A Knoxville Church Whose Mission Is to Navigate the City Toward Wholeness
West Towne Christian Church sits on Middlebrook Pike on the west side of Knoxville, a couple of miles west of the heart of the city. The congregation has shaped its life around a single sentence: navigating Knoxville toward wholeness in Jesus. Pastors and members describe the church as a community learning, through the teachings and ways of Jesus, what it means to live a full and whole life and to share that life with their neighbors.
The building is part of a wider campus that includes a Worship Center, a Chapel, a Family Life Center, classrooms for kids and students, and the offices of Wayfinder Counseling and Wellness. Across the parking lot, a smaller house with a blue canopy over its lower entry serves as the counseling suite. The campus is also home to Casa de Gracia, a primarily Hispanic church that holds its Spanish-language services inside the Worship Center on many weekend evenings.
Sundays at 9:15, 10:45, and Vespers
Sunday is built around two morning services and one evening service. At 9:15 AM and again at 10:45 AM the Worship Center fills for what are, in the church's words, two identical times of worship with a live band and relevant Biblical teaching. Both services include communion and a message, and both make space for children. Kids have their own programming during both hours. Middle and high school students worship together at 9:15 in the Worship Center and then head downstairs during the 10:45 hour for a gathering of their own. The 9:15 service is livestreamed on the church's YouTube channel.
In the late afternoon and evening the chapel opens for Vespers, a more traditional service that pairs a message with a time of communion and hymns. Vespers meets at 6:00 PM during Daylight Saving Time and shifts to 4:00 PM for the rest of the year. Together the three services give families and individuals a way to mark the day that fits their rhythm, and the early service gives those who travel or work on Sundays a way to take part even from a distance.
From the Row to the Circle
The church describes its approach to small groups with a vivid image: moving from a row to a circle. Circles - small groups of people walking through the same stage of life - are at the center of how West Towne wants its people to grow. Three kinds of groups are listed. Table Groups focus on community and conversation. Formation Groups are oriented toward learning and spiritual growth. Missional Groups gather around serving a particular neighborhood or need. Anyone interested in joining can fill out a brief form to be matched.
Spiritual Growth happens in classes that meet on Sunday mornings during the 10:45 hour, with new sessions beginning every seven weeks. The current pathway includes Starting Point, a six-week introduction for newcomers and longtime attenders who want a clearer picture of who the church is; Foundations, a six-week study of the life, mission, and teachings of Jesus; and Designed for Discipleship, a course for those ready to begin investing in others. Men's and Women's Bible studies meet at other times during the week: women gather on Tuesday mornings at 10:00 AM, men on Wednesday evenings at 6:30 PM.
Kids, Students, and Keenagers
West Towne's Family Pastor, David Springer, oversees the children's ministry. The church partners with parents to nurture a strong spiritual foundation in every child, with the goal of teaching biblical truths in a safe environment and modeling the love of Jesus. Babies and toddlers are cared for by volunteers during worship. Preschoolers get playtime, a Bible story, a craft, and a snack each week. Elementary students experience worship, prayer, and small group time, with a lesson reinforced through fun activities. Vacation Bible School is a regular feature of the summer.
The student ministry, led by Student Minister Peter Kim, is built around four values: Discipleship, Missions, Community, and Connection. The aim is not to tell students what to think, the church says, but to give them a safe place to fall in love with the person of Jesus. Students worship with the whole church at 9:15, gather downstairs during the 10:45 service, and meet again on Wednesday nights from 6:00 to 8:00 PM for a shared meal, mixers, and a message. Adult leaders make a point of showing up for their students at sporting events, musicals, and competitions.
Keenagers is the name West Towne gives to its senior adult ministry. The group is described as made up of people 55 and over, though anyone is welcome at any event. Keenagers meets about once a month for an activity, and the church office can connect anyone interested with the schedule.
Pickleball, Basketball, Softball, and the Outdoors
Recreation is not an afterthought at West Towne. The church operates from the simple conviction that while it is important to pray together, it is also good to play together. The Family Life Center hosts pickleball every Monday from 6:30 to 8:30 PM, with all skill levels welcome and two courts set up so that experienced players and newcomers can play at the same time. Men's softball is played in both the spring and the fall at Knox County Sports Park off Oak Ridge Highway in Karns. Basketball, open to men and women ages 14 and up, takes the form of pickup games from 7:00 to 9:00 PM every Thursday from the first Thursday of December through the last Thursday of March. Throughout the year there are also hikes, bike rides, and camping excursions. Marshall Barnett, the Connections Pastor, fields questions about getting involved.
Serving Knoxville: Furniture, Food, and Kids Hope
West Towne's serving calendar is built around three ongoing partnerships. On the third Saturday of every month, from about 9:00 AM until noon, volunteers help the Knox County Furniture Ministry with pickups and deliveries, moving donated pieces to families who need them. On every fifth Saturday, volunteers gather at 10:00 AM to deliver food from the Knox County FISH Hospitality Pantry to households across the region. Drivers can sign up for one to four deliveries, and most of the morning is wrapped up in under two hours. A simple sign-up form, paired with a partner system so no one delivers alone, keeps the logistics light.
Through Kids Hope USA, the church has a yearlong mentoring relationship with Ball Camp Elementary School. Volunteers from the church walk alongside individual students, building the kind of steady, one-on-one relationship that the program was designed to encourage. The three efforts share a posture the church describes as loveKnox, and the church office is the front door for anyone who wants to step in.
Mission Partners Near and Far
West Towne describes its mission with a single line from Matthew 28: Go... Make Disciples... Baptize... Teach. The church supports and sends preachers and teachers of the gospel, and encourages every member to be personally involved. Six international partners carry that vision outward. In Western Africa, Austin and Amanda Ganyo serve with Training Tomorrow's Leaders. Pioneer Bible Translators work in Northern Africa, and TCM International helps train leaders in Eurasia. In Southern Africa, Anyway and Maegan Mupesawa lead Redeem All Ministries. Gap Creek Mission serves in South America. In Great Britain, Addison and Beth Baldy serve with Mesa Global.
Domestic partnerships are just as rooted in Knoxville. Christian Student Fellowship at the University of Tennessee, which offers worship, Bible studies, outreach, and pastoral counseling to students on the UT campus, has received monthly support from West Towne since 1974. Compassion Coalition connects Knoxville churches to unmet needs across the city. Knox Area Rescue Ministries, which serves the homeless and needy, has been supported since 2000. Smoky Mountain Christian Camp, a 70-acre camp next to the Cherokee National Forest near Coker Creek in Monroe County, has received monthly support since 1974 and hosts summer camp weeks, adventure weeks, and off-season retreats. The Restoration House of East Tennessee, which helps single mothers and their children through transitional housing and mentoring, has been supported since the ministry began in 2008.
Wayfinder Counseling + Wellness
Wayfinder Counseling + Wellness is the church's counseling ministry. It serves both the church and the wider community, providing care to groups, families, couples, individual adults, adolescents, and children. The licensed professionals on the Wayfinder team take a holistic approach, holding together mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual well-being. Appointments can be scheduled through Wayfinder's site, with both in-person and telehealth sessions available. In-person sessions take place in the lower entry with a blue canopy of the house across the parking lot from the Worship Center, and payment is collected at the time of service. WTCC members receive special rates.
Casa de Gracia: Worship in Spanish
One of the ways West Towne seeks to serve its wider community is by hosting Casa de Gracia, a primarily Hispanic church pastored by Libio Ramirez. Casa de Gracia holds its services entirely in Spanish, with lively music and preaching, in the West Towne Worship Center on most Saturday and Sunday nights. The arrangement is part of West Towne's wider conviction that the church's campus should be a tool for the good of the city, used intentionally for ministry beyond its own walls.
What West Towne Believes
The church's beliefs center on the person and work of Jesus Christ. West Towne teaches that God loves the community and desires for everyone to experience the full life he created them for, and that this full life is discovered through the teachings of Jesus and the truth of Scripture. The Bible is trusted as a true and reliable guide. God created human beings to live at peace with him, with others, and with themselves, and made that possible through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Sin has fractured human nature and made it hard to reflect God's good intentions, but through Jesus people can be freed from the power of sin and step into the fullness of life they were created for. As a community, West Towne seeks to be Kingdom-postured, to live generously, to cultivate refuge, and to inspire others.
The Middlebrook Pike Campus
West Towne has been on Middlebrook Pike since February 24, 1974, when the congregation moved from a nearby school onto the 8.23-acre property it had purchased for $10,000 two years earlier. As the church grew, additional land was added over the years, including a house and three-acre tract that once housed the youth minister's family and provided overflow parking. The campus today includes the Worship Center, the Chapel, the Family Life Center, classrooms, and the Wayfinder Counseling offices, and it opens its doors to a long list of partner ministries.
Office hours run Monday through Thursday, 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM. The church office can be reached at (865) 357-9822 or by email at wtcc@followjesus.org. Giving is available online, and the WTCC app carries announcements, podcasts, sermon videos, and sign-ups. Free access to RightNow Media, a large library of faith-based video content for kids, students, couples, and small groups, is available to anyone in the church family.
Staff and Elders
The pastoral team is led by Kaleb Mullins, the Lead Pastor. Peter Kim serves as Student Minister, David Springer as Family Pastor, Joel Duzan as Worship Minister, Ron Bull as Resource Minister, Marshall Barnett as Connections Pastor, and George Clark as Pastoral Minister. Heather Willard directs Wayfinder Counseling and Wellness. The Leadership Team, which functions as the church's elders, is made up of Lacy Baldy, Ron Bull, George Clark, Doug Fair, Phil Harless, Joe Krauss, Kaleb Mullins, and Paul Sadler.