Studies show that consistent participation in community events increases life expectancy. Perhaps it's the security found in sturdy shoulders to hold us up when we’re at our lowest, or shared voices to rejoice loudly when the cards we are dealt come up aces. Blake Odgers, Lead Pastor, believes that our longing for community speaks to what we were made for: to live our lives to the glory of God.
On the first date with his wife, Katie, he felt compelled to share his vision for his life. Planting churches is a life of service for the whole family. There isn’t a lot of money involved. You live face-to-face with the hardest parts of people’s lives, holding spiritual space in sickness and in death; Blake knew this path would deeply impact whoever he married. Fortuitously, Katie shared his convictions to offer her life as an instrument for God’s service. A wedding and the birth of their first child later, Blake and Katie found themselves called to Chamblee, ready to open Kingdom City Church.
Kingdom City Church seeks to provide a sense of solace and support in Jesus’ name. Locking into a consistent ritual of community “lessens the pain of hard things and heightens the beauty of good things,” Blake says. The church opened its doors this past September out of the auditorium at St. Pius X with a mission to serve as a local church in the truest image of Jesus.
They don’t claim to be perfect people, and in fact, they hone in on the innate beauty and brokenness of all human beings. Instead, they are using their calling to uplift their neighbors and the city as a whole. Inherent in the beautifully broken nature of all people is a propensity to tamp down our hard feelings with outer desires. By acting out of insecurities instead of faith, life is much more painful.
Blake acknowledges that some have found pain in other church organizations. He validates those experiences, extends overflowing compassion, and with deft intellectualism identifies how those impure power dynamics cause extreme harm. Some have not carried the responsibility of spiritual leadership well, propogating great damage. Blake intones, “What you see in the ministry of Jesus is that he always acted with justice and anger toward people trying to leverage God’s name to hurt, manipulate, or have power over others.” At Kingdom City Church, Blake and Katie are passionately dedicated to embodying Jesus’s vision for the church and pointing to Him, not themselves, for the answers one seeks. The church is the vehicle and vessel.
Thus far, Blake and Katie have been thrilled by the members who have joined Kingdom City Church, finding kinship and friendship. “We don’t just lead the church; we’re part of it. This is our community too.” The congregation is filled with people who feel their lives have been extraordinarily touched by their relationship with Jesus, and they want to extend that love outward.
Blake and Katie continuously ask themselves how they can leverage their lives for the good of Chamblee, Brookhaven, and its surrounding areas. One of their programs, Kingdom City Kids, works in partnership with parents to share the message of Jesus so each child can find their footing in faith for every step of life. Blake and Katie have a two-year-old son, and through fatherhood, Blake has discovered a tenderness and compassion that imbues his spiritual leadership with a deepened awareness of the dignity of all people. “Seeing someone and knowing that somebody loves you the way I love my kid…I’m deeply convinced that God himself loves them infinitely times that amount,” he says. Before becoming a parent, he could understand such concepts on a theological level, but now he knows these truths on an emotional level too. That depth runs through Kingdom City Church, where the communal relationships cultivated are overflowing with authenticity and truth. It's where you can share your deepest hurts, strangest fears, and most overwhelming thoughts. It’s a place that seeks to uplift your spirit through a relationship with Jesus, as Blake is utterly convinced is the way to move towards a life that glorifies our unique selves and life paths.
A phrase they often use is “come and see.” As Blake explains, “Whether it’s your first step toward Jesus or whether you’re giving him another shot, our goal is to be an accurate representation of who Jesus is.” If you’re seeking a spiritual community dedicated to service, there’s a seat waiting for you at Kingdom City Church.
Our goal is to be an accurate representation of who Jesus is.
Come and see