DATE: Thursday, February 27, 1997           TAG: 9702260208

SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN             PAGE: 14   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY TRUDY CUTHRELL, CORRESPONDENT

                                            LENGTH:  102 lines

SUFFOLK GROWTH PLANTS SEED FOR NEW CHURCHRIVER'S EDGE COMMUNITY CHRISTIAN CHURCH IS DESIGNED TO ANSWER THE NEEDS OF NEW RESIDENTS.

The old saying, ``There's no place like home,'' is certainly true for the Rev. Thomas L. Scott and his family.

The Scotts live in a beautiful new home in north Suffolk's Burbage Grant housing development.

And ``home'' is special to the Scotts for multiple reasons.

First, the home serves as their family's residence. It serves as a home office for Scott. It serves as home school for Mom and three kids. And it serves as a church for the new River's Edge Community Christian Church which Scott pastors.

In June 1996, Scott first came to Hampton Roads to visit his brother. Shortly after, he was contacted by Virginia Evangelizing Fellowship, a church planting organization with headquarters in Roanoke, about beginning a church in Hampton Roads.

After demographic studies were done, the area of north Suffolk was targeted an an area for potential growth and a positive place for a new church to start.

Scott visited the area in July as a pastoral candidate for this new church. ``When I saw all of the new development and fresh rivers flowing, I knew this was the place God had put into our hearts to begin a dynamic new ministry,'' Scott reported. ``We were surprised - and impressed - that it's as much a suburban area as it is.''

The Scotts purchased a house in Burbage Grant in the fall of 1996, and began hosting a Friday evening Family Night program in their home. Several weeks ago, they started holding Sunday morning gatherings in their living room - ``to train our core leadership and develop a vision for our church,'' Scott explained.

On Palm Sunday, River's Edge Community Christian Church will begin holding Sunday morning Celebration Services in the new Northern Shores Elementary School on Respass Beach Road at 10:00 a.m. each week.

``We've started from scratch, but we've already had such a good response,'' Scott reported. ``We have a core group of about 30 people and soon we'll be doing a 16,000-piece mailing to let people know we're here and what we're about,'' Scott continued.

River's Edge CCC has several distinctive features. ``We're not trying to be any other church,'' Scott noted. ``We want to make church an enjoyable, relaxed place where people feel comfortable coming in and learning about God.''

``Our emphasis is on having a church that's dynamic, multiracial and multicultural, with a high emphasis on reaching the unchurched or those disillusioned with church,'' he continued. ``We want to bring people in as `babes,' grow them up and put them on a growth track toward becoming devoted servants of Christ.''

On a typical Sunday, Scott begins his Celebration Service with contemporary, upbeat praise and songs accompanied by guitar. A time of announcements follows giving upcoming opportunities for activities and growth. And every Sunday the service of Communion gives participants a time of meditation and reflection.

Scott closes each Celebration Service with a 30-minute message and scriptural applications to life. Scott describes River's Edge CCC as a ``unique church with a changeless message for 21st Century living,''

Long range plans for River's Edge Church include the purchase of land and the building of a permanent facility. While Scott sees the church reaching across north Suffolk, he also envisions this assembly as a ``regional church'' which impacts neighborhoods throughout Hampton Roads.

``As the church gets larger in size on Sunday mornings,'' Scott explained, ``we need to get smaller in size by expanding the numbers of our small groups. be the backbone of our church. These groups will be the place of bonding where people can meet with people they're familiar with.''

According to Scott, River's Edge will make a distinction in its teaching between religion and relationship. ``Religion is people striving with good works to earn God's favor,'' Scott said. ``But Christianity was meant to be a relationship with God. It's a relationship that the Lord has given us through the work of Jesus Christ. . . While religion is man-centered, the Christian relationship is Christ-centered.''

Scott comes to pastor River's Edge with his wife, Stephanie, and their three children: Alyson Danae, 6; Jacob Thomas, 4; and Ethan James, 2. He earned his bachelor's degree in christian ministries and his master's degree in theology from Cincinnati Bible College and Seminary.

A native of Selden, N.Y., Scott gained ministry experience as a youth minister in Jamestown, Ohio, and a senior pastor in Bentonville, Ind. Most recently, he served eight years as senior pastor in Tranquility, N.J. Scott has also gained first-hand mission experience as a short-term missionary to Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

The Scotts already call their new north Suffolk neighborhood ``home.'' With the purchase of their house and the establishment of their church, they plan to sink their roots deep. ``This area impressed us as a nice place for our family to grow up and a great place to begin a new ministry,'' Scott said.

``The word is getting out,'' Scott noted. ``We're a new, refreshing and wide open ministry with no patterns in stone. . . We hope to be a place people can come as they are and use their gifts to serve the Lord.'' MEMO: Beginning on Palm Sunday, River's Edge Community Christian Church

will offer Sunday Celebrations at 10:00 a.m. each week at the Northern

Shores Elementary School at 6701 Respass Beach Rd. Call the pastor's

office at 484-5023 for additional information. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by MICHAEL KESTNER

The Rev. Thomas L. Scott will move worship services from his home to

Northern Shores Elementary.

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