Small Groups

The first men’s group launched in Mama Mai’s pizzeria. In attendance (besides me) were Henry Hall, Aubrey Driggers, and Chris Geil. We decided to meet at Aubrey’s house on Wednesday nights. As the weeks went on, more guys joined in. A few weeks later, a women’s group was started.

Our First Gathering

We kicked off with an explanation of the vision of what The River Community Church would look like. “We envision The River to be a community of small groups that gathers to honor God while impacting the world by discovering who we were created to be.” After this initial gathering, we began to gather monthly to grow our base of leadership in preparation for launching the church publicly.

A Name at Last

People had spent the past few months calling the unnamed church “Joe’s New Church”. I cringed every time I heard that. I earnestly sought to find an appropriate name before it ended up as JNC. After months of searching, the name "The River" came to me. I immediately knew that we had a winner. Rivers are seen as life-giving and positive. While Culpeper does not have rivers, its county borders are defined by the Rappahannock and the Rapidan Rivers.

Leaders in Waiting

After I shared about starting a new church, I was told about a potential worship leader by his parents. I had heard a few good things about Aubrey, so we had lunch at the Thai restaurant in town. It was a great conversation, and we started to meet more frequently. I soon discovered that he was a passionate and gifted musician, and that he had a heart for God and others. He joined up with Henry and I as we looked to expand our start-up team.

Telling My Church

After sharing my new calling with my pastor, Ted Fuson gave overwhelming support. From that point, I shared this call with the youth and the deacons, and received support from them as well. Culpeper Baptist Church ended up being the parent church for this new congregation.

A Target Group

The burning question I had was "What group can we reach that are not being reached by other congregations?" I felt God speaking to me about everyday young people in this town; waitresses, clerks, teachers, mechanics. This new, as of yet unnamed, church would reach out to them.

Start Your Engines!

As the holiday season approached, Kathy and I were both reading the book of Acts. As we read about the first church, we felt a definitive call towards starting a church. I felt like Moses at the burning bush; scared stiff. Kathy, however, was confident that God would provide leadership to help me. So, I spoke with my friend Henry Hall about this call. I told him my biggest fear was my lack of administrative abilities. He offered his help and ended up (among many other things) forming the structure for the small group ministry of the church.