Oak Hill Church launched a new community ministry called The Well in Rickman to provide food, clothing, and a gathering space for local residents.
Pastor Todd Sutton said the ministry operates out of a rented building at 3909 Rickman Road located next to the post office. Sutton said the facility features a coffee area and is open to the public from morning to lunch Monday through Friday. While focused on the religious mission, Sutton said the first priority is to the physical needs of Rickman residents.
“We are commanded in the scriptures to go make disciples,” Sutton said. “But we are also commanded in the scriptures to love each other the way that we love God. So our viewpoint and our heart is, we just want to meet the needs of the people. And hopefully that may lead to something deeper, spiritually. But if it doesn’t, we’re still meeting that need.”
Sutton said the church board reached a unanimous consensus to move forward with the project earlier this year. Sutton said the small congregation of approximately 50 to 60 people has funded the endeavor through donations without using money from the regular church budget. Last Saturday, the church held a “Come and See” event in Rickman to kickoff their effort.
“We realized that there are a ton of clothes closets and food pantries and things like that throughout our area, but we didn’t have anything right here in Rickman,” Sutton said. “And so the Lord gave our church a vision, and we started asking some questions and making some contacts and partnered with a larger church out of Cookeville, and they helped us out a good bit.”
Sutton said the ministry partnered with 911 emergency services to secure three pallets of water for distribution. Sutton said the agency provided approximately 10,000 pounds of water to be given to those in need.
“This was a huge endeavor for a church like us to try to do something like this,” Sutton said. “But God’s provided all the resources and everything that we’ve needed. And our event this past Saturday was great. We had some local local leaders come out and take part, see what was going on, had a dedication ceremony and a ribbon cutting. And God is moving in Rickman and we’re just excited to be a small part of it.”
Sutton said the idea for the ministry grew out of a ladies’ Bible study led by his wife, Christy, in March 2020. Sutton said the group was inspired by a passage in the book of Acts and began discussing how the church could better serve and connect with the Rickman community.
“Our ladies got to talking, what would it take for our community to say, ‘Oh, that’s Oak Hill Church, they are turning Rickman upside down’?” Sutton said. “So it went from that conversation in a Bible study to us launching last summer a ministry called Community Connections, just making connections in our community.”
Sutton said the nonprofit ministry aims to meet physical needs first, regardless of whether a person is interested in the religious aspect of the organization. Sutton said the church is focused on following the scriptural command to love others.
“We are hoping that we can meet physical needs of the people that we interact with maybe on a daily basis,” Sutton said. “But we want to meet that physical need and then through that connection, then that we are praying and hoping that that will lead lead us to a spiritual conversation and then that way they get living water for physical and then lasting hope through a relationship with Jesus Christ.”
The Well will hold its first food box distribution this Saturday at 10 a.m.