Is it worth it? This may be a thought you have had when thinking about the amount of effort it takes to do what God asks of us. Or maybe you have thought this when it comes to going to church, doing something for someone other than yourself, or simply trying to do what’s right.

Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. – Romans 12:1-2 (NIV)

No doubt, getting up and going to The Summit tomorrow morning will be an extreme act of sacrifice. It is going to be COLD in the morning so why not just stay home or go to a church that already has a nice comfortable auditorium? Why?

Simply because you have always wanted more.

• You have wanted more fulfillment in life.
• You have wanted to experience more supernatural God.
• You have wanted more in your walk with God.
• You have wanted to be a part of a grass roots movement that would make eternal differences in the lives of everyone it touches.
• You have wanted to quit taking the easy way and actually work for something more rewarding.

You have wanted to get up, move away from the couch and make a difference with what you did today. You are tired of the status quo, the mundane and the comfortable. You are ready for a change and you know deep in your heart that can only come as a result of sacrifice and work.

Tomorrow at The Summit will not be easy. Nothing that is worth anything ever is. But I guarantee it will be rewarding! We have heaters for the kids and coffee for the adults. We have hand warmers and chairs. We have a mission, a plan and most of all a vision.

You are a part of something great and I am incredibly blessed to worship and work with you. I can’t wait to see you tomorrow as we serve and make a difference! Are you ready?

Be Happy!

Pastor Bryan McKnight

The Summit has moved to a new and different season in the life of our church. We launch on October 5, 2008 at The King’s Academy and continued there for 1 year. We started with a launch tem of about 19 and had 167 on our first Sunday. We  saw and experienced some incredible things this past year. 73 people made a decision to step into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. 41 took that a step farther and followed Jesus in baptism by immersion. Now, we are experiencing Church Redefined. This was our official first week to gather and disperse. We have moved to a new building that isn’t finished. So we decided to have a short devotion and then scatter into our community and serve outside our walls on Sundays until our building is complete. Here is a recap of our first Sunday:

• Our attendance was good Sunday. We still have first-time guests each week. Our attendance has dropped about 25%. We knew this would happen. This time will definitely separate those who have the vision from those who don’t.
• This is very uncomfortable for me. Warm fussy feelings don’t happen when you just live God’s word out in the community. I like corporate worship with spirit-moving songs and bone-chilling messages.
• It’s hard to ignore the suffering of others when you are standing in their living room.
• The incredible dedication from the families at The Summit is inspiring. This is NOT comfortable church. This is uncertain, hard-working, soul-stretching, heart-stirring, comfort-zone exploding church. To stay committed takes an incredible buy-in to our vision. Thank you Summit Church!
• Cars honk at us in the parking lot when they drive by.
• For those who don’t go to a church because we meet between a bar and a massage parlor (they aren’t even open when we meet), this will make you feel vindicated. We had 2 drunks come see what was happening. It was easy enough to keep our kids safe and we got to witness to these two broken people.
• We had teams go to Kroger & Food City to collect food for a local food pantry (about $1000 worth of groceries collected in less than 2 hours). There are a lot of un-churched people shopping on Sundays; We had a team serve an elderly couple by cleaning-up their yard; one team helped a widow move out of her foreclosed home and gave her hope as they prayed with her in her new place and they helped her fill out paperwork for a Habitat for Humanity home. We had another team help a couple with car work and yet another team work at the building.
• These were the right things to do, but it felt wierd. It’s not church the way our culture has defined it. It is hard to live for others and not just myself.
• We still have an over-whelming amount of work to do at the building and we still need the financial resources to finish it. I can’t wait to see what God has planned for those two challenges.

This is an exciting time. New challenges, opportunities and thrills await s each week. God’s story is being written for S Knox/Seymour and I m thrilled to be a part of it. Pics will be available soon.

Be Happy!

Bryan

Following is a Facebook blog written by a teenager who’s family is an awesome blessing, both to The Summit and all those who know them. I always thought Kaitlyn was an awesome young woman, but when I read this, I was absolutely blown away by her heart and by what she had to share. So, I wanted to share it with everyone! Be humbled as you read.

“Today we had lifetime wellness. We were in the gym. Class is over and we all head to the locker room. I walk in and see my bags open and all of my things thrown across the floor. The light bulb instantly flicked on in my mind and I realized someone had probably stolen something. I look through my bags and find that my ipod, camera, and wallet are gone.

My first reaction: shock. I did not come to school expecting my stuff to get stolen. Next reaction: shock combined with anger. Why in the world would anybody be so inconsiderate as to go through my things and invade my privacy like that! Almost everyone in our class had their stuff gone through! A few of us immediately rushed to the principal’s office and told what happened. We got names of who we are almost positive did it.

After leaving the office, I thought about how mad and upset I was and I felt guilty. I’m the guilty one for caring so much about material things. I realized that it shouldn’t matter. It’s just stuff, so why do I care about it so much. I realized that this happened, probably to teach me a lesson that I shouldn’t care so much about material things. When I go to heaven, I won’t have those things anyways so why worry about them now. I’m trying to look at this as a chance to gain something instead of being mad.

So I encourage you to look for good in a situation even when it seems like there’s absolutely no good in it at all. I also encourage you to, in a sense, let go of your material things. Don’t let them clutter your life. Don’t focus on them instead of what this life is really about- serving Christ.” – Kaitlyn Ramirez

How Awesome is that!

Bryan

This is it! History will be written and a new era of church will happen this Sunday @ 10 AM at The Summit Church!

The Summit has moved to its new location and we can’t wait to do “ekklesia” (called out assembly).

This Sunday we will meet outside so dress warm. We will still do community so coffee, biscuits and chatter will still be the norm. Our Kidz will still rock the house, so make sure you bring your kids and your neighbor’s kids so they can experience God in a mind-blowing way. We will still worship. The experience may be shorter but still very authentic. We will still honor God through our giving and our tithe will be seen through the new impact center. We will still communicate God’ message, although more brief, it will still be a message to help shape our lives.

But that is where the similiarities end. This Sunday we will meet representatives from Knoxville Area Rescue Ministries (KARM); Smoky Mountains Area Rescue Ministries (SMARM); Christians Reaching Out to Serve Seymour (CROSS); Habitat for Humanity; and Second Harvest Food Bank. They will share how we can redefine church and change the way our community thinks about God and His people. We will also provide information and share exactly how we are going to serve outside our walls.

After that we will have an open house of our new facility and give everyone the cahnce to walk through and see what God is doing and where we are going. You will also have the chance to sign-up for FIVEtimesFIVE and let us know how you will give your five hour per week for the next five weeks (2 Corinthians 5:5).

This is a great opportunity to make the difference you have always wanted to make. This is the chance to see God’s face and experience the more we have longed for. This is the time to shine in our Christian faith and make an explosive dent in hell as we wake our community up to the love of Christ!

See you Sunday!

Bryan

FIVEtimesFIVE

^“The Spirit of God whets our appetite by giving us a taste of what’s ahead. He puts a little of heaven in our hearts so that we’ll never settle for less.” – (2 Corinthians 5:5, The Message)

I know the incredible sacrifice it takes to come home from a long hard day at work and then go out to a building only to work a few more hours. I know there are ball games and clubs and activities going on. But I would like for you to consider FIVEtimesFIVE!

Here is the plan. Too many people have lost faith in God. Yet way many more want a reason to hope again and trust again. The more our community sees us working together to get this task accomplished and the faster we get into this new center, the quicker we get to impact more people!

I am asking you to give God FIVE hours per week for the next Five weeks (in addition to Sundays) starting tonight! That is just ONE hour per day (or 5 hours ONE day) to accomplish such a HUGE task.

Will you make this small sacrifice for such a big reward? I know that several already give more than five hours, but will join us with this simple commitment? Respond back or call Heidi at the office, 865-622-2022. Let us know your in and you have made the commitment to FIVEtimesFIVE. We will provide the water, gatorade and lunch on Saturdays and you provide FIVE! (It’s important to let us know you are in so we can plan accordingly)

I can’t wait to see the difference!

Be Happy!

Pastor Bryan
(PS. HIGH-FIVE :>)

…and opening some others! Today was our 52nd week in existence and we celebrated it a little different. It was our last Sunday in The King’s Academy’s Woody Auditorium where we launched our first worship experience on October 5, 2008 and next week on October 4, 2009 we have nowhere to meet…that is…no building.

In the last year The Summit has seen 73 people become new Christ-followers and 41 choose to be baptized. Yet, we are closing our doors. The fanfare at The Summit was simply loading out all of our equipment into a Penske truck and taking it to storage. It was the last Sunday that The Summit will meet in a building…at least for a while.

You see, The Summit is building-out 13,000 sqft in an old strip mall between a bar and a massage parlor and the space just isn’t finished yet. As a matter of fact it won’t be for at least another month. When faced with this dilemma we had to decide what we would do. With many decisions before us, we took what appeared to be the most illogical and foolish choice we could take. Be a church without a building! That is, we wouldn’t extend our lease at The King’s Academy nor would we look for something else. We would do something totally different!

At least for a time. Craig Groeschel said, “If we are going to reach people we have never reached before, we must do things we have never done before.” So The Summit has decided to redefine church as our community knows it. We have decided simply to gather together and serve our community. THIS IS OUR PLAN:

• We have decided we will meet together in the parking lot of our new building each Sunday at 10 AM.
• We will provide child care until 12 PM (Nursery will be in 3 Sisters Hair Salon).
• We will sing a song or two
• Give an offering to the Lord.
• I will share a short devotion.
• We will then invite those who want to work on our new building to come in and work. If they have children they can work until 12 PM and if they desire, they can work into the afternoon. For those who don’t care to work or can’t work, we will thank them for coming and invite them back next week at the same time.
• We will also have the opportunity to split into teams and serve our community each Sunday during this time. We have partnered with several local agencies and we will serve our neighbors, the homeless, the hungry and the hurting throughout our community on Sunday mornings at 10 AM!

We know we have made ourselves vulnerable to attack and criticism. We know there will be those who scoff and sneer at where we are and what we will do. But at least we can say we have been obedient to God! This will continue until we are done with our building. We also plan to develop opportunities to continue this even after we have moved into our new facility. Make no mistake about it. We are very excited to move into our new state-of-the-art Impact Center. But until that happens, we are going to do all we can to redefine the way our community looks at God and His church. We believe God will grow The Summit during this time. We believe more lives will be impacted through this season of service than ever before. We believe this is going to turn South Knox/Seymour upside-down!

Come and join us as we celebrate closing our doors!

Be Happy!

Bryan

Wow! I am so excited out of mind I don’t even know how to express it in this email. Most of us were aware that this Sunday was going to be The Summit’s last Sunday in The King’s Academy. What we weren’t aware of is “what’s next?”

Now we know!

From Day One the vision of The Summit has to been to reach those who are far from God and help them back into a relationship with Him. In accomplishing that we also want to redefine the way our community looks at God and His church. We want to remove the contempt and replace it with Praise. Our goal is to move people in such a way that when they come to the Summit they can NEVER use church as a reason NOT to come back.

Starting October 4th, we are going to put this vision into a real life, in-your-face, action plan! This is a transitional time for The Summit. We are leaving the Academy, but not yet ready to move into the new building. So what do we do? Find out this Sunday as we gather one last time at The King’s Academy @ 10 AM.

I will lay out the vision and how it will blow away our community. I will show you how God will use The Summit to reach people who said they would never go back to church again or who said they would never dawn the doors of a church building!

I know that God has a better life planned for us and those we live around, work with and do life with. It’s time we start living that conviction out loud!

The More is Here!

Bryan

I am so excited about this weekend @ The Summit! The Summit is so incredible and we are seeing God do some remarkable things in the lives and in the families around Seymour and S Knox.

We are concluding our series called “Freedom” this week by talking about The Freedom to Start Over. Who hasn’t wished they could have a do-over in certain areas of our lives or maybe even the whole thing. We will discover how God has provided a way and the strength to start new and fresh in this life. Starting Over this weekend could be the biggest decision you ever made. So come to The Summit @ 10 AM for our weekend worship experience or come a little early and enjoy a light breakfast at The Black Bear Cafe’.

You know, walking in the Freedom that God has given us is such an awesome life! It’s when we try to do life under the shackles and burden of our own selfishness that it gets heavy. We often get weighed down with our own wants and desires that when God calls to a better life, we are so stuck in our busyness, we don’t have time to experience God’s freedom. Come this weekend and let’s discover together how we can experience God insane freedom and how to claim it now!

Be Happy!

Bryan

Wow! I cannot believe we are preparing a new building as a permanent place from which we can Impact our community! 12,000 sqft of awesome space for us to worship, do community, celebrate with Summit Kidz, for the Summit Edge student impact team to meet and for us to launch a community initiative that is so big that we will see God literally change the face of our culture.

This past week we have seen 60 teenagers from Indiana and Michigan work with Team Effort to help us accomplish the impossible! In 3 days they were able to complete what would have taken us 2 1/2 months to do. These kids did this with smiles on their faces and an energy in the step that absolutely would fire you up!

This has all happened so fast and we have seen God bless so much that it has just astounded me at what He has done. As a church, we believe that God wants us to make this move and that WE will change the face of our culture by expressing God’s love! As we have started this project:

• God gave us a building that does not really cost anymore than our current rent!
• He gave us Team Effort and around 60 teenagers and adults to start a demolition project that was not anything less than incredible. Next week we will have 36 more take up where they left off!
• We needed $345 for a dumpster on Monday and someone unexpectedly decided to donate the dumpster.
• We needed $1500 to get the architect started on our drawings. An anonymous donor stopped by to give $1500 to pay for the architect!
• Today we need $7,381.11 to pay our first month’s rent and security deposit so that everything can be finalized and we can move forward.

That is huge! Normally a church draws up plans; has a faith series of messages; schedules a pledge Sunday; raises the funds and THEN starts all this stuff. Well…I believe God has orchestrated this so we could give God ALL the glory and so the community could be perplexed, bewildered and amazed at what GOD has done.

Here’s the big ask Summit Church. You guys have been so faithful to tithe and support this ministry. Your love for God and the vision He has given our church is undeniable. I know this is short notice and will require much, but I am asking that as many as possible will commit to give an offering, right now, above and separate from your regular tithe. Pray about it! Believe God to multiply it! And commit to it! I would then like to ask you to come to the Friday night worship experience @ 8 PM with the kids who have helped make this happen this past week and give this offering as we receive it for the Lord!

If you can’t make it Friday night, click on the donate button to the right to donate online or you can bring it on Sunday. The developer wants this check tomorrow, but may give us until Monday! This is a God-sized task before us. I am so proud and grateful for each one of you. I can’t wait to see what God is going to do and I look forward to giving you the report on Sunday as we celebrate this victory together! God bless you as you let God bless!

I am so excited about this week and the coming month @ The Summit!

Thursday we will be having our church-wide camp out at Crazy Horse Campground AND it looks like we are going to have a baptism! That’s right! Someone said they didn’t wait any longer, so if you want to join in this exciting event we will have a baptism in the pool on Friday Night! If you want to be a part of this, just let us know.

Sunday we will be starting a new series of conversations entitled “Freedom – Release the Chains”.

Have you ever wandered weather there could be a better tomorrow? Have you ever doubted your relationship with God? Have you questioned how God could love you? Have you imagined a life that was free from the past and open to an unlimited future? If so, you do not want to miss “Freedom – Release the Chains” at The Summit! This will be a powerful and eye opening series of conversations on the good news that Jesus delivered 2000 years ago and how it affects us today. This will be a time of new beginnings and new hope. We will learn together how to dream again, hope again and to discover the Freedom God has promised to all of us!

Be Happy!

Bryan