This past Sunday we commissioned two new men to be a part of our Leadership Team: Rick Dilley and John Marr. Here’s a little bit about each man and the role of our Leadership Team.
Rick Dilley
Rick Dilley is a the husband of Stephanie and the father of Cassandra and Carson Dilley. He is a computer programmer for AGC Glass Corp. in Kingsport. Rick has been with our church since its beginning and has displayed great spiritual insight and loyalty to our church. Rick will serve as both as a member on our Board of Directors and the treasurer of our church.
John Marr
John currently serves as the Minister of Administration and Counseling with Grandview Christian Church in Johnson City, Tennessee. He is also a founder and director of HIGHER Ministries, Inc., a non-profit support and renewal ministry to local church pastors and their families, para-church organization leaders and lay leaders in local congregations throughout the Southeast.
John Marr is married to Yvonne and is the father of Tony & T.J. Marr. He has served as a youth minister and associate minister for churches and over 25 years experience as a church elder and professional counselor. John will be serving as an ex-officio member of our Board of Directors.
What is Our Leadership Team?
We recognize that it is Jesus Christ who leads our Church through our Leadership Team (which is comprised of both a Board of Elders and a Board of Directors). It’s not the goal of these leaders to lead the church themselves, but to follow Christ’s direction on what He desires for our Church.
Our Elders (Jim Fickley and John Fooshee) serve as the Church’s pastors, overseers and teachers. These men must uphold the biblical qualifications of an elder. These Elders also appoint & join with other leaders to form a Board of Directors that manages the operational matters of the Church (financial, legal, insurance, property and employee issues). It is presently comprised of Rick Dilley, John Fooshee, Jim Fickley, Rusty Mitchell (pictured to the right) & John Marr (pictured above). The people who serve as Directors must uphold the biblical qualifications of a deacon. (To learn more, click here: lt-roles-of-elders-directors-100207.pdf).
“Who made everything?”
“God made everything and God made me!”
This is the basic truth that your children will be learning in preschool this October. Their verse is “You made the world and everything in it.” Psalm 89:11. Practice the verse with your children every day, remind them that they were specially created by God and He loves them very much. During prayer time, teach your children to thank God for the things He has made.
This months lessons:
God made the land and water.
God made the weather and seasons.
God made animals.
and God cares for all that He made.
We are still in need of more preschool teachers. We need help on the 1st and 4th Sunday’s. Our sign up sheet is always on the preschool table every Sunday. If you are available to cover a Sunday, please sign your name to the sheet or contact me, Rebecca Marr. 423-202-5402
We will be meeting at the church at 10:00am and driving to Fender’s Farm! Feel free to meet us at the farm also. The Farm is open from 10:00am – 10:00pm on Saturday.
Admission for ages 12 and up is $8.
Ages 4-11 is $7
Ages 3 and under are FREE!
There are so many fun activities at Fender’s Farm. Everything from farm animals, hay jumping, and a corn tunnel to campfires, a cow train and a country store. There are activities for all ages so bring the whole family!
You can even pick your own pumpkins and gourds in the pumpkin patch!
For more information about activities and driving directions, check out their website: http://www.fendersmaze.com
A photographer will put on a fish eye lens to magnify something close or to capture a horizon. On Sunday mornings we put on our fish eye lens.
Today, we concluded our study of the book of Ephesians (to download our chart on Ephesians click here: chart-of-ephesians.pdf). We heard stories this morning of how it’s blessed us greatly. In our study, we looked “up & close” at how our relationship with God is possible only through Jesus Christ’s work on the cross & the tomb. The lesson is simple: as heirs of God’s grace, we are to be agents of grace, models of grace, witnesses to grace! Or to put it in Paul’s words: “walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called” (4:1).
Next Sunday we’re going to shoot the horizon, that is, take a broader look at all of scripture. What we’ll learn is that the themes of God’s Story (Creation, Fall, Redemption & Resolution) are a revelation of His character. And it’s a declaration of His grace-filled plan. Why are we studying this? First of all, all of history & life is not about you or me, it’s about Him. Second, God is inviting us to give everything we have to forward His redemptive story. And that’s an opportunity that none of us at Redeemer want to miss!
When this church plant first became an idea, Jim and Karen and John and I knew that we would not get very far with what God wanted us to do if we didn’t pray. We knew that prayer was vitally important to being able to understand what God wanted us to do, and to be able to carry it out. So during the last school year, the four of us met once a week to pray together about the church and what God wanted to do in it and through it.
We recently talked about resuming our prayer times now that school has started back again. A couple of weeks ago, I was doing some reading on dependent prayer, and I realized that if we do not feel the urgency to pray, then we are probably not trying to accomplish anything beyond what we can do by ourselves. As I thought about the big dreams the Fickleys and we have had about what God could do through this church in our city, I realized again that none of that would happen if we didn’t pray.
I also came across this quote: “The establishment of the kingdom of God is an elusive task; we cannot even see what it involves in our vicinity without specific prayer, and we certainly will have little urgency to carry it out unless we are praying” (Richard Lovelace, Dynamics of Spiritual Life, 157). We became so convicted and excited about what could happen with consistent, dependent prayer, that we want to invite you all to join us.
We are setting aside every Wednesday at lunchtime to pray kingdom-centered prayer for our church and for our city. We will meet at the church building every Wednesday from 12:30-1:30 to simply pray. We’re hoping that if you have a lunch break during that time, you will come and join us as often as you can. You can bring your lunch with you, or you could fast instead. If you are not free to get away at lunch on Fridays, then we would love it if you would join us by praying at home or at work.
As this plan was taking shape, John asked me, “How long do you think we should do this? For the month of September?” And I said, “No! Forever!” That is how convinced I am of the importance of dependent prayer. So we will be here every Wednesday from 12:30-1:30, praying that God would forward His mission through our church and in our city. Please join us.
Q: What is Redeemer doing this fall in addition to Sunday morning?
A: We’re happy to announce that we’re starting a series of conversations that we’re calling… well… “Conversations.”
Q: What will these “Conversations” be about?
A: During these discussions we will dive deep into the gospel and discover how we relate to Jesus and to the world around us. We will encourage one another as Jesus-followers to think deeply and live actively in light of this life-changing gospel.
Q: Who is it for?
A: There are four groups that will meet: men, women, middle & high school students and elementary-age kids.
Q: When & where do I go?
A: The groups will meet at the church on Wednesday evenings starting September 5th and run through the end of November. But each group doesn’t meet every week. So, the schedule for the four groups will be as follows:
1st Wednesday of every month:
6:30-7:30 Kids Conversation (K-5th grade)
1st and 3rd Wednesday of every month:
7:30-9:00 Women’s Conversation
2nd and 4th Wednesday of every month:
6:30-8:00 Students Conversation (6th-12th grade)
8:00-9:00 Men’s Conversation
*No groups will meet on October 31st and November 21st.
Q: Why are all the groups talking about the same thing?
A: We intentionally designed these “Conversations” so that all the groups will study the same topic. So, in addition to keeping everyone “on the same page,” our hope is that these conversations will spread to Starbucks, over lunch or wherever you hang out with other people.
Q: Does it require advance work to participate?
A: No preparation is required to attend, but we are providing some advance material for those who would like to get more out of the study. To see a sample, click here.
Q: Is it family-friendly?
A: Yes! All your family needs to ask on Wednesday night is: “Which one of us goes tonight?” It’s also family-friendly because if your whole family is studying the same topic, you can discuss what you’re learning around the dinner table (Remember the Timothy approach? Click here if you don’t.).
We welcome Joe Castillo to this Sunday’s 10am service. Joe will be presenting the passion of Christ through the use of sand art. To learn more click on the video below (shot & edited by our very own Kyle Long).
We are Falling right into our next four months of Preschool!
We have a couple of fun things on the calendar for Preschool. Our kids would love to get together outside of church and get to know each other more and I’m sure the families feel the same way!
On October 6, we have planned a trip for preschoolers and their families to go to Fenders Farm in Jonesboro. They have so many fun activities including a hayride and a pumpkin patch to pick your own Fall pumpkins! Travel through the corn maze and pet some farm animals and even ride a cow train. Admission is $8.00 for 12 and up. $7.00 for 4-11 and 3 and under is free. Admission includes all activities. You only pay for the pumpkins you pick.
On December 1 we are heading to Fall Branch to the Christmas Tree farm. Here you can have hot chocolate or cider, roast marshmallows, and take a hay ride through the Christmas Tree farm. If you choose to buy a tree you can cut it down yourself, you don’t even have to bring your own saw! They will shake and wrap your tree and load it onto the car! Admission is free, price of Christmas Trees vary.
We are still looking for one more adult to help us teach preschool upstairs. You already have a partner just waiting for you to sign up to help her! If you are at all interested, please contact Rebecca Marr at becca_marr@yahoo.com. I would love to share our curriculum and vision with you.
As we prepare for new families and growth in our church, I’m really praying for enough volunteers to step up and lead an infant/toddler room. The room is set up and being used by moms almost every Sunday, but it would be a nice break for them if they could leave their babies with two loving adults and enjoy church uninterrupted. If you are interested in loving and rocking babies, please let me know.
Our insurance requires us to have 2 adults per room each week. I only ask that volunteers commit to one Sunday per month for a 3-4 month block. At the end of that time, you may decide if you want to continue for the next block or take some time off. Some of our teachers have been teaching since our church began and it is time for them to rest. Please help me to thank them for their service by relieving them for a few months. Who knows, you may LOVE it!
We try to have worship with the preschoolers every week. I’m sure you have heard the sounds of feet Dancing in the River and Walking in the Light of Jesus! Preschoolers need time to wiggle so all of our songs get them moving on Sunday morning. We have a couple volunteers but could use a few more willing singers to sing 3 songs with the kids once a month. We have the music and motions, we just need someone to be silly and sing along!
We are open to include new ideas into our program. If you have an idea for a fun preschool activity that we can do upstairs on Sunday morning, please let us know!
It’s probably not wise to say that we held our First Annual Redeemer Olympics this past Sunday. But when you have this much fun, you want to repeat it! So, we’re looking forward to the Second Annual Redeemer Olympics next summer.
You don’t want to miss out on seeing some of the highlights. Click here to see pictures.
Rick Dilley
John Marr
These Elders also appoint & join with other leaders to form a Board of Directors that manages the operational matters of the Church (financial, legal, insurance, property and employee issues). It is presently comprised of Rick Dilley, John Fooshee, Jim Fickley, Rusty Mitchell (pictured to the right) & John Marr (pictured above). The people who serve as Directors must uphold the biblical qualifications of a deacon. (To learn more, click here: lt-roles-of-elders-directors-100207.pdf).
