Our church is unique and it's different. We have a small congregation meeting out of a house converted into a meeting place. We have no outside funding, simply relying upon the Lord to sustain us. We've had the mountains and the valleys. But we have persevered trusting in God's calling upon our lives and not upon the judgments of man. We have met so many new people here recently and have had an opportunity to share with new faces about our ministry and our lives that I thought it would be a great idea to tell some of our story.
Shelter Church of Maryville is a blessing to everyone who walks through our doors. You will not see grand productions during worship or be exposed to many luxuries that characterize many churches today. But what you will experience is far greater...a great fellowship, loving people, and the Holy Spirit touching and changing lives. Our church started from scratch and let me tell you it has been an adventure! We started out with an idea of what "church" would look like for us, but as He always does, God had something different in store for us.
Our church has been blessed with seeing so many special people helping serve the Lord. Since we changed our name last spring, we have really become a shelter to many. Our church has been blessed with the opportunity to minister to people who may have been overlooked by others. Since the spring we have grown in so many ways from spiritually to numerically. We are also different in that we are encouraging those in our congregation to focus on ministering to people who are not connected to a church. This has provided an interesting dynamic for us. We have been praying for the Lord to send grounded believers to come and help us out and it seems like we continue to see those who need "shelter" from life continue to come through our doors. Praise God for that!!
This past month has been a trying time for us. We held revival services in early October and everyone was touched by the Spirit as God worked in our lives! Well, the inevitable happened shortly after as we have been spiritually attacked. Some in our congregation have physical issues that at times can keep them away from the church building on Sunday morning. On one particular weekend our own son and another special family to us had a child in the ICU at Children's just 3 rooms down! Yet what a great opportunity to strengthen our fellowship in Christ together!
Pray for us. Pray about helping us. Our ministry is all about changing lives through the Gospel and the Truth of His Word. Point blank. In the upcoming weeks we are going to be doing community outreach in hopes of sharing this story and of course sharing Christ with others. We are extremely encouraged and looking forward to seeing people changed by the Gospel and then begin to serve Him. Contact us..we would love to share with you all of the story!
Tuesday, November 19, 2013
Wednesday, April 3, 2013
New Beginnings
April 14th begins a new journey in the life of our church. Foothills Baptist Church will be no more as we are changing our name to Shelter Church of Maryville. Naturally we have had some questions about the name change and others wondering what's going on...so let me try to explain.
For the past few months I have felt that God was leading our church into a transition phase and we have seen that take place recently. We have seen some new faces and have said bye to some who have been with us from the beginning. But despite the changes God has proven Himself to be faithful and in control. The subject of a name change has been on my mind for awhile. Because the name of our church has been very similar to other churches in the area it has been very difficult for us to establish an identity in the community. In fact I have had people searching for me but going to other places and when we have tried to communicate to others about our church we are often misunderstood for other places. Changing our name is one way we can build an identity in the community for ourselves.
Secondly I have had a desire to see our church reach out to people who are hurting. As Shelter Church we will shift our focus to provide a ministry that will seek to shelter people from the storms of life with the power of Christ. Thus the name change simply reflects the new direction that God is leading us. In the upcoming weeks and months we are going to be seeking to minister to people in a very practical way that will enable us to put the Gospel up front in order that God can shelter them from whatever storm they may be going through. This is not a numbers game, but rather it is all about people finding healing in their lives. So many people are hurting and no longer can we assume that everyone comes from a normal background. Yet the power of Jesus transcends any situation and can overcome the darkest battle we encounter. This message of hope should be told to them...all we want to do is to let people know that there is a God who loves them and wants to heal them.
Finally as Shelter Church of Maryville we are going to be partnering in many ways with Shelter Church of Chattanooga. I'm excited about this because I'm going to be able to work with some familiar faces that I've known for a few years. Shelter Church in Chattanooga was formerly Westview Baptist Churh, the first church that I served as youth pastor. The pastor is Sterling Jetton and over the years he and I have remained in touch. We both think similar about situations and have the same heart for ministry.While we will share a name the church bodies will be very much independent. This is a great opportunity for me and for our church. The Shelter Church in Chattanooga is made up of some very good people who have a huge heart for Jesus. To know that these people are going to help us and pray for us is great news!
I hope this gives you an idea concerning where we are and what's going on with the ministry. We still need your prayers and as I've said many times if you are looking for a grass roots ministry we are for you and could really use the help! Thanks!
Jeremy
For the past few months I have felt that God was leading our church into a transition phase and we have seen that take place recently. We have seen some new faces and have said bye to some who have been with us from the beginning. But despite the changes God has proven Himself to be faithful and in control. The subject of a name change has been on my mind for awhile. Because the name of our church has been very similar to other churches in the area it has been very difficult for us to establish an identity in the community. In fact I have had people searching for me but going to other places and when we have tried to communicate to others about our church we are often misunderstood for other places. Changing our name is one way we can build an identity in the community for ourselves.
Secondly I have had a desire to see our church reach out to people who are hurting. As Shelter Church we will shift our focus to provide a ministry that will seek to shelter people from the storms of life with the power of Christ. Thus the name change simply reflects the new direction that God is leading us. In the upcoming weeks and months we are going to be seeking to minister to people in a very practical way that will enable us to put the Gospel up front in order that God can shelter them from whatever storm they may be going through. This is not a numbers game, but rather it is all about people finding healing in their lives. So many people are hurting and no longer can we assume that everyone comes from a normal background. Yet the power of Jesus transcends any situation and can overcome the darkest battle we encounter. This message of hope should be told to them...all we want to do is to let people know that there is a God who loves them and wants to heal them.
Finally as Shelter Church of Maryville we are going to be partnering in many ways with Shelter Church of Chattanooga. I'm excited about this because I'm going to be able to work with some familiar faces that I've known for a few years. Shelter Church in Chattanooga was formerly Westview Baptist Churh, the first church that I served as youth pastor. The pastor is Sterling Jetton and over the years he and I have remained in touch. We both think similar about situations and have the same heart for ministry.While we will share a name the church bodies will be very much independent. This is a great opportunity for me and for our church. The Shelter Church in Chattanooga is made up of some very good people who have a huge heart for Jesus. To know that these people are going to help us and pray for us is great news!
I hope this gives you an idea concerning where we are and what's going on with the ministry. We still need your prayers and as I've said many times if you are looking for a grass roots ministry we are for you and could really use the help! Thanks!
Jeremy
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