Richmond Road Blog & Events

Summer is here with some great opportunities for unleashing a revolution of love around Lexington! We need lots of people to get involved and we’d love for you to serve with us.

We’re continuing to focus on reaching out to a few specific communities as a church.

East End of Lexington

This is one of our locations for Serve the City. Many of the camps offered below will include the kids of the East End and give us the chance to continue our relationship with them.

Woodhill Area

These families are some of our new neighbors at the Richmond Road Campus. We’re already developing relationships through Serve the City, The Academy (After-School Program) a partnership with Breckenridge Elementary School and our AS 1 Sports Ministry. Let’s get to know the neighbors!

Long Run Apartments

Our Serve the City group in Danville has been focusing on building relationships in this community. We’ll continue to invest in these families this summer.

Check out the upcoming opportunities below and consider how you can make an impact. Contact Phyllis to get plugged in!

Serve the City Kid’s Club (Outreach to the East End)

Dates: Year Round, meets each month on the 1st and 3rd Friday of the month @ the locations listed in the details
Ages: Preschool - Age 18
Details: Fun, healthy and engaging activities that point kids to Jesus. Girls ages preschool and up meet at 6:30p.m. at the Refuge Clinic - 525 Corral Street Lexington, KY 40508 (Parking lot on E. Second …) and the Boys ages 10-18 meet at 6:30p.m. at the Plantory - 560 East 3rd Street, Lexington, KY 40508.

Let’s Move (Outreach to the East End)

Dates: June 4 - July 27 (Monday - Friday) @ William Wells Brown Community Center - 548 East Sixth St.
Ages: Elementary, Middle & High
Details: This is a free program that will include sports activities, arts and crafts, educational workshops/seminars, step team, mentoring, field trips, teen rap sessions, Health rocks, scrapbooking, poetry, food and fun! Elementary meets from 1p.m. - 4p.m. and Middle & high meet 4:30p.m. - 9p.m.

Friday Night Gym Jam (Outreach to the East End)

Dates: July 13, 20 & 27 @ Dunbar Community Center - 545 North Upper St.
Ages: 12-18yrs
Details: There will be team building exercises, youth development workshops, games, basketball, ping-pong, corn-hole, pool, food and fun! 7pm-11pm

AS 1 Summer Basketball Camp (Outreach to the Woodhill Area)

Dates: July 16-20 @ Crossroads Christian Church
Ages: Grades 1-12
Details: Kids will receive teaching and practice the basics of basketball. We’ll have a lot of fun too! Morning Session: Co-Ed grades 1-5 from 9am - 12pm Afternoon Session: Co-Ed grades 6-12 from 1:30-4:30.

Camp Long Run VBS (Outreach in Danville)

Dates: July 23-25 @ Long Run Apartments in Danville
Ages: Pre School-Middle School
Details: Vacation Bible school with worship, lessons, crafts and snacks.

In preparation for my transplant to the Richmond Road campus, my family and I started getting involved with some of the kids from the Richmond Road area. We were introduced to our new friends through Urban Impact. They offer an after school program for kids from Breckenridge Elementary where we help kids with homework, make crafts, and play games. Serve the City provides additional opportunities for us to spend time with these kids. The bottom line is we started growing relationships with them.

The result? They changed us!

These kids are simply looking to be loved. They were born into a tough world, and that is all they know. One boy I met pulled out his pencil bag during a homework session and pointed to a picture taped to the inside. He said, “That’s my mom. She died.”

I was stunned.

This boy, who had been difficult to communicate with, who couldn’t focus on his school work, who was a bit unruly, just told me his mom died. “I’m so sorry,” I said. “Who do you live with?” “I live with my aunt now,” he replied. I later found out he was a foster child for a few years before being placed with his aunt. I can’t even imagine what is happening in the heart and mind of this boy. My paradigm was completely skewed.

“That’s my mom. She died.” What a difference one statement makes.

The Richmond Road campus is not about the building. As Jon said this weekend, we built Richmond Road and it’s a “tool that will help us reach people whose lives have fallen apart. A tool that will help us love people who have been knocked down by spiritual terrorism. A tool that will help us introduce people to God’s power in our lives.” He went on to say “we are in the rebuilding business as the people of God.” Participating in “the reconstruction of lives that have been decimated and toppled by hardships. This is the work Jesus started when he was on earth and this is the work Jesus has left for us, the church, to finish until He comes back.”

I invite you to join us as we share the love of Christ with the urban children and families of Lexington.

This summer we’re organizing a basketball camp to continue to get to know our new neighbors in the Woodhill Neighborhood. Woodhill is located very close to our new Richmond Road Campus and is also one our sites for Serve the City...a little bonus information for ya!

We need your help. Remember Expression 4? We generously extend hope to the poor. Well, this camp will give us another opportunity to strengthen the relationships we have over at Woodhill so we can continue to look for ways to extend hope there.

For the camp, we’re partnering with Lexington Leadership Foundation and Crossroads Christian Church but your help is crucial!

Here are the details:
July 16-20 at Crossroads Christian Church

9am – 12pm (Grades 1 – 5) 

1:30pm – 4:30pm (Grades 6 – 12)

There are two ways you can join us to extend hope:

• Volunteer.
We need coaches to help run the camp. You don’t need to be an expert, we’ll call you “coach” anyways! Coaches will help teach skills and develop relationships with players and families. If you have questions about volunteering or know it's for you, let me know! We’ll plug you right in!

• Participate.
We also need families to participate. Especially if your family is going to be attending the Richmond Road Campus, sign your kids up for this camp and come along to get to know your Woodhill neighbors! Register here or let me know if you have any questions.

We're excited for you to join us!

There has been a beautiful transformation in Children’s Ministry over the past few years as God has called out an amazing group of high level leaders who radically invest their lives in the next generation. These leaders, some seasoned and some not, are totally committed to weekly investment in Children’s Ministry. Our team is passionate about making a difference in the lives of Children!

Recently I posed this question to our leaders, “What does Children’s Ministry mean to you?” 

Here are some of their answers:

Being a life group leader is what I look forward to every weekend. I love my girls more than I ever thought I would...I want to be someone they can reach out to, depend on, and talk to about anything and for anything. – Kelsey

I love going every Sunday morning to see the kids and talk to them about their week, hopefully being a light to them. I started Children’s Ministry at Southland because I wanted to get involved with kids somehow, and I continue doing it because I do feel such a part of it. – Josh

I love these kids. They teach me just as much each week as I try to teach them. I'm all in for Children's Ministry because I want to be someone for these kids that I never had at their age. I love to see them worship and get excited about God. -Natalie

Being a Children’s leader is a great opportunity for me to have an impact in the lives of kids in our community. Even in the short time of working, my relationship with God has grown very rapidly. By helping others in their growth to be Godly people, my own relationship has greatly improved. I am glad to be able to spend time each week talking about God and the Bible with the children in my group. – Clay

These are just a few of the volunteer leaders in Children’s Ministry, and we have more joining the team each week. As we move closer to the launching of our Richmond Road campus, our newest team of volunteer Children’s leaders is beginning to unfold. If you are passionate about Southland’s Expression 3 “We radically invest in the next generation”, we want to partner with you!

Volunteer today to serve in Children’s Ministry at the new campus! 

Hey Richmond Road campus family! Currently we have 1,450 people who have expressed their intentions to be part of Richmond Road and many of you have begun to ask, "How can I serve or get involved?"

Good question.

Check out our top areas of need below and sign up here today!

AGE-LEVEL

Children’s Life Group Leaders
Shape a child's life by working with a small group of kids. You will walk with them through the weekend worship experience and lead a breakout time with their group, helping them to apply the lesson. 

Nursery Welcome Center Host
Be a first contact for new families. You want them to feel welcome by making sure they get checked in and to the right rooms.

Nursery Room Volunteer
During the worship service you will play with the kiddos, maintain a safe, loving environment, serve snacks and help with crafts. 

CONNECTION 

Cafe
You will be popular with your coffee-drinking church family! Join this team to set up, prepare and serve coffee for weekend services and help with clean up afterwards. 

Communion Preparation Team
If you're a behind-the-scenes go getter (and many of you are!) you can help get communion trays ready, prepare juice and bread and help restock after the weekend services.

Connection Point
Be ready to meet and greet people at Connection Point and help get them connected to a person, location or specific ministry information.

Greeters
If this is you, you know that you will make people feel loved and important as they arrive on campus. Every person that walks through the doors matters and you show it. 

Ushers
Help us serve communion and gather offering each week, along with helping people find a place to park their caboose! 

Life Group Coaches
Help Life Groups get off to a great start by leading their first gathering, sharing Southland’s mission and goals. 

Prayer Team
People will come each week who are bruised and battered by life. Listen, encourage and pray with those who want to speak with someone before or after weekend services. 

CARE

Counseling 
To help out in this way, you can take our Lay Counselor training (13 weeks) and learn how to help people in difficult circumstances.

Celebrate Recovery Leaders
Help children, teens or adults that are overcoming hurts, habits and hangups, along with others who meet weekly on campus as a community.