Well, Warner Robins resident Steve Wood has. A burden for this age group has ignited a passion in Wood to start a new church plant in Houston County with the sole purpose of reaching 18 to 35 year olds for Christ. For Wood, lead Pastor of The River, bringing back this missing generation to church has become his single focus. He has been inspired by God with a vision to reach this age group for Christ and has enlisted like-minded young preachers Chad Wood, no relation, and Zack Sims to come alongside to help launch The River.

Steve couldn't ignore the alarming trend any longer. According to a recent poll taken by the Pew Research Institute, 62 percent of Americans under the age of 30 think religion as a whole is losing its influence on American life.

And Barna Research says that Baby Busters (18-35 age group) are the least likely age group to indicate that faith is a very important part of their life, yet they are the most likely age group to be searching for the meaning in life. Demographically, Baby Busters make up over 25 percent of the population.

"We're starting The River on June 25 in the cafeteria of Houston County High School with the focus of attracting young adults. The church loses so many of its young people when they come out of youth ministry and go to college. Many join Bible study groups and worship ministries on campus, but when they graduate and move back home, there's no church that speaks their language and that's relevant to what's going on in their lives. We want to meet those young people where they are," explained Pastor Steve Wood.

Wood is using Rick Warren's purpose-driven church plant model for The River because Warren's model made so much sense to him. Warren, author of The Purpose Driven Life and pastor of The Saddleback Church in California said, "The thing is: we've moved past the MTV generation into the Internet generation, yet many of us are just now responding to the TV generation. Our message must never change, but the way we deliver the message must be constantly updated to reach each new generation. The only way to stay relevant is to anchor your ministry to unchanging truths and eternal purposes but be willing to continually adapt how you communicate those truths and purposes."

Pete Ward, author of Liquid Church, said that the church must be like water—flexible, fluid, changeable… willing to embrace the liquid nature of culture rather than just scrambling to keep afloat while sailing over it." The River, Houston County's first Southern Baptist church plant in this area in 10 years, seeks to embrace the fluid nature of our ever-changing culture while remaining anchored to the unchanging Word of God.

"Our church's name, The River, really identifies who we are. Several verses just jumped out at us when we were looking for a church name. First, from Revelations 22:1—"Then an angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city." Second, from Psalm 46:4—"There is a river that makes glad the city of God, the Holy Place of the tabernacles of the Most High." We instantly liked the name, The River. We prayed about it and found confirmation from unlikely sources," Pastor Steve Wood said.

Steve Wood, no stranger to young people and their culture, has been the Youth Pastor at Central Baptist Church in Warner Robins for 10 years. He earned an undergraduate degree in Church music, and a Masters of Arts and Religious Education from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Steve is married to Lynn and has two children, Riley, 15, and Eva, 13.

Steve Wood teamed up with friend Chad Wood after realizing they had a common goal of planting a church.

"I took a class in seminary called Evangelism and in that class I learned that one of the most effective ways of evangelism was to plant a church. I felt God speak to me that the next thing that He would have me do would be to plant a church. I knew Steve was in the process of planting a church. When we had the chance to sit down and talk, Steve brought me alongside to help start The River," Chad said.

The two know each other well. Chad Wood was in Steve's youth group from eighth through twelfth grade.

"During college, I interned with Steve at Central Baptist. I also interned at an interdenominational church in Valdosta as youth pastor. From there, I was youth pastor at First Presbyterian in Marietta and then the youth director at Christ United Methodist Church for the last two years," Chad said.

Chad Wood has an undergraduate degree in speech communication from Valdosta State University and is working on his Masters of Divinity from the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. He will graduate in the fall of 2007. He and his wife, Shana, married last spring.

Zack Sims, another former member of Steve's youth group at Central Baptist, also will come on board as one of the pastors. He graduated from Liberty University with a degree in communications and will soon graduate from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary with his Masters of Divinity. He is married to the former Stephanie Brown. Both are from Milton, Florida.

Music at The River will appeal to the very young—if you haven't heard of Coldplay, Nada Surf and other mainstream rock/ alternative bands, you might not be in the swim of things at The River.

"Our worship will feel very much like a concert. We'll have a praise band led by Jamey Vizzini, our Worship Leader. He is a graduate of Valdosta State University. Our praise band will play songs by U2, David Crowder, Delirious, and Chris Tomlin. There will be a lot of technology, and a lot of video," said Steve.

"Worship on Sunday mornings is our primary focus. We want to be a real church that's relevant and that has a refreshing atmosphere. We want to be able to communicate God's love where people understand. The idea is to provide a God moment to people to help connect them to God without having to jump through hurdles. The messages are going to be needs driven: How does the Bible apply to my marriage, my parenting, my finances, my job, and my lifestyle? What does God have to say that is relevant to me? Our children's ministry, Go Fish at The River, will be headed up by my wife Lynn Wood, and we're looking to start our small groups about six months down the road." Steve added.

"We have a passion for the lost. The River will be a church for the unchurched. Our whole idea is to draw a crowd. The more hooks you put in the water, the more fish you catch, and at The River we're all about fishing," said Chad.

The four preview worship services will be held on June 25, July 16, August 6, and August 27 in the cafeteria of Houston County High School. The official launch date of The River is set for September 10 when the church will be moving to weekly services.

"We're looking for people to plug in and find their place to volunteer at The River. We need greeters, people to help us set up and tear down, people to mop the bathrooms. It will take a lot of energy to make this happen," Steve said.

If anyone would like to help offset the financial costs of starting The River, please send your donations to The River, P. O. Box 9417, Warner Robins, 31095.

For more information, visit www.theriver4u.com.