I’m Wes Collins, and this is how God is enabling me to live deeply.

“I’m a follower of Christ. I became a member at CSPC a couple years ago. When I got plugged into life here, I really enjoyed a Sunday school class (Pursuit), a men’s group, and serving in various capacities such as at the men’s retreats. It was also fun because I had been in seminary with John Barber and then with Landon Paul. Last year, a couple of our pastors -John Barber and Mike Ford- came to me about helping start a singles ministry for people in their 30s, 40s and 50s. (I had helped start a young adult ministry at my previous church and had served in various capacities in that ministry for over 15 years.). A number of people had been reaching out to the pastoral staff asking if CSPC could start a ministry for that 35-55 demographic. There’s a young adult ministry at CSPC, which I’ve heard is really good! But the question was: How could the church better minister to single adults that were too old (or felt too old) for the young adult ministry? Where do they get connected from there? While statistically about 30% of adults between 35-55 years old are single, there wasn’t a Sunday school class or community group for that demographic. Furthermore, it didn’t seem like there were many if any ministries for that demographic at other churches in the city. Honestly, at that first lunch leadership team meeting with the pastors, it was refreshing to hear the heart of the pastors. They knew that a lot of churches opt to not have a ministry like that because it’s difficult or could become a stereotypical ‘meat market.’ But they wanted to trust God and give it a shot.  I was really impressed by this as I had heard single people talking about how tough it was to get connected in churches as a single person, especially in the South, where people get married younger (a great thing, but there can also be a cultural barrier in the South that creates a sense of shame for single adults in a church context and where sometimes married couples treat singles differently without even meaning to – it’s just the cultural dynamics).

God used that conversation -and some others- to grow my desire to help lead the group CSPC envisioned. It was also inspiring to hear others on the leadership team have similar desire to see a group like this at CSPC. We ended up starting a Sunday school class called Single Adults Living in Truth – SALT. We didn’t want it to become a stereotypical ‘meat market,’ by any means. Instead, we were trying to focus on the truth of Christ. We chose to meet in the 9:30 Sunday school hour primarily because of childcare. There would most likely be people with kids, we realized, and the 9:30 hour is by far the best time for that. But there wasn’t space in the church building for us because so many good Sunday school classes were already going on. So we were meeting outside the Watershed for a couple months before we became an official group, just meeting for Bible study during that time. Then something else amazing happened- one of the Sunday school classes that had been around a long time heard about our group and how there wasn’t space for us at that time. They ended up giving up their classroom so we could use it, which was a huge blessing. What an encouragement to see another class in the church just serve in that way! We’ve been meeting in that space ever since, and it’s been really neat to see God bring hope in the midst of a lot of pain. Our group is a mix of people in various circumstances, many of them tough: never married but hoping to be, divorced, recently widowed. God’s bringing His hope, joy, peace, and comfort to all of us. Sharing stories with one another really helps us all see how God is there- even when it may not feel like it at times. The Lord’s building genuine connections. For example, it has even been a blessing how the leadership team came together- great people, many of whom got connected with the group in unexpected ways.  It’s also been a blessing how the Lord has allowed us to collaborate with church leaders from across the city and around the country regarding how to best minister to single adults in the midst of this cultural moment.

In my free time, I’ve been volunteering in various capacities in church and parachurch ministry for about 20 years- ever since I started leading a college Bible study with Cru and also volunteered with a college ministry at my former church. Soon after that, the pastors at my previous church invited me to help start a young adult ministry. It was a joy and privilege to get to serve in various capacities in that ministry for over 15 years. Those pastors were great mentors/disciplers. I learned a lot from them and it’s a joy to still keep in touch with them and to be able to call them friends. It is also refreshing to look back on even God’s incredible timing of when I got connected with them. After I graduated college, I was at a lonely place as a lot of my good friends from college had moved away. God met me in that moment, though. He really spoke to me through the last passage of Matthew 6, showing me how much freedom there is in trusting Him with my life instead of falling back on my default performance mindset to find my identity. He also reminded me of how I can truly be content in Him, and led me to respond to His love by wanting to help others find Gospel-centered community. And it was around that time that I met those pastors at my previous church and that they invited me to help serve in college ministry and to then help start a young adult ministry. Ever since I had the opportunity to help start that young adult group, I’ve seen it as one of my missions to help connect people with the true hope that we have in Christ. Realizing what God has done for me in the Gospel, it’s just a natural response.

Currently, I’m really enjoying leading the leadership team for this singles group, helping lead a local branch of a ministry called the Colson Fellows Program, serving on a global missions team at CSPC, and serving with Cru at UT. It is a true joy to serve alongside so many great people in those ministries. Plus, I’m trying to wrap up a seminary degree at RTS. It’s been a joy to see God working in amazing ways in Knoxville and around the world. As part of that, it’s been neat to see how the various ministries bless others. For example, the Colson Fellows Program is a great program which helps equip Christians to make disciples in the midst of this cultural moment, and that’s been helpful in both the singles ministry and the college Bible study as well. And Cru’s passion and training in evangelism and discipleship has been an incredible gift to me over the years… In short, it’s been amazing to see the transformative power of God’s love in the various ministries here and around the world.”