We (Wes and Sarah Mills) grew up in East Tennessee. This has always been our home, our city, our place. We love this area – the people, the fall weekends, the growth. Wes (from West Knoxville) and Sarah (from Oak Ridge) find great joy in growing up, and living in, this part of the country.
 
Having both attended a traditional church through very formative years in our lives, we have seen some great benefits of community, rootedness and a multi-generational investment in us. But we have also seen the challenges – to grow it big, to move away from the margins, to become monocultural.

As both of our previous jobs have taken us from serving folks who want to move across the world, to caring for kids on the outskirts of society, our hearts began to break for those not seen and not heard. And the closer we have edged toward the unheard community, the more clearly we have seen Jesus at work, both in our lives and theirs. We took different paths to get to where we are today. But through the kindness of God, we have seen how Jesus has moved us from the suburban setting to the urban core, and from the desire for big things to the love of small ones. Our desire and hope and expectation is to see our city, our community, our street look more like the city of God, where justice and mercy meet, where Jesus is made much of, and where everyone is welcomed to the table of grace and sent out on mission to the world. With a deep conviction in the love of God, and a deep desire for neighborly love, we join Jesus in his request to God the Father and pray the prayer of the saints for the last 2,000 years: May the kingdom of God come on earth – to North Knoxville – as it is in heaven