SEPTEMBER 14, 2007
An unlikely path
Leaders of new startup church, Ardent Faith Ministries, didn’t follow the most orthodox trail.
God moves in mysterious ways and sometimes moves people in mysterious ways.
Just ask the new Huntersville resident Jeff Watson, a native Iowan who walked on life’s wild side in California (of course) before finally setting down and entering a second career as a certified Christian preacher, complete with seminary degree and everything. Watson wound up in Huntersville after he and his wife, Julie, traveled here to visit a school friend. The Watsons just felt that call and so they pulled up stakes and settled in Huntersville’s Cedarfield neighborhood.
The couple found a spot in a Charlotte church, leading the music portion of worship, and were settling into that rut when one day, while pulling out of his driveway to go to church, Jeff Watson heard one of those voices. It was God and he wanted to know where Jeff was going.
“You know where I’m going,” Jeff said. “And then God asked why I was driving past all this need every Sunday. I thought right then and there that if I was going to heed the call I didn’t want to travel 2,400 miles and then be off by 30. So we stopped what we were doing and started looking for ministry right here.”
Not quite two years later the result is the official launch of yet another new, non-denominational Christian church in north Mecklenburg. The Watsons’ self styled house of worship is known as Ardent Faith Ministries, and it’s no accident that they called it a ministry and not a church. While Ardent Faith will have a regular home starting Sept. 16 – it will meet at Creative EJ Studio on Mt.Holly-Huntersville Road, just out the “back door” of The Park – Watson says the fledgling congregation’s mission in life is missions. And that won’t change even though the group is finally putting down some roots.
“It’s good that we’re going to have a place to call our own, but what we’ve been about, and what we will be about, is being Jesus’ hands and feet out in the community,” says Watson. “Christians should be all about going out into the neighborhoods and that’s what we are going to do. We hope to become known as the catalyst for going to the broken parts of town and performing God’s work there.”
Jeff, Julie and Michaela Watson, founders of Ardent Faith Ministries
Although Ardent Faith is “officially” launching this month, it’s actually been at that work for about 18 months or so. The group – it’s less than 30 - has been meeting at the Watson’s home on a regular basis. And it held a four-day rally this spring at Creative EJ. Buts its most important work has been in the mission field. Watson says Ardent Faith has been a magnet for people who were already doing some kind of mission work, and the church has kind of piggybacked on that. Even before it becomes “official,” Ardent faith has lead two community service days: one in the Huntington Green neighborhood off Hambright Road, and another in the Pottstown area off Holbrooks Road.
The Huntington Green neighborhood has been the most regular recipient of Ardent Faith time and talent. Watson made a connection early on with Lakehaven Baptist Church, which is in the heart of the Huntington Green area, and has made a point of not only taking his on flock there, but of dragging other congregations along too.
“I’d say very few pastors around here knew where (Huntington Green) was,” says Watson. “A lot more do now.”
Among them is Mike Moses, the head pastor at Lake Forest Church. By coincidence, he lives two doors down from Watson.
The Watsons – Julie work a full-time job, but is a talented musician who helps her husband with worship – aren’t sure just where they’re headed. They know what they think they want to do, but just in case, they’re planning to keep their eyes and ears open.
“We started out thinking we were going to North Carolina to do some music and we ended up with justice,” says Watson. “We never had any idea about leading a church, but here we are.”
Ardent Faith is affiliated with Christian Growth International, a new ministry based in England. Ardent Faith’s regular worship services are Sunday evenings at 6 p.m. at Creative EJ. For more information, visit the group’s website at www.ardentfaith.org.
- Tucker Mitchell | 