theirs).  The Larsons are reconnecting with Cedar Springs Church as well and will continue to grow and serve there.  We’ve also enjoyed having Florence’s dad, Bernie, who himself is a retired minister, join us occasionally for worship, lending his deep, beautiful bass voice to our singing.
• The Richardsons were instrumental in launching Riverside, serving in all kinds of ways, including opening their home on countless occasions to host Riverside’s worship services.  Brad and Terry shared how much they enjoyed and grew through our times of worship and the men’s and women’s weekly Bible studies.  They and their teenagers are plugging back in to the Cedar Springs family where Brad serves as a deacon.
• The Ross family found Riverside by typing “Knoxville house church” in the Google search engine one year ago.  Sara and their three kids joined us on Sunday evenings while dad studied for his licensure exams to become a state certified psychologist.  We prayed for him regularly and he passed with flying colors!  Sara, who has a big heart for the people in her personal mission field, thanked Riverside for helping her minister to a neighbor by bringing food to her while she recovered from surgery.  They have since developed a good friendship and Sara continues to minister to them.  Sara also credits her time at Riverside for encouraging the launch of her encouraging blog ministry: A Spacious Place.  Be sure to visit and tell others about it.  The Ross family comes from a Church of Christ background and will begin plugging in at Hardin Valley Church of Christ, another new church in Hardin Valley that is just beginning to build their first building.  We’re glad to send such a great family to serve the Kingdom there.
• Karen Webber, one of our original core team members, came back for this special occasion and thanked God and us for the opportunity to be a part of Riverside in the early days.  Riverside’s first dozen or so worship services were held in her home.  The Webber’s got us started with their great gift of hospitality.  Interestingly enough, the Webbers (like the Davises) are in transition as they move to Dallas, Texas.  Jim is already there working, and recently attended the church that the Davises will be serving Lord-willing in August.  Jim and Karen have continued to be great prayer warriors for Riverside.
• Michael and Betty Horton are also original members of the core team and have been an integral part of Riverside.  Michael is one of our regular teachers and has served as an elder for us and a kind of “co-planter” for me.  During the last two years Michael has completed all the requirements for ordination in the Evangelical Presbyterian Church and has been called by our presbytery as an Evangelist to assist me with the work at Riverside and to carry on its mission after I leave.  Betty has poured out her hospitality on Riverside by hosting our worship services in her home and coordinating refreshments, but she has also had a big part in the ministry to Riverside’s children and to the international community alongside Anna Garlington.  Betty tearfully expressed her deep thankfulness for the love and care of the Riverside community through the loss of her Aunt, her father, and during a life-threatening illness for which many of you prayed last Fall.  A highlight for Betty was the night we brought Riverside worship to the hospital chapel and surprised her while she was caring for her father.  Michael and Betty will continue the ministry of Riverside as well as stay involved in Cedar Springs’ mission ministry to Mozambique.  They will be traveling to Africa again in July.  We’ve also enjoyed having Betty’s brother, Paul, join us each week for worship.  Welcome Paul!
• As for the Davis family…just minutes before we began our worship service that Sunday night I received a phone call informing me that the elders of Metrocrest Presbyterian Church (PCA), the church we loved and served in Carrollton, TX while I was in seminary from 1992 to 1996, have asked their congregation to call me as their Associate Pastor of Youth and Discipleship.  Thanks be to God!!  If all goes as planned (and it should), I will also be teaching Bible to 11th graders for 8 hours/week at Trinity Christian Academy, which allows us to put Anna in 2nd grade there for free this year (we’ll see about getting the twins in next year).
  Seventeen years ago, after one year of marriage, Christine and I packed our stuff in a small U-Haul truck and moved ourselves and one kitty-cat to Dallas, Texas.  After eighteen years together, we’ll move ourselves and three kids plus one small dog back to Texas.  Words cannot express all that God has done in our hearts and in our family over the last two years.  Leaving Riverside was not at all what we hoped for, but God has been faithful to make these years fruitful in our family and in the lives of others as you’ve seen here.

Sending for Fruitfulness

We purposely planned this special worship service for Pentecost Sunday, the day on which the Church celebrates the sending of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples and the subsequent sending of the disciples by the Holy Spirit (see Acts chapter 2).  Each of the folks who have participated in Riverside over the past two years are being sent by God into new areas of ministry, new fields in which to cultivate fruit for the Kingdom.  As each one shared where God was leading them, some away from Riverside and some along with Riverside, we prayed specifically for their ministry and God’s blessing on it.

Thank you for celebrating the fruit that God has produced in and through the Riverside community over the last two years.  Please continue to pray!

Thanks be to God!

Jimmy Davis

Parents with younger children or older kids still at home often value church as an opportunity to expose their children to Bible stories and principles, to get them involved in character-building service to others, and to provide them with wholesome, fun activities that might reduce the appeal of drugs and sex.  Church raises the odds, they hope, that their children will turn out well and stay out of serious trouble until they do.

For as long as our two sons lived at home, a good Sunday school program and later an active youth program with neat kids was high on my must-have list in selecting a church.  Looking back, I think the influence of their church experience (with a couple of nasty exceptions, one involving a superlegalistic youth pastor) was positive.  I’m grateful.  And I’m grateful that these same two sons, now married with children of their own, want my grandkids to be similarly influenced by a church with good children’s programs.

But if a choice had to be made (and it never should have to be) between a church that shepherded children well but left the parents untouched in their inner world and a church with little for kids but lots to form adults into truth-hungry, formation-focused, community-alive, mission-overflowing disciples of Jesus, I’d choose the latter church every time.  No contest.  God-obsessed parents have more influence on kids than the best youth programs. Much more.

~ Larry Crabb in Real Church:  Does It Exist?  Can I Find It?, pages 7-8 (emphasis mine).

What do YOU think?

[Cross-posted at The Cruciform Life Blog.]