Back To The Basics

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. - Proverbs 3:5, NIV

Trusting God’s plan is the only secret I know in the gentle art of not freaking out. - Lysa Terkeurst 

So, what do we do when we’re spiritually dry? When we feel empty inside and we don't understand what God is up to? There are things we can practice to help us climb out of our spiritual pit. Here are some thoughts to consider: 

Lean Back

The very first thing we need to do in this challenging season is simply to rest in God. He is our place of safety and our shelter from devastating storms. His arms are very capable of handling our deepest hurts. So, lean back. Cry out to Him to if you want. Just know He’s got you.

Faith First

We have to trust what our faith tells us and demand that our feelings take a back seat. It’s been said that we often believe our doubts and doubt our beliefs. We need to flip that around. Remembering and claiming the truth we’ve learned in the rich spiritual seasons of our lives will carry us through the valleys when doubts come our way. 

Evaluate Your Influences

When you find yourself in a spiritual deficit, evaluate what your biggest influences are. What are you watching or listening to? Who are you spending time with? It’s wise to assess who and what is investing in us whether we know they are or not.

Spiritual Practices

Isn’t it funny that the things we don’t feel like doing during our spiritual dry spells are the things we actually need to do to help us fill back up spiritually? It feels like work to read the Bible, pray, worship, or even go to church, so we stop. When we do, we get even more spiritually malnourished. We must choose to invest in our spiritual comeback even when our feelings are screaming for us not to. 

We never have to earn God’s love or acceptance with our actions. Anything we do to stay on course spiritually is just to grow closer to Him. To get out of our spiritually dry season, we do the things we’ve done when we were in a healthy season. Because when we do that, we’ll eventually fill back up. 

Reflect

In your dry season, what role have your feelings had? Have they dictated your faith or were you allowing your faith to govern your feelings?

When you are struggling spiritually, what is the first spiritual practice that you tend to neglect? Commit to God that you will continue to spend time with Him even when you feel He’s far away.

*Youversion, "Walking Through Spiritual Valleys"

Current Series

Everyone has doubts. Where is God when bad things happen? Does God hear our prayers? Is there a heaven? How can we know? Often, we treat such questions as the enemy of faith. But uncertainty doesn’t mean our belief is lacking. Doubt can be a path to a deeper, richer encounter with God. 

Mother's Day: May 12th

As a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you. - Isaiah 66:13

Prove your mom always liked you best by inviting her to our special Mother's Day service. We have something super special planned for your mom!

Join us on Sunday, May 19th, as we honor our seniors. We're so proud of all our Ridge graduates! 

Please let us know if you have a senior that you would like to be recognized: nathan@theridgecolumbus.com.

Calling all RidgeRunners kids in 1st through 5th grade!

Camp 4:12 is on for June 23-27!

Space is filling quickly!

Camp 4:12 is an amazing week of fun, encouragement, and faith development for kids entering 2nd through 6th grades. Each year The Ridge partners with Pierce Chapel and St. Mark to host this overnight camp that runs from Sunday afternoon through Thursday afternoon at Pine Eden Christian Retreat Center in Hamilton, GA. Campers will experience worship and teaching, lots of swimming and recreation, crafts, chill time, great food, and their choice of two daily electives like canoeing, theater, sports, games, book club, wilderness survival and lots more! Cabins are organized by age and gender with around 12 campers each and are led by a team of one adult counselor and 2 or 3 high school counselors. Scholarships are available through The Ridge for Ridge families. Learn more and register by following the link below. Contact Nathan at nathan@theridgecolumbus.com for scholarship information or any questions about camp.

Click HERE to register your child!

We need volunteers including parents, grandparents, high school students and middle school students who want to make camp amazing for our RidgeRunners! Many roles do not involve staying overnight. Youth and children's ministry staff from each of the three churches are on site all week, but we need a great team of volunteers to make camp a success. Please contact Nathan if you are interested in helping in one of the following areas: cabin counselor, kitchen helper, lifeguard, elective leader, setup/cleanup, music team, or crafts. 

Next Dinner: May 15th

We'll meet for dinner on Wednesday evening, May 15th, at 6:30pm at Charred Oak in Old Town.

Monthly Dinners:

Our Women's group meets for monthly dinners on the first Tuesday of each month.

We also have a Facebook page dedicated to our women's ministry. This is a great way to stay informed! Click here for more info.

Souled Out Summer is a Christian conference for middle and high school students. It is held at Laguna Beach Christian Retreat on the west end of Panama City Beach, Florida, and it focuses on students’ relationship with Christ. Morning and evening worship and speakers set the tone for each day. The conference is discipleship oriented, and each student will participate in a D-Group (disciple group) made up of students of their grade and gender. Each D-group is led by college-age Discipleship Leaders (D-Leaders) whose focus is on helping students open up and grow closer to Christ. Lots of free time is scheduled into each afternoon for individual activities, swimming at the pools or beach, playing in the basketball/Ultimate Frisbee/volleyball, etc. tournaments, competing in the strong man/woman contest, or just hanging out and relaxing. Souled Out is the perfect setting for students to open up and be real with God and with each other.

This year’s Souled Out theme is “Burning Fire,” based on Jeremiah 20:9. God gives us His Word to work within us and to share it with others.

Worship will be led by Jonathan and Lisa and their band, MOORE, with guests Mike Marshall and Mallory Lang.

This year’s evening speaker is Jordan Easley, and this year's morning speaker is Christian comedian and evangelist Lee McBride.

Special deferred deposit option available this year. Scholarships are available upon request to all Ridge Students.

Click HERE for more information and to register.

College Ministry

Summit College Ministry is intended to connect and support our college-age young adults as well as to provide a bridge between their involvement in on-campus ministries and The Ridge. With that in mind, studies and activities are scheduled during school breaks.

High school graduates ages 18 through 25 are invited to Summit events. Sam Lord is our college ministry coordinator under the direction of Nathan and Autumn Carr.

Questions: Contact Sam Lord at sam@theridgecolumbus.com, 706-617-4051.

Now that we've moved into the new building, we're asking everyone to "work one, worship one." We'd love to have you join one of our amazing Sunday Monthly Ministry Teams.

For more information on teams and to register: Click here. 

Sunday Nights at The RYM

Sunday, April 28 – 5:30-7:30pm at The RYM

Sunday, May 5 – 5:30-7:30pm at The RYM

Sunday, May 12 – Mother's Day/Confirmation Sunday - No meeting

Sunday, May 19 – 5:30-7:30pm at The RYM

Sunday, May 26 – Memorial Day - No meeting

Sunday, June 2 – 5:30 - 7:00 Dinner Out (Day before Souled Out)

Middle School Small Group

- 11:20am-12:00noon during the 11:00 service only.

No meeting May 12 (Mother's Day)

May 19 is the final meeting before summer break.

Questions? - Contact Nathan at 706-464-7548 or nathan@theridgecolumbus.com.

Ridge Confirmation Class 2024

Do you want to help your student understand and claim their faith? We want to help your family with that, so we're inviting you to be a part of Confirmation this year! Confirmation is a Christian formation class about understanding and claiming your faith. It's designed especially for middle school students, though older students who have not been through confirmation may also participate. At the end of the process, students will have the opportunity to publicly profess faith in Christ and be either confirmed, rededicated or baptized

depending on their history. 

Remaining Confirmation Schedule:

Sunday, April 28 Confirmation Small Group at The Ridge from 4:00-5:30pm 

Sunday, May 5 Confirmation Small Group at The Ridge from 4:00-5:30pm 

Sunday, May 12 Mother's Day & Confirmation Ceremony at The Ridge in one or both services depending on the class.

Message Series Archive

YouTube channel: Click Here