Pastor felt drawn to little church

After being closed for several years, the doors to a little country church in Jay County are open again and the new pastor feels he was led there by God.
Pastor Adam Ridenour, Portland, would generally take county road 200 South home from his full-time job in Ohio, but would occasionally switch to county road 300 South, where Little Salamonie Christian Church is located at the road’s intersection with Boundary Pike.
“And I would stop and I would look at the church,” said Ridenour, 35.
And he would dream of what it would be like to be its pastor.
At that time he was serving as youth leader at Hopewell of Life Ministries.
“I just felt like God had a different calling for me,” Ridenour remembers.
That’s when he decided to contact the Coy family, former trustees of the church. He told them he felt God was leading him to pastor the church.
Ridenour, a father of three, said he received confirmation of that calling when the trustees told him, “Here’s the keys.”
The church had been unused for six or seven years and the stage had dropped down, some floor joists had rotted and windows needed repaired.
But with the help of other parishioners, “and a lot of cleaning, it’s all good to go,” Ridenour said.
Ridenour, who received his minister’s license from the International Evangelical Group and doesn’t get paid for his work at the church, delivered his first sermon as pastor of the church April 1.
All the tithe money the church receives goes toward outreach ministry or repairs to the building, which was built in the 1830s and was originally called The Church of Portland.
It was remodeled in 1953 and hasn’t been touched since.
Ridenour said he wants Little Salamonie to be an outreach church that helps its congregation to get to know God on a personal level.
“And that’s what it’s all about,” he said of the church’s mission.
The first outreach project church members participated in was having a float in the Fourth of July parade in Portland. That effort brought a new family to the church, which now has an average attendance of about 45 per week.
“If it’s for God it can’t be stopped,” Ridenour said.
They also teamed up with Suman Brothers Pizza in Pennville at a booth during the Jay County Fair and raised enough money to replace the front doors of the church.
Services are held at 11 a.m. each Sunday at the church, which is family-oriented and Bible based.
Services include some contemporary Christian songs, which are a cappella because there is no one attending who plays the piano or other instruments.
“That’ll come with time,” Ridenour said.
A praise and worship service is held at 6:30 p.m. the first and third Sunday of each month.
The time is used for “encouraging people, helping people,” Ridenour said.
The congregation also holds a service at 6:30 p.m. on the second and fourth Tuesday of each month at Persimmon Ridge Nursing Home in Portland and a Bible study is held at 6:30 p.m. each Wednesday at the church. There is a youth group for children ages 5 to 16.
Ridenour has a “come as you are” policy, which refers to more than just style of dress.
“You can just be yourself,” he explained.
“Because the Lord will change you.”