Watts Bar Community Church

We’ve been praying for God to send us the broken, the hurting, and the people who’ve given up on church. But when He answers, will we be ready? In week 3 of the “Watts Next” series, Pastor Kelly Goins turns to Isaiah 54 and God’s command to a barren woman: enlarge your tent, stretch your curtains wide, lengthen your cords, and strengthen your stakes. Kelly unpacks what it really means to make room: in our hearts, through generosity, by being willing to be stretched, and by growing stronger to serve others well. Along the way, he asks a question every church has to answer: do we love people enough to make adjustments? This is a challenging, honest message about the cost of a full house and the difference between having a harvest problem and having a worker problem.

Are you actually living, or just existing? In week 2 of the “Watts Next” series, Pastor Kelly Goins looks at the difference between surviving and being fully alive in Christ. Drawing from Ephesians 1 and 2, Kelly unpacks Paul’s prayer that the eyes of our hearts would be opened to three things: the hope of God’s calling, the riches of His inheritance in His people, and the same resurrection power that raised Jesus from the dead. Along the way he challenges us with a simple six-word prayer, “God, empty me, fill me, use me,” and shares the one word he believes God has given Watts Bar Community Church for 2027: immeasurable. This message is a reminder that God isn’t just building a bigger building. He’s building bigger people.

What if the miracle doesn't come before you step out, but after? Kicking off a new series called "Watts Next," Pastor Kelly Goins walks through Joshua 3 — the story of Israel crossing the flooded Jordan River into the Promised Land — to cast vision for what God is building at Watts Bar Community Church. From the raw, personal story of leaving a comfortable life in Georgia to come pastor his father's struggling church, to the real numbers behind a $5 million building project, Kelly makes the case that faith isn't about knowing what happens next — it's about trusting God enough to take the next step in front of you. The water didn't move until somebody got their feet wet. This message is a call to consecration, not commitment: before God asks what's in your hand, He wants what's in your heart.

Everybody wants the outcome, but very few want the process. Using lessons from legendary football coach Nick Saban, who taught his players to focus on the play in front of them and let the scoreboard take care of itself, Pastor Kelly Goins unpacks what real spiritual transformation looks like. Anchored in Philippians 1:6, he shows how God does the work in us while we cooperate with what He's doing, from Noah's hammer to Moses' staff to Lazarus' grave clothes. Along the way, Kelly gets honest about surrender, small acts of obedience, and setbacks, and reminds us that what God starts, He finishes. If you feel unfinished, frustrated, or further behind than you expected, this message is for you.

This one isn't easy to listen to — and it isn't supposed to be. Closing out the "Dropping F Bombs" series on Suicide Prevention Awareness Month, Pastor Kelly Goins gets honest about pastors, depression, and the silence the church has kept around mental health for far too long. Walking through Elijah's collapse in 1 Kings 19 — a prophet who called fire down from heaven one day and begged God to let him die the next — Kelly unpacks what it looks like to own your feelings, stop fighting alone, and hold onto God's truth when everything in you says your story is over. This is a raw, personal, deeply pastoral conversation about depression, isolation, and why struggling doesn't make you weak — it makes you human.

We edit our photos before anyone sees them — but what about the filters we don't even realize are shaping how we see everything else? In this message, Worship and Arts Pastor Bob Koerber breaks down the difference between reality and truth, and unpacks the invisible filters — fear, insecurity, past experiences, comparison, offense, and bitterness — that distort how we interpret our lives, our relationships, and even God. Using the story of the 12 spies in Numbers 13-14, Bob shows how two people can look at the exact same circumstances and walk away with completely different conclusions. The giants were real for all twelve spies. Only two of them saw God as bigger. This message will change the way you look at, well, everything.

We spend so much energy chasing followers that we forget to ask the harder question: who are we following? In this message, Associate Pastor Kasey Goins uses a terrifying (and hilarious) snorkeling trip off the coast of Miami to unpack what it really means to follow someone — and why trust is at the center of it. From Paul's bold declaration in 1 Corinthians to Jesus's simple invitation, "Follow me," Kasey challenges us to stop asking "Am I a leader or a follower?" and start asking "Where is the person I'm following actually taking me?" Because everybody follows somebody — the question is whether that direction leads toward Jesus or away from Him.

What actually drives your decisions — love, or fear? Student Pastor Ben Harris breaks down the different kinds of "fear" in Scripture, walks through Paul's dramatic conversion on the road to Damascus, and lands on a challenge for every believer: let your love for people — or if not, a holy fear for what they're missing — move you toward the people who haven't yet encountered the love of Jesus. Recorded at Watts Bar Community Church, Decatur, TN.

Offense is bait — and once you pick it up, bitterness becomes the trap. In this message, Pastor Kelly Goins unpacks the difference between wounds that need healing and offenses that just need humility, using stories from David's betrayal by a close friend to Paul's abandonment by people he'd poured his life into. You'll learn why forgiveness isn't the same as trust or reconciliation, why it's rarely a one-and-done decision, and why your freedom can't depend on someone else's apology. If you're still circling back to something someone said or did — this message is for you. It's time to stop taking the bait.

What if the parts of you that feel most broken are exactly where God meets you?

In this episode, Pastor Austin Lacombe opens the series Fractures with a look at Matthew 5 and the Beatitudes — the list Jesus gives of who is "blessed." Spoiler: it's not the confident, the qualified, or the put-together. It's the poor in spirit, the mourning, the hungry, the persecuted.

Austin traces this theme through Moses' "who am I?" moment at the burning bush, Mary Magdalene's tears outside the empty tomb, the Samaritan woman's honest testimony at the well, and Stephen's faithfulness even to death — showing that Jesus never asks us to resolve our fractures before he calls us blessed inside of them.

A gentle, honest word for anyone who feels like they have to hide the cracks before they can be used.