My name is Scott Ridenour, and I am a church planter and the lead pastor of Harvest Community Church in Carleton Place, Ontario. Carleton Place is a small town located just west of the Capital City of Canada, Ottawa.
My wife, Naikia, and our three children (Aubrey, Lindsey, and Connor) are from the southern United States, but we felt a strong call to move to Canada in April of 2011 and start this church. We have had quite the adjustment moving from the southern US to the Great White North, but we all love living and serving here.
The church launched on Easter Sunday of 2012 as inSPIRE Church, an interdenominational organization looking to break down any barriers we could in order to share the Good News with our community. We meet at the local Christian school (in Beckwith, ON – about 15 minutes from Carleton Place), and we are grateful to call it our home.
We have been beyond blessed to have ample opportunity to share our faith practically, and to let our community know that Jesus loves them in very real, tangible ways. As a church plant, we are focused on reaching those outside the church with the same life-changing and life-giving gospel that we experienced.
However, after almost three years of ministry, we felt a deep desire to find relationships and family, and we sought out the CNBC. This has resulted in a new identity and vision as a church, and we are excited to see what God will do in our midst. We have just started our new journey of life with this great faith family (CNBC), and we are looking forward to a wonderful future together.
We need prayer for wisdom, discernment, and guidance as we begin anew, again. We have much to do—rebranding, re-governing and rediscovering our passion for Jesus and our community. We need prayer for finances, and in particularly, for partnerships with other churches and individuals as we struggle to make ends meet both as a church, and as a missionary family.
We ask for prayer for our current church body as well, to grow in Christ even more, and live lives on mission for God. Above all, we praise the Lord for what He is doing here, and for allowing us to be a part of it!
