By David Dawson
Baptist and Reflector
Jamie Mosley
HENDERSONVILLE — Jamie Mosley, the lead pastor at Redeemer Church in Hendersonville, is suddenly having a hard time counting his blessings. There are just too many for him to number.
With generosity and grace serving as the prevalent themes, Mosley has seen a remarkable story develop with his church — and the details have left Mosley feeling overwhelmed with excitement and optimism.
Mosley’s church, which had been holding worship gatherings at the YMCA since being planted in 2010, has been praying about relocating for the past two years. And the church received a thunderous answer to that prayer when Grace Christian Church, which was closing its doors, decided to give its building assets to Redeemer Church — lock, stock, and barrel.
Redeemer Church has now moved to the property on Bonita Parkway in Hendersonville, and began hosting worship services on July 2 in the facilities that formerly belonged to Grace Christian.
It was an unusual turn of events and a powerful display of God at work through prayers.
“Basically, we got this out-of-the-blue phone call from Grace Christian, saying ‘hey, what would you think about us just giving you everything?’ ” Mosley said. “And that one phone call really started to answer all of our questions.”
Bill Seaver, an elder at Redeemer Church, said the transition has been a rewarding experience.
“It’s really been awesome to watch it happen,” said Seaver. “(Those involved with the process from both churches) have had a kingdom perspective and a kingdom mindset, and that is what is driving everybody.”
In the spring of 2016, Redeemer Church began renting office space at Grace Christian and also holding occasional events — youth gatherings, fellowship meals and prayer meetings — on the campus. But when the lease was up on the office space, it appeared that would be the end of the story.
Instead, it was only the beginning.
The relationships that were formed during that period ultimately paved the way for Redeemer Church’s move to the Grace Christian property, and the transition became official in June.
“During the spring of 2015, we started praying, and we said, ‘Lord, we don’t know where you have for us to be, but we know you have a place for us,’ ” said Mosley.
“And truthfully, we weren’t even sure if that meant a specific building. We just wanted to find our ‘place’ in terms of finding a piece of Hendersonville where we could be used and could serve.”
Knowing that they likely couldn’t afford to buy much property, however, the church seemed to be locked into place.
“The money thing was starting to get really heavy to me,” said Mosley. “Commercial real estate in Hendersonville, and really, in all of Nashville, is obviously higher than it’s ever been. And we were thinking, wow, this is a wretched time for a little upstart church to be looking for real estate.”
Mosley continued to do his homework, and frankly, he wasn’t very excited about what he was seeing. “It was starting to feel like $1 million was going to be the number,” he said. “That wasn’t the number we wanted, but it was truly starting to look like that was what it was going to be.”
Mosley knew his church could not afford to take on that much debt. But he also knew that meeting at the YMCA was becoming increasingly demanding on the staff and volunteers.
The members of Redeemer Church were steadfast, praying for God to open the right doors.
“We had a few false starts along the way,” said Mosley. “But we remained faithful in our prayer. … We knew we needed the Lord to do something, even though we had no idea what that something might be. And we weren’t even going to dare to prescribe what that would be.”
That “something” turned out to be the gift from Grace Christian. And with that, everything fell into place.
“With that one phone call, it was like God answered all of the questions we had been asking Him,” said Mosley. “Where’s our place? It’s on Bonita Parkway. What are we going to do about a facility? We’re going to have a church building — for free. And what about our volunteer fatigue? Well, now you don’t have to set up and tear down anymore. … That one phone call just solidified in our mind that the Lord had known all along how He planned to use us,” he said.
The relationship between the two churches has continued in recent weeks, with several members of Grace Christian attending worship at Redeemer Church. “They’ve been rapidly embraced by our church,” said Seaver. “And it’s been great to see them interacting with our members. It’s just really sweet to see that happen.”
Mosley said he continues to be blown away about all the developments.
“We weren’t praying for this specific thing to happen. We weren’t pursuing it,” he said. “It was just like God said, ‘Here you go.’ ”
Mosley said there is no limit to his excitement level for the future of Redeemer Church.
“We are just overwhelmed,” he said. “Because you take a step back and you realize this is where God wants us to be. And that’s exciting. It’s motivating.”
Mosley said his church has every intention to take this gift and use it for God’s glory. “If ever there were an example of stewardship — in terms of everything belonging to God and we are just stewarding it — it’s our situation.”
Mosley said the relationship between Grace Christian and Redeemer Church is a true example of symbiosis.
“It’s just an all-around win,” he said.
