A Beautiful Church

The mission of this podcast is to highlight the beauty and diversity of God’s Church – both in Chattanooga and the Church at large.

Welcome to Season 5 of A Beautiful Church Podcast! For the past four seasons, we’ve brought you ecumenical voices from across the greater Chattanooga area through Adam’s conversations with pastors, priests, and ministry leaders – all with the goal of showing the beauty within the diversity of God’s Church and how there’s more that unifies us than divides us. Unity is at the core of ChattHOP’s mission, and in this season, we’re highlighting a different way of building unity by exploring spiritual disciplines that the Church has used for centuries.

If you want to go deeper with these spiritual practices, check out the Retreat Guides on our website’s Resources page. 

About Adam Whitescarver

Adam is passionate about seeing God’s people possess vibrant prayer lives to help them make a difference in the sphere of influence God has given them. In ministry since 2001, Adam enjoys his family, teaching, singing, and reading a myriad of subjects. He and his wife, Stephanie, live in North GA with their four children.

Links and Resources:

• A Beautiful Church website
• Chattanooga House of Prayer website
• Give today
• Resources from the Chattanooga House of Prayer

Thanks for listening! Don’t forget to subscribe! If you like what you heard, please leave a review on iTunes and share what you liked about the show.

The mission of this podcast is to highlight the beauty and diversity of God’s Church – both in Chattanooga and the Church at large.

Ken Sauer knew he was called to be a pastor from a young age, but it took a radical experience with a cult, ten years of depression and spiritual wandering, and the MTV Video Music Awards to get him to start his ministry journey. Now, Ken is the pastor of Red Bank United Methodist Church, a congregation with a long history and a reputation for its food bank ministry. In the final episode of Season 4, Ken and Adam talk about the strengths of Methodism, how Red Bank UMC is doing post-pandemic, and what Ken sees happening in Chattanooga and across the nation. 

Note: this podcast was recorded earlier in 2021.


About Adam Whitescarver

Adam is passionate about seeing God’s people possess vibrant prayer lives to help them make a difference in the sphere of influence God has given them. In ministry since 2001, Adam enjoys his family, teaching, singing, and reading a myriad of subjects. He and his wife, Stephanie, live in North GA with their four children.


Jump Through the Conversation:

• [0:42] Ken’s background and long road to ministry
  • [1:00] Journalism career
  • [2:24] Call to ministry and lifestyle in highschool
  • [4:33] The impact of events in college
  • [7:03] Opening a heavy metal t-shirt shop after losing his faith
  • [11:11] Turning point: MTV VMAs
  • [14:09] Seminary and reflections on the previous 10 years
• [15:41] Ken’s long struggle with faith and depression
• [20:28] Church location, service times, connection information
• [21:57] History of Red Bank UMC
• [24:58] Red Bank UMC’s role in the community
• [28:06] Ken’s experience running food pantries
• [35:28] Unity and division in the United Methodist Church
• [44:27] What it means to be a connectional denomination
• [49:28] More historical and general information about the UMC
• [56:52] How Red Bank UMC is doing post-pandemic
• [1:02:55] Sociological trends in the US and the dwindling of church culture
• [1:09:03] Final exhortation to believers

Links and Resources:

• A Beautiful Church website
• Chattanooga House of Prayer website
• Give today
• Red Bank UMC website

Thanks for listening! Don’t forget to subscribe! If you like what you heard, please leave a review on iTunes and share what you liked about the show.

The mission of this podcast is to highlight the beauty and diversity of God’s Church – both in Chattanooga and the Church at large.

Pastor Terry Evans knows what God has called his church to do – minister to the community. Grace Pointe Assembly of God has found ways to serve local oncology patients, homeschool groups, special needs kids and their families, and more. Alongside its outreach, Grace Pointe makes space for the gifts of the Holy Spirit, as demonstrated by two miracles of healing that happened at a recent church revival.

Listen to this episode to hear Terry and Adam discuss Terry’s call to ministry, the structure of the Assemblies of God, and Grace Pointe’s current outreach focus.

Note: this podcast was recorded earlier in 2021.


About Adam Whitescarver

Adam is passionate about seeing God’s people possess vibrant prayer lives to help them make a difference in the sphere of influence God has given them. In ministry since 2001, Adam enjoys his family, teaching, singing, and reading a myriad of subjects. He and his wife, Stephanie, live in North GA with their four children.


Jump Through the Conversation:

• [1:28] Church location, service times, connection information
• [3:05] History of Grace Pointe
• [6:07] How Terry came to be a pastor
• [10:26] Comparing onramps to ministry in different denominations
• [14:10] Overview of Assemblies of God
• [18:17] Comparing disciplinary methods in different denominations
• [23:16] Grace Pointe’s outreach to Chattanooga
• [29:56] Gifts of the Holy Spirit at Grace Pointe
  • Happens in addition to works of faith (outreach)
  • Two recent healings
• [33:08] Theology of healing
• [43:19] What God is doing at Grace Pointe
  • Focus on young families
  • The importance of small groups
• [53:39] Dealing with challenges as a pastor
• [57:19] Final exhortation to believers

Links and Resources:

• A Beautiful Church website
• Chattanooga House of Prayer website
• Give today
• Grace Pointe Assembly of God website

Thanks for listening! Don’t forget to subscribe! If you like what you heard, please leave a review on iTunes and share what you liked about the show.

The mission of this podcast is to highlight the beauty and diversity of God’s Church – both in Chattanooga and the Church at large.

From coming to the Lord at six years old at a revival at the church to leaving a thriving ministry in Indiana to return as its senior pastor, Dr. Ternae Jordan’s life and ministry have been undeniably connected to Mount Canaan Baptist Church in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Following in the footsteps of his father, the previous pastor, Ternae keeps Mount Canaan focused on serving the community, even through the recent pandemic. 

Listen in to this episode to hear Ternae talk about his church philosophy, his experience in inner city Fort Wayne, and his thoughts on the black church.

Note: this podcast was recorded earlier in 2021.


About Adam Whitescarver

Adam is passionate about seeing God’s people possess vibrant prayer lives to help them make a difference in the sphere of influence God has given them. In ministry since 2001, Adam enjoys his family, teaching, singing, and reading a myriad of subjects. He and his wife, Stephanie, live in North GA with their four children.


Jump Through the Conversation:

• [1:16] History of Mount Canaan Baptist Church
• [4:21] Ternae’s attitude toward ministry
• [7:24] Ternae’s church and street ministry in inner city Fort Wayne
• [12:34] More on Ternae’s ministry in Fort Wayne and his transition back to Chattanooga
• [22:08] Mount Canaan’s role in Chattanooga
• [27:55] Church location, service times, connection information
• [29:52] How 2020 affected Mount Canaan
  • Increased viewership
  • Facilitated racial reconciliation events 
  • Advocating for COVID-19 help for underserved communities 
• [35:34] On African-American church tradition 
• [45:02] Why Ternae joined the Southern Baptist Convention
• [51:21] Final exhortation to believers

Links and Resources:

• A Beautiful Church website
• Chattanooga House of Prayer website
• Give today
• Mount Canaan Baptist Church website

Thanks for listening! Don’t forget to subscribe! If you like what you heard, please leave a review on iTunes and share what you liked about the show.

The mission of this podcast is to highlight the beauty and diversity of God’s Church – both in Chattanooga and the Church at large.

Association with any denomination comes with both pros and cons. Although The Crossing changed its name to attract those who might have a negative view of the Church of God, this congregation has not strayed from its Pentecostal roots. In fact, Pastor Chad Harris has made it a point not just to understand the history of the church but to make sure The Crossing continues to offer an “authentic Pentecostal experience” that is grounded in sound theology and the Word of God. 

Check out this episode to hear Chad talk about how Pentecostalism is expressed at The Crossing and how he came to be their pastor and to listen as Chad and Adam discuss teaching and ministering to the next generation.

Note: this podcast was recorded earlier in 2021.


About Adam Whitescarver

Adam is passionate about seeing God’s people possess vibrant prayer lives to help them make a difference in the sphere of influence God has given them. In ministry since 2001, Adam enjoys his family, teaching, singing, and reading a myriad of subjects. He and his wife, Stephanie, live in North GA with their four children.


Jump Through the Conversation:

• [0:49] About Pastor Chad Harris
• [3:01] History of The Crossing
• [4:52] Hereditary pastorship in the Church of God
• [6:52] Reason for the church’s name change
• [9:02] Church location, service times, connection information
• [10:18] What Chad learned during a lunch with the church’s longest member
  • The church has always been Holy Spirit-focused
  • The church always began to die when it wasn’t addressing the next generation
• [15:42] Adam talks about catechisms
• [19:53] More on the Pentecostal history of The Crossing
• [21:28] Chad’s vision for The Crossing
• [28:38] The challenge of changing a church’s culture
• [35:44] The Crossing’s prayer culture
• [43:36] Chad’s experience at the Pentecostal Theological Seminary
• [45:13] How an individual can “responsibly” seek a deeper experience of the Holy Spirit
• [53:29] On how Pentecostals miss out by not teaching theology to their children
• [57:08] What Chad sees God doing in Chattanooga and across the nation
• [1:05:03] Exhortation to not be consumer-minded with church

Links and Resources:

• A Beautiful Church website
• Chattanooga House of Prayer website
• Give today
• The Crossing Church website

Thanks for listening! Don’t forget to subscribe! If you like what you heard, please leave a review on iTunes and share what you liked about the show.

The mission of this podcast is to highlight the beauty and diversity of God’s Church – both in Chattanooga and the Church at large.

Pastor Melody Winderweedle’s call to ministry came in the form of a dream – two dreams, actually. In 2015 when the founding pastor of Ekklesia was called to another state, he asked Melody and her husband, Bud, to take over the pastorship. When they both had prophetic dreams on the same night, they realized that this is what God was leading them to. 

Ekklesia, a Vineyard-associated church, makes space for the Holy Spirit to move, dreams (and healing!) included. In this episode, Adam and Melody discuss personal and biblical experiences of God’s power, what it’s like to be a Vineyard church, and how Ekklesia has been advocating for local students.

Note: this podcast was recorded earlier in 2021. Ekklesia has since changed locations. For more information, please visit their website.


About Adam Whitescarver

Adam is passionate about seeing God’s people possess vibrant prayer lives to help them make a difference in the sphere of influence God has given them. In ministry since 2001, Adam enjoys his family, teaching, singing, and reading a myriad of subjects. He and his wife, Stephanie, live in North GA with their four children.


Jump Through the Conversation:

• [2:44] Church location*, service times, connection information
• [3:10] How Melody and Bud came to be the pastors of Ekklesia
• [8:50] Prophetic dreams
  • Melody and Bud’s prophetic dreams that lead them to accept the role at Ekklesia
  • Adam’s examples of dreams from the Bible and his own experiences
• [17:05] What Melody’s ministry has looked like in the past five years
• [19:18] Difficulties of pastorship and the importance of community support
• [23:00] Background information on the Vineyard Movement
• [26:46] Praying for healing/theology of miracles
• [33:17] Melody’s healing story
• [42:45] More information about the Vineyard Movement
• [48:25] Ekklesia’s place in Chattanooga
• [55:59] What Melody sees God doing in Chattanooga
• [1:01:38] Exhortation to “humbly listen to one another

*Special note*: this podcast was recorded earlier in 2021. Ekklesia has since changed locations. For more information, please visit their website.


Links and Resources:

• A Beautiful Church website
• Chattanooga House of Prayer website
• Give today
• Ekklesia Church website

Thanks for listening! Don’t forget to subscribe! If you like what you heard, please leave a review on iTunes and share what you liked about the show.

The mission of this podcast is to highlight the beauty and diversity of God’s Church – both in Chattanooga and the Church at large.

City Church seeks to be just that – a church for the city. Even though it isn’t the oldest or largest congregation in Chattanooga, City Church has a reputation of being a “mother church” due in part to how they live out their mission. Lead Pastor Shannon Chapman says that City Church doesn’t need or want to lead every outreach opportunity in the city – “we just want to be involved.” 

But what really makes City Church unique is how they value both the experience of the presence of God and the Word of God. Listen in to this episode to hear more about City Church’s culture and what Shannon sees God doing at City Church and in Chattanooga in this season.

Note: this podcast was recorded earlier in 2021.


About Adam Whitescarver

Adam is passionate about seeing God’s people possess vibrant prayer lives to help them make a difference in the sphere of influence God has given them. In ministry since 2001, Adam enjoys his family, teaching, singing, and reading a myriad of subjects. He and his wife, Stephanie, live in North GA with their four children.


Jump Through the Conversation:

• [1:22] Church location, service times, connection information
• [2:10] History of City Church
• [5:31] City Church’s heart for Chattanooga
• [6:20] What it means to be a Church of God church
• [9:25] City Church’s emphasis on the presence of God
• [14:23] Stewarding spontaneous moments with order
• [18:43] Balance between Scripture and experience
• [22:13] Knowing how to steward the experience after it happens
  • Adam’s examples from Scripture
  • Experiencing the Word of God to know that it’s true
• [29:04] City Church’s role in the city of Chattanooga
• [30:41] Shannon: “God is stirring things in the heart of Chattanooga”
  • Urgency, hunger for God
  • How Shannon is learning that “God meets us at our level of desperation”
• [34:18] The origin of City Church’s heart for Chattanooga
• [38:04] City Church’s prayer culture
• [43:55] What God is doing in City Church
• [50:49] Back to Shannon’s observations on what God is doing in Chattanooga
• [52:49] Exhortation to create quiet space

Links and Resources:

• A Beautiful Church website
• Chattanooga House of Prayer website
• Give today
• City Church website

Thanks for listening! Don’t forget to subscribe! If you like what you heard, please leave a review on iTunes and share what you liked about the show.

The mission of this podcast is to highlight the beauty and diversity of God’s Church – both in Chattanooga and the Church at large.

Tony Walliser has what he calls a “small-church-pastor heart” despite being the senior pastor of one of Chattanooga’s largest churches. During his twenty-six years on staff, Tony has seen Silverdale Baptist Church grow into four venues and thousands of members. But Silverdale’s current discipleship initiative is not for the sake of adding to those numbers. Listen to this episode to find out why Silverdale is starting home churches, how Tony came to Christ and how God has dealt with his insecurities, and what three things make up the backbone of Silverdale’s culture.

Note: this podcast was recorded earlier in 2021.


About Adam Whitescarver

Adam is passionate about seeing God’s people possess vibrant prayer lives to help them make a difference in the sphere of influence God has given them. In ministry since 2001, Adam enjoys his family, teaching, singing, and reading a myriad of subjects. He and his wife, Stephanie, live in North GA with their four children.


Jump Through the Conversation:

• [1:51] Tony’s early years and introduction to the gospel
• [6:52] Church location, service times, connection information
• [8:23] Background on Silverdale
• [11:44] On staying at Silverdale for so long
  • Tony’s “small-church-pastor heart”
  • Tony on realizing when he’s taking on a yoke that isn’t his
• [16:20] How God has addressed Tony’s insecurities
  • Childhood insecurity: “there’s nothing that you have to say that anybody wants to hear”
  • God’s promise to Tony from Exodus
• [23:52] Missions and worship, growing, and serving as Silverdale’s emphases 
• [34:53] Information about Oaks Coffee House
• [36:30] Silverdale’s prayer culture
• [42:37] Silverdale’s current focus on discipleship through a home church model
• [51:53] Exhortation to be doers of the Word
• [53:48] Tony’s vision for Chattanooga to be a “city on a hill” 

Links and Resources:

• A Beautiful Church website
• Chattanooga House of Prayer website
• Give today
• Silverdale Baptist Church website

Thanks for listening! Don’t forget to subscribe! If you like what you heard, please leave a review on iTunes and share what you liked about the show.

The mission of this podcast is to highlight the beauty and diversity of God’s Church – both in Chattanooga and the Church at large.

Right in the heart of downtown Chattanooga, you’ll find City Collective, a community that not only doesn’t shy away from sticky topics but asks the questions many Christians are afraid to ask. Lead by pastors Matt Moore and Brookes Jones, City Collective attracts the unchurched, de-churched, and disillusioned with the goal of building a true family that pursues not just faithful deconstruction but also reconstruction into a “humble orthodoxy.”

In this episode, Matt and Brookes explain what deconstruction means and how it leads to scriptural adherence. Listen in to hear them tell Adam about deconstruction within Scripture, issues with fundamentalism, and how confession and repentance are helping their church grow into a family. 

Note: this podcast was recorded earlier in 2021.


About Adam Whitescarver

Adam is passionate about seeing God’s people possess vibrant prayer lives to help them make a difference in the sphere of influence God has given them. In ministry since 2001, Adam enjoys his family, teaching, singing, and reading a myriad of subjects. He and his wife, Stephanie, live in North GA with their four children.


Jump Through the Conversation:

• [0:58] Introduction to pastors Matt Moore and Brookes Jones
• [1:29] Church location, service times, connection information
• [3:10] What does it mean to contextualize the gospel?
• [5:53] The church culture of City Collective
  • Matt: recognizing the place of City Collective within the Church as it exists in Chattanooga
  • Brookes: City Collective is made up of people who are tired and who don’t think the Church is doing what it’s supposed to
• [13:35] City Collective’s culture of embracing questions and struggles
  • Matt: we should be having the conversations everyone else is having
  • Brooks: why wouldn’t we engage issues of post-modernity and deconstruction?
• [21:04] Deconstruction
  • Definition and why it’s significant in the 21st century (Brookes)
  • How Jesus deconstructed culture via Scripture
• [25:03] Faithful deconstruction and the role of the prophetic voice (Matt)
• [28:41] On discipleship/spiritual formation and expressions of fundamentalism (Brookes)
• [32:23] How City Collective creates space for both grace and forward movement
  • Adam: On how the reformed tradition handles correction within the body
  • Matt: Jesus’s vision for the Church
  • Brookes: Confession and repentance
• [42:15] On healing and confession in the family context of the church
• [48:40] Final exhortations to believers
  • Brookes: “stay”
  • Matt: practicing empathy like Jesus

Links and Resources:

• A Beautiful Church website
• Chattanooga House of Prayer website
• Give today
• City Collective website

Thanks for listening! Don’t forget to subscribe! If you like what you heard, please leave a review on iTunes and share what you liked about the show.

The mission of this podcast is to highlight the beauty and diversity of God’s Church – both in Chattanooga and the Church at large.

Even though he knew God had called him to one day be a senior pastor, Michael Lindon didn’t expect to step into that role at the age of twenty-five. Michael planted Living Faith Church in Hixson, Tennessee in 2006, and since then, he has been leading his congregation to “save lives, empower believers, and further the gospel of Jesus Christ.” 

Through copious scripture quotations, Michael gets to the theological root of the Word of Faith movement and explains the connection between faith, grace, and the Word of God. Listen in to this episode as Michael tells Adam about planting a church, the diversity of Rhema churches, and the question he thinks ministry leaders should be asking.

Note: this podcast was recorded earlier in 2021.


About Adam Whitescarver

Adam is passionate about seeing God’s people possess vibrant prayer lives to help them make a difference in the sphere of influence God has given them. In ministry since 2001, Adam enjoys his family, teaching, singing, and reading a myriad of subjects. He and his wife, Stephanie, live in North GA with their four children.


Jump Through the Conversation:

• [1:38] Church location, service times, connection information
• [3:36] How Michael came to plant Living Faith Church
• [11:30] Living Faith’s purpose
• [13:22] Challenges in developing a team
• [18:51] Excellence as a value at Living Faith
• [24:23] On the need for a team
• [26:02] Michael and Living Faith’s association with Rhema 
• [28:28] How Living Faith highlights listening to God in a faithful context
• [31:35] On the Word of Faith movement
• [43:58] Diversity in Rhema churches
• [51:45] Michael’s encouragement to ministry leaders to simply ask God, “Show me your glory”

Links and Resources:

• A Beautiful Church website
• Chattanooga House of Prayer website
• Give today
• Living Faith Church website

Thanks for listening! Don’t forget to subscribe! If you like what you heard, please leave a review on iTunes and share what you liked about the show.