Eastridge Community Church sits along Highway 142 on the east side of Covington, Georgia, in a single-story campus that draws families, students, and people in recovery from across Newton County and beyond. The congregation identifies with three simple convictions: glorifying Jesus, making disciples, and living on mission. Everything from Sunday services to midweek small groups, mission trips, and a long-running Celebrate Recovery program flows from those three commitments.
Sundays at 9:30 and 11:00
Eastridge meets for worship twice on Sunday morning, at 9:30 and 11:00 am, in the main auditorium at 863 Highway 142. Both services follow the same shape. Worship is described as a blend of modern and traditional music, and the order of service includes singing, prayer, a weekly observance of communion, a time for giving, and expository preaching through a passage of Scripture. Visitors are not required to be members in order to take communion; the church asks that each person examine themselves and participate according to their own faith.
A staffed team greets newcomers at the doors and helps them find their way around the building, including the Atrium where families check children in. Dress at Eastridge runs the full range, from jeans and a t-shirt to business casual, and the church says simply come as you are.
Eastridge Preschool and Eastridge Kids
Children are a major part of the Sunday morning rhythm. Both services run programming for two age groups.
Eastridge Preschool serves children from birth through Pre-K. Programming happens during both the 9:30 and 11:00 am services and is designed to nurture spiritual growth through age-appropriate Bible teaching that emphasizes kindness, love, and faith. Ashley Ozburn serves as Preschool Director.
Eastridge Kids is for children in Kindergarten through fifth grade and meets at the same two Sunday morning hours. The curriculum aims to plant deeper biblical learning in young hearts and to make the gospel accessible in language kids can grasp. Jamie Corley serves as Kids Director.
Security is taken seriously. Every Kids and Preschool volunteer and leader has passed a background check, and families check children in at stations in the front Atrium before services. A team member is stationed there to walk parents through the process. A Faith Foundations class is also available for parents whose children are asking questions about Jesus or salvation; it is a 30-minute session designed to help families start conversations about faith at home.
Eastridge Students (6th-12th Grade)
Middle and high school students have their own dedicated community within the church. Students are encouraged to attend and serve in one of the Sunday morning services, then return in the evening for a gathering built just for them. The Student program meets Sundays from 5:30 to 7:30 pm and emphasizes two things above all: authentic community and biblical teaching.
The Student ministry is co-led by Student Directors Micah Watterson and Bri Piper. Periodic retreats and special events supplement the weekly rhythm, including a Middle School Retreat each fall.
Growth Groups
Mid-sized and small groups are the primary means by which Eastridge pursues the conviction that Christians grow best together. Growth Groups meet in homes throughout the week, and the church points to John 13:35 as the organizing verse: that everyone will know Jesus' disciples by their love for one another. The directory of current groups is hosted online and lets prospective members search by day, location, life stage, and topic.
Groups take a break during the summer and ramp back up in the fall. Scott England, the Worship and Groups Pastor, oversees this ministry.
Celebrate Recovery
One of the most visible ministries at Eastridge is Celebrate Recovery, a Christ-centered 12-step program for people working through hurts, habits, and hang-ups. It meets every Thursday evening from 7:00 to 9:00 pm and is open to adults and students in grades 6-12.
The Thursday evening rhythm looks like this: from 7:00 to 8:00 pm there is a worship service with teaching; from 8:00 to 9:00 pm participants break into gender-specific open share groups; from 9:00 to 9:30 pm the night wraps up with a time of fellowship at the Cafe.
Open share groups are divided between men and women. Women's groups address codependency, chemical dependency, anxiety and depression, codependency as it relates to a sexually addicted spouse, love and relationship or sexual addiction, and food and body image. Men's groups address chemical dependency, anger and codependency, sexual addiction, and anxiety and depression. The Celebrate Recovery team is led by Director Colleen Freeman, Pastor Scott Moore, and Worship Leader Ali Houston. A separate podcast carries Celebrate Recovery teaching on Apple, Spotify, and YouTube.
Missions: Local and Global
Living on mission is the third plank of the church's identity, and Eastridge maintains an active network of ministry partnerships that members can plug into.
Local partners include Bread Coffee House, a campus ministry that reaches college students at Oxford College of Emory University through free meals and weekly outreach; the Newton County Christian Learning Center, a release-time Bible education program for public school students; the Newton Pregnancy Resource Center, a gospel-centered, pro-life ministry serving women and men facing unplanned pregnancies; The Refuge Center in Conyers, which offers free services for unplanned pregnancies; Repairers of the Breach, an outreach that provides meals and a day center for the homeless; the Salvation Army of Covington; North Georgia Christian Camp; and Giving Hands Food Pantry, where volunteers package and distribute food several days a week. Serving opportunities run the full range from cooking a meal for college students to driving a refrigerated truck, sorting donations, or delivering boxes to homebound neighbors.
Global partners include Casas por Cristo, with whom Eastridge sends teams to build homes in Juarez, Mexico (a February trip is planned each year); Mission Caribe, which hosts annual summer teams to Honduras; and Haggai International, which supports leadership training in places like Australia and India. Individual members also serve in cross-cultural settings, such as Caleb Gill with Bread Coffee House's Oxford campus ministry.
Missions giving is handled through Pushpay, and a quarterly interest meeting opens the door for anyone curious about going on a short-term trip.
What Eastridge Believes
Eastridge holds to a traditional evangelical doctrinal statement rooted in Scripture as the inerrant Word of God. The church teaches that there is one God eternally existing in three persons (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit), each fully God. Jesus Christ is the virgin-born Messiah, fully God and fully man, who lived a perfect life, died for sinners, was buried, rose bodily on the third day, and will return literally. The Holy Spirit indwells every believer at the moment of salvation, gives spiritual gifts for the building up of the church, and guides believers into truth.
Salvation is by grace through faith alone, not by works, though good works are the fruit of a saving relationship with Jesus. Baptism is practiced by immersion as a public act of obedience after a personal decision to follow Christ; it is not a requirement for salvation, but every church member is expected to have been baptized as a confessing believer. The Lord's Supper (communion) is observed weekly and is open to any baptized believer in good standing with Christ, whether or not they are members of Eastridge.
On marriage, the church teaches that God designed marriage as the union of one man and one woman, that sexual intimacy belongs within that union, and that divorce is only permitted on the grounds of marital unfaithfulness or abandonment by an unbelieving spouse. Local church leadership is entrusted to a team of elders called and appointed to shepherd the congregation, and members are expected to submit to that leadership under the authority of Christ and His Word.
Taking Next Steps
Eastridge encourages every attender to keep moving forward in their walk with Jesus. The Next Steps ministry lays out a simple path: be baptized, join a Faith Foundations class with your child if they have questions about salvation, become a member, learn what it means to follow Jesus for the first time, or sign up to serve using your gifts.
Those who have recently decided to follow Jesus are invited to email Lead Pastor Kurt Petersheim directly to share their story and talk about baptism.
Leadership and Staff
Kurt Petersheim serves as Lead Pastor. He is supported by Scott England, who oversees worship and groups, and by a ministry leadership team that includes Andrea Hayes (Church Life Director), Jamie Corley (Kids Director), Ashley Ozburn (Preschool Director), Micah Watterson and Bri Piper (Student Directors), Colleen Freeman (Celebrate Recovery Director), Scott Moore (Celebrate Recovery Pastor), and Ali Houston (Celebrate Recovery Worship).
Giving and Media
Online giving is handled through Pushpay and can be directed to the general budget or to the Missions fund. Giving is also collected during both Sunday services and during Celebrate Recovery on Thursday nights; checks should be made out to Eastridge Church. Year-end giving statements are available through Pushpay, or can be requested from Michelle Coward for cash and check gifts.
Sermons and other teaching are available after each Sunday on the Eastridge Church podcast (Apple, Spotify) and YouTube channel, along with a separate Celebrate Recovery podcast and the After Church podcast.
Visiting Eastridge
For a first-time visit, plan to arrive a few minutes early for one of the two Sunday morning services at 863 Highway 142 in Covington. Parking is on site, greeters will help orient visitors, and a Kids check-in is available in the Atrium for any age from birth through fifth grade. Students have their own evening service at 5:30 pm, and anyone wrestling with addiction, codependency, or emotional pain can walk into Celebrate Recovery on Thursday nights at 7:00 pm with no registration required.