What's New Worship Winchester: A Ministry Visit

Spent Sunday morning at What's New Worship in Winchester, Virginia. Pastor Andy Combs invited me out to share a quick update with the church. He was out of town Sunday, but the room was full and the people were ready.

This was the first time I have spoken anywhere since the sober living home opened.

The last time I stood in front of his people, it was 2020. We were in the middle of the COVID lockdowns and Andy had moved his services out to a drive-in theater. I preached to a parking lot full of cars. It is one of the strangest and most memorable settings I have ever spoken in.

Six years later, we are back inside the building. The sober living home is open. The renovation at 6043 Broad Street is still in progress. And What's New Worship has been supporting Shenandoah Valley Teen Challenge for ten years now.

Ten Years of Quiet Partnership

A lot of ministries get loud about who they support. A lot of churches put logos on slides and call it partnership. What's New has done something different. They have prayed for us, given to us, and made room for us across a decade.

Through three or four ministry transitions on our end. Through a pandemic. Through the slow grind of building a recovery ministry in a part of Virginia that does not exactly roll out a red carpet for that kind of work.

When you have been at this for a while, you learn which partnerships are loud and which ones are load-bearing. What's New has been load-bearing.

The Life of the Church

Andy was not in the building Sunday, but his church was, and that says something on its own. What's New is one of those places where the life of the church is not propped up by one personality. You can feel it the moment you walk in. People are glad to be there. People are talking to each other. Kids are running around. The room has a pulse.

That kind of culture does not happen by accident. It is built over years of pastoral leadership that values people more than performance, and it shows in the room whether the pastor is preaching that morning or not.

What I Shared

The update I gave was simple. We opened the men's sober living home. We are still working on the renovation at 6043 Broad Street. The podcast is moving. The ministry is in a different posture than it was five years ago, and that posture is sitting better than I expected.

I told them what I am telling everyone right now. We are not the answer for every person who walks through our door. We are a doorway. Sometimes the doorway opens into something we run. Sometimes it opens into a referral. Sometimes it opens into a long conversation with a family member who is trying to figure out what to do next.

Jesus is the answer. We are the people standing at the door.

A Word About What's New

If you live in or around Winchester and you are looking for a church that takes recovery seriously and feels like a community while you are there, What's New is worth a visit. A decade of partnership with this ministry has shown us what kind of church it is. The kind that stays.

The Apostle Paul wrote, "Therefore comfort each other and edify one another, just as you also are doing" (1 Thessalonians 5:11, NKJV). That is what walking into What's New felt like Sunday morning. People building each other up. People who have decided to stay in the work together.

What's Next

A few more pulpits to fill this fall. A few more sober living conversations. A few more partner ministries we are planning to visit. If you are part of a church that has been praying about how to engage the recovery crisis in your community, we would love to talk.

And if your church has been supporting us for a decade and we have not said it lately: thank you. We see it. We feel it. We could not do any of this without you.

Hear more on the Rebuilding Life podcast: We're Not Closing, We're Relaying the Foundation.