Ridgedale Students

In this series we look at the nagging questions that impede our growth in discipleship when they go unaddressed. In week 1 we look at God’s wrath and how it isn’t an attribute to be avoided but actually reveals God’s love in a deeper way.

What does real religion look like lived out? In Isaiah 58, Israel comes to God asking why all their religious work isn’t resulting in deeper intimacy. The response? True religion must be converted into lived righteousness. In session 2 we look at the requirements of true religion and our call to convert our work into lived righteousness.

What is God up to at the beginning of His story? In Genesis 1 we see creation, a garden and a people made in God’s image. But what does this image and garden mean for the way we live? As we begin Fall Retreat around the theme of Garden we look at how our lives intersect with the Biblical theme of garden giving us purpose, calling and commissioning to go with God making a world full of His life, be...

We end our series with a teaching from Pastor Chris on Ezekiel 37 and the Valley of Dry Bones.

Week 2 of our series features a teaching on Ezekiel 36 from our newest Ridgedale staff member, Danny Hesterly.

Join us for week 1 of a new series walking through the book of Ezekiel and the hope that fills us up as we go to pour out the love of God on a world in need.

In our final week of Messiology we want to take all we've learned and put it into real tangible, missional steps we can live out as a community for the good of others. How do we take a Gospel-fluent message into a culture opposed to it with the nagging fear of rejection and doubts in the back of our mind? This is our focus in week 3 of our series; Messiology.

In week 1 we culturally exegeted the world that we live in missionally, but what is going on in our own hearts that keeps us from taking what we know and converting it into missiological practice? At the heart of apprehension is the issue of ACCEPTANCE. In a flattened, polarized, consumeristic world, the worst thing you can be is different, counter-cultural, concerned with formation over consumpti...

In this opening teaching we will dive into the mess of the world that we have been missionally called to. What is the culture and who are the people we've been called to? When we look at the world today we see a place that is jammed up with polarization, "You're either with me or against me..." It is growing more and more relativistic, flattening all worldviews into one placid view of the world. I...

For House Night 1 we’re examining a process for life and community that maximizes our potential in partnering God to see a move of God in our midst in this new school year. When we Pray Hard, Work Hard, Play Hard, and Rest Hard we set ourselves up to see God do what only He can do, and find ourselves refreshed along the way.

Where has God brought us and what is He bringing us into in the coming here? Check it out here as we wrapped up our final House Night of the school year.

In our final teaching of the semester we look at what the way of Jesus looks like as a community practice.

How do we actually live the way of Jesus? In the first of a two part teaching we will look at what following Jesus looks like in a personal sense through a look at Jesus’ own practice of what we call “spiritual disciplines.”

We live in an age of disconnected spirituality. For many people, spirituality can me anything or nothing at all. We can live deeply "spiritual" lives, but have no evident difference in our life from that of non-religious people. We tend toward a surface-level faith that just adds church attendance to the practices we participate in alongside everyone else. This works up to a point, but it falls ap...

What comes from following the Way of Jesus? In a world where we’re constantly looking to the next thing and the potential of a new season we have to ask ourselves the question, “What is the potential in following Jesus’ Way?” Tonight we begin our final series of the school year looking at that exact thought.

Check out this stand alone teaching from our friend Ladarion Simpson!

How are Christians meant to handle disagreements and offense? In this stand alone teaching we will hear from one of our own Zack Naessig on the topic of forgiveness.

In our final week of Life Together we look at the life of the church outside of its community. As the church is deeply formed, what is it formed into and how do we live out this formation-fueled missional life?

What is our life together meant to look like within the Church? Part 1 of 2 will explore this question on ecclesiology.

"I wish we never had to leave (insert student ministry big event here)." Why is there so much hype behind the big events of ministry and so much apprehension about returning to the normal rhythms of our lives? We run toward deep conversations, vulnerability, and unrestrained worship at a camp, retreat or other event, but we withhold ourselves from all of these things in a regular Sunday service or...

Major apologies but our recording cut out halfway through the second point. We will be happy to email notes for the remaining section if you email chrisf@ridgedalebaptist.org. If you’d like a print out of the Rule of Life builder we developed you can email the same address!

What is life all about? This question has been asked by innumerable people of thousands of years all in the hope of an answer coming that can make sense of life here and now and lead to deeper flourishing. The answer the Bible offers; “This is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God.” How can we know a God who is also described as indescribable? In week 3 of Rooted, we’ll look at the p...

Does God speak? Most people would say yes, but without a great deal of confidence that He would speak to them. Hearing from God is an essential part of our spiritual life but often goes overlooked because it seems too hard to discern or too rare to expect. But what if that wasn’t the case? Tonight in week 2 of Rooted we will look at the practice of hearing from God through the story of Luke 24:13-...

How do we start a new year well? For many the answer is resolutions and for others it’s rhythms but when we look to Christian history there are certain practices that deeply root our identity and daily life in the life of Jesus. Tonight we begin by looking to the promise of Matthew 5:8 and the hope found in Exodus 33 and Psalm 37:4 that God does in fact reveal Himself to those who want Him and see...

Tonight we wrap up our final teaching in the Life series looking at the most important church doctrine that most people have never heard mentioned; union with Christ.