Brian Bloye, Lead Pastor - Vision Casting and overall leadership

Jim Akins, Executive Director or Church Planting - Training and systems development.

History:

Pastor Brian Bloye, Lead Pastor of West Ridge Church, caught the vision for church planting while listening to a group talk about planting churches in India. He led West Ridge Church to give toward a church plant in India and the vision has taken flight from there.

West Ridge Church has partnered to plant churches from Salt Lake to New Jersey and from Cleveland to Atlanta. The vision began first as a financial and missional commitment. The church gave money and sent lay missionaries to the church plants.

In 2003 the church called it's first Church Planting Intern. After serving a year on the staff of West Ridge Church the Church Planter left with 6 families to plant a church in Canton Georgia. After those initial families replaced themselves in leadership most of them returned to West Ridge Church. Ridge Stone Church now averages around 750 in worship each week before their 3rd birthday. Their next major move is a multi-site church about 40 miles away in Jasper Georgia.

In 2005 West Ridge Church called Jim Akins to become Pastor of Church Planting. A school for training was begun in September 2005 and completed in May 2006. The School of Church Planting graduated 8 men that resulted in the starting of 4 churches. Those four churches after one year average 325 in worship each week and have baptized 104 people.

The most recent class graduated 10 men that will plant churches in Detroit, Pittsburgh, north Alabama, and three in our own backyard of Paulding County Georgia. A new class forms each September and completes it's study in May.