West Ridge: Purpose Driven Church of the year

Last month Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California hosted its sixth annual Purpose-Driven Church Conference. At the conference 79 churches from 20 nations received Church Health Awards and 18 of those churches are affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention.

West Ridge Church in Paulding County was one of the recipients of the prestigious award. In honoring the churches Saddleback pastor Rick Warren said, “These churches understand the importance of maintaining a balance between the five biblical purposes of worship, fellowship, discipleship, ministry and mission.”

Todd Hunley

Brian Bloye, left, pastor of West Ridge Church in Hiram, poses with wife Amy and Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif. The Bloyes were on hand at Saddleback to accept an award on behalf of West Ridge for being one of 79 churches honored with a Church Health Award from Purpose Driven.

Warren, author of the best-selling book The Purpose Driven Life, built Saddleback Church on the biblical foundation of the five purposes stated above. The Purpose Driven paradigm states that churches that achieve a measure of balance among these five purposes become healthy churches.

A new paradigm

Since 2002, when The Purpose Driven Life was published, an estimated 13,000 churches have used the book in a 40 Days of Purpose campaign, multiplying by hundreds the number of churches implementing the Purpose Driven paradigm. Although West Ridge uses the purpose driven model, they have not as of yet done the campaign.

Since 1999, Purpose-Driven ministries have honored four to six churches each year that have shown excellence in adapting the Purpose-Driven paradigm to their congregation. With thousands of churches having participated in the 40 Days of Purpose discipleship program in recent months, Purpose-Driven decided to honor 79 churches this year. Each church receives a check for $1,000.

Seven years of growth

The West Ridge story is nothing short of miraculous. God gave Brian Bloye the vision in 1996 to start a church in the Paulding County area. The church was born on September 7, 1997 and now has 2,600 people attending weekend worship services. First Church of Woodstock is the mother church of West Ridge and started the church in the northwestern corner of the Atlanta metroplex with the intention that it should become a regional church.

During the summer of 1997 a core group of 46 people met in various locations to pray and seek the face of God, but the first public service was held on the first Sunday in September of 1997 at the Vaughan Elementary School. On that Sunday over 250 people came.

By Christmas 40 people were saved, and after the first year the growth of the church necessitated two worship services. Within two years, worship services were moved from the school cafeteria to the gymnasium. At the end of three years the church has outgrown the elementary school and moved to its current location at East Paulding High School.

Flexible to change

Brian Bloye, the founding and lead pastor, has told the church, “never get comfortable, because you never know when things are going to change.”

Bloye, a native of Michigan, says that he trusted Christ as his personal Savior on the 40-yard line at Pontiac Silverdome at a Billy Graham Crusade on November 28, 1978. His vocational pilgrimage includes making pizzas at Chuck E. Cheese, selling Harley Davidsons and serving as a youth director at Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg, Virginia.

Bloye is now casting a significant influence upon Paulding County and beyond as he gives insightful leadership to the West Ridge Church. When he helped start the church less than 7 years ago he had three staff members. There are now 22 staff members to provide support and leadership.

The West Ridge Church continues to meet in the East Paulding High School, but purchased 49 acres of property in 2003. The church recently broke ground for a 97,000 square foot facility that includes a 2,000-seat worship center, a 400 seat children’s theater, an atrium, and age -specific educational areas. The church’s property is located on State Route 92 just south of the East Paulding Drive intersection.

The church is currently negotiating for another 20 acres of land. The master plan calls for expanding the worship center to accommodate 3,500 people and will double the educational space that will be provided in the building under construction.

Staying with the vision

Bloye says, “West Ridge started with a strong commitment to outreach, discipleship, ministry, fellowship and worship. The church has a strong commitment to prayer. We have also strived to stay close to the vision and values that we believe God gave us in the beginning. We believe that authenticity and relevancy have also been a very important part of who we are as a body of Christ.”

Bloye adds, “Our outreach philosophy is built around relationships and events. The primary reason for our growth is that our people do an incredible job of bringing others to our church.”

Bloye’s comments should remind every believer of his/her responsibility to gather people to Christ and to His church. God’s Word declares: “Gather the people together, men, and women, and children, and thy stranger that is within thy gates, that they may hear, and that they may learn, and fear the Lord your God, and observe to do all the words of this law” (Deuteronomy 31:21).