Oak Ridge Baptist Church - Oak Ridge, TN

The people of Oak Ridge Baptist Church are a living testament of the grace of God through trials. Throughout the week our team heard story after story of the lives of the men and women of the church and the work that God has been doing and continues to do in them. We were privileged to spend the week with them.

We have been looking forward to ministering at Oak Ridge again, as this is a very special church to Aaron and Stephanie.  Last January we were able to enjoy a Sunday with this sweet church, and we’ve been anticipating our time together this spring. The Coffeys have been here over five times and have developed some meaningful relationships with the people.  The person that we missed the most this week however was Pastor Tom Craig. After his quick and difficult fight with cancer, he met Jesus last summer. He was a blessing to us and made an impact on our lives with his discipleship-focus for others. We are praying for the church as they are praying for God’s direction for a pastor.

The week was full of all kinds of activities going on. The teens and children met for pre-sessions thirty minutes before the services began to have some fun and hear a challenge from God’s Word. The adults met with Aaron as well as they looked into the Word and took time to pray together.

Part way through the week the weather stations predicted a winter storm coming in. Thankfully, this one passed over the area with little to no effect on Oak Ridge and we were able to hold the services like normal. Thursday night we had a teen night Cola War with the youth group kids filled with broom hockey, Nine Square and dodge ball.

On Friday night before the service, the church invited their friends and visitors to a dessert and coffee time. During the food and fellowship, the church folks and their friends came playing “Boil them Cabbages Down” on her violin with us! She was so excited, and she did a great job! This was our team’s first time playing bluegrass music, and it was so much fun! We even incorporated our new upright bass and threw in the spoons.

As always, we were privilege to serve alongside of the staff at Oak Ridge and the brothers and sisters there. We echo Paul when he says in Philippians 1:3-5: 

I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all, making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the Gospel from the first day until now. 

If you would like to see more pictures from our week at Oak Ridge, click here to visit our Facebook album.