Christ’s Church expanding its reach

Excitement abounds at Christ’s Church in Bowling Green.
On Oct. 2, the church will celebrate the introduction of a new worship service and the return of Sunday
School.
Earlier this year, Bill Rhodes was hired as an associate minister at the church. He serves as minister of
assimilation.
According to Doug McKinney, senior minister at the church, all the changes are a result of the continued
growth at the church.
"We’ve been blessed as God has been filling this place up," McKinney said. "There has
never been so much potential."
He said the new service will allow the church to "minister to more people and allow us to grow
within this facility."
Understandably, McKinney gives credit to God, but he and the other church leaders have done their part
over the years to advance the ministry and outreach of the church, which is located at 14455 Campbell
Hill Road, at the corner of Napoleon Road.
Founded in April 1997, the church has had ongoing growth from its storefront roots to the opening of the
current church facility in November 2006. A modular building has also recently been added at the
location. That building is used for the Junior Church program.
The pastor also credits the congregation for the success of the church.
"I have never before seen a group of people so passionate in their love of Jesus Christ. They are
also passionate in their love of people," McKinney said. "With that combination you can turn a
community upside down."
New service
The new hour-long "classic" worship service will be held at 8:30 a.m. on Sundays. The
"contemporary" service that the congregation is familiar with will be held at 11 a.m.
McKinney and Rhodes both said the term classic was chosen over the often-used "traditional"
term as the primary difference between the two services will be the music.
The contemporary service will continue with the full band including drums. The new classic service will
be "quieter" and include more hymns, including many older hymns, and congregational singing.

"The new service will appeal to those who like to worship in a more relaxed, friendly
atmosphere," Rhodes said.
McKinney added, "It’s different by design. This time of day, this type of worship has an attraction
for some people."
He said the music at the service will take on different looks and sounds. There may just be a song leader
with a guitar, or at a piano. There could be a quartet singing a cappella to lead the congregation in
song. Those different styles are more appropriate for a classic worship.
"The new service will also have a more structured time frame," McKinney said contrasting with
the "freer" style of the contemporary service. The late service is scheduled to end at 12:30
p.m., but the ministers said it could go either longer or shorter as it is a more open format.
However, he stressed the new worship service will maintain all the aspects of the contemporary service
including singing, prayer, preaching and the Lord’s Supper at each service.
"Everything in the contemporary service will be in the classic service," McKinney said.
Sunday School
The church had dropped its Sunday School program approximately a year ago, primarily due to the success
of the Junior Church program. The focus of Sunday School had been the education and ministry to the
younger people. What McKinney calls a "wonderful program," the Junior Church will continue
under the new format as the youth have their own service at the modular building during the regular
worship time.
Sunday School is not just for kids. What the returning Sunday School program will provide is three adult
classes, including a "New and Renewing Christian" class, as well as classes broken down by age
groups for all the youth from as young as 18 months through high school students. All classes will be
held from 9:45 to 10:45 a.m. Sundays.
McKinney said bringing Sunday School back "is exciting for us."
He added the Bible school classes will also allow the bridging of the two worship services on Sunday.
While the primary focus will be to teach the word of God to the congregation, it will also allow those
who will be attending the different services to remain in contact so they don’t lose touch with each
other.
Early registration has been strong for the Sunday School program.
"We think the interest will definitely be there," Rhodes said.
New associate
As the associate minister for assimilation, Rhodes says he was brought on to work with visitors and new
Christians to help them be more involved and prepared for their role in the ministry of the church.
Rhodes has been involved in full-time ministry for more than 30 years. He had retired in December 2000
from Amazing Grace Church of Christ in Follansbee, W.Va. He had previously served in churches in
Weirton, W.Va., Proctorville, Ohio and Haven Kansas. He has been married to his wife, Sherry, for 41
years and they couple have three married children.
After moving, the Perrysburg resident became connected with Christ’s Church and McKinney began to talk
with him about what he could do for the church.
"With so many visitors, we wanted to look at what we could do to bring them in and be part of the
church," Rhodes said.
He was thus hired in April and leads the new Christians class, and tries to remain in communication with
all visitors for at least a year.
"The visitors are a great source of new contacts," Rhodes said. "We want to be sure we can
be a greater blessing for them."
His position will also look for additional ways to expand the outreach of the church.
"We are very blessed to have him here," McKinney said of Rhodes.