A Living Room Bible Study That Became a Church
Abundant Life Church sits on Woodridge Place on the west side of Mt. Juliet, a bedroom community east of Nashville where Wilson County roads and Lebanon roads cross commuter traffic. The story of the church begins the way many Tennessee congregations begin: with a Bible study that outgrew the living room it started in. As the group grew, it formed a church first known as the Chapel of Love. In 1988 the current building was constructed on Woodridge Place, and along with the new address the body took the name Abundant Life Church.
Wilburn Fisher was the founding pastor. Ray Hughes followed from 1990 to 1992, and Rick Duvall served from 1992 to 2000. In March of 2001 Larry Grainger became the senior pastor, and he continues to fill that role today. Grainger came to Abundant Life in 1998 with his wife Anne, after a lifetime of ministry that began in 1973. Originally from Panama City, Florida, the Graingers moved to Middle Tennessee in 1986. Together they have four sons, four daughters-in-law, fifteen grandchildren, and one great-grandchild.
What They Believe
The doctrinal statement posted at the church is brief, biblical, and pointed. Abundant Life teaches that all Scripture, both Old and New Testaments, was given by the inspiration of God as the writers were moved by the Holy Spirit, and that these Scriptures are the only rule of faith and practice. They affirm one true God who has revealed Himself as three persons - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - distinguishable but indivisible. The human race was created in the image of God until sin entered through disobedience, leaving humanity incapable of saving itself. Jesus Christ is the Son of God, conceived of the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, very God and very man, who died for our sins, was buried, and rose again the third day according to the Scriptures. They confess the bodily ascension of Jesus to heaven, His exaltation at the right hand of the Father, and His literal physical return for the church. Salvation comes by grace through repentance and faith in the finished work of Christ on the cross. They look for the resurrection of the dead, eternal judgment, and life everlasting.
Preparing God's People for the Mission Field of Life
The ministry statement is short enough to memorize and is taught from the pulpit until it becomes second nature. It is summed up in one word: REAP. The first letter stands for reaching out to the lost and unchurched of the community. The second is for equipping God's people to do the work of the ministry. The third calls for praise and worship that exalts the Lord Jesus Christ and sets captives free. The fourth asks for practical demonstrations, one to another, of God's love toward us. Every ministry at Abundant Life Church is intended to put that mission into practice.
Sunday Morning Worship at 9:30
The Sunday church service begins at 9:30 in the morning at the Woodridge Place building. From the platform, Don Poythress leads the congregation in worship as the church's worship pastor. He is also an elder and a Nashville songwriter whose compositions have been recorded by Willie Nelson, Bonnie Raitt, Sir Cliff Richard, Blake Shelton, Tim McGraw, and Stephen Curtis Chapman. He penned the Dove Award-winning song "The Promise," as recorded by The Martins, and the Dove Award-nominated "Lay It Down" recorded by Jaci Velasquez with the London Philharmonic. His number one country hit "I'm a Little More Country Than That" was recorded by Easton Corbin.
The Praise Team that backs him up reads like the credits of a Nashville session. Lead guitarist Bill Hullett has played on records by George Jones, Merle Haggard, Tammy Wynette, Hank Williams Jr., Martina McBride, Loretta Lynn, and many others. Bassist Debbie Hullett has performed with Gene Watson, The Statler Brothers, Bill Monroe, and Bobby Bare. Tony Paoletta plays pedal steel and Dobro, with credits that include Patty Loveless, The Dixie Chicks, Luke Bryan, and Travis Tritt. Chris Spencer plays keys, Donny Howard plays piano, and Mike Lonas handles percussion, house sound, and recording. Kerry West runs sound; he grew up on the road with his mother, the late singer Dottie West, and currently serves as head sound technician on tour for Ronnie Milsap.
The vocal team includes Anita Crosby, a veteran of the Mobile, Alabama music scene who has opened for Mickey Gilley, Johnny Lee, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Ray Stevens. Kenna Turner West is a five-time Dove Award-winning songwriter and recording artist with more than 100 "Song of the Year" nominations and 27 wins, whose debut project with Crossroads Label Group was titled "A Reason for Hope." Leah Knotts and Rachel Manning round out the vocal team; Rachel grew up singing with her musical family, served four years of missionary work in Panama, moved to Nashville in 2019, and joined the Abundant Life congregation soon after.
The services are also available online. Selected messages are posted to the church's media page, with recent teaching drawn from a series on the Book of Ruth, and a regular podcast feeds both iTunes and Sermon Cloud for listeners who want to follow along during the week. A livestream channel on YouTube carries the church's name.
Six Midweek Small Groups from Lebanon to Windmere
The rhythm of life at Abundant Life Church extends well beyond Sunday morning. Six regular gatherings fill the rest of the week, and most of them meet in homes rather than at the church building.
Monday morning at ten o'clock, Cyndy Shearer leads the Women's Bible Study at the church building. The group uses the inductive method and works through the Scriptures together with prayer.
On Wednesday evenings at 6:30, two home groups meet in parallel. The Hullett Home Group gathers at the home of Bill and Debbie Hullett at 4134 Elizabeth Drive in Mt. Juliet. The Pody Home Group meets in the home of Shawn and Kelly Pody at 805 Windmere Drive in Lebanon, on the second and fourth Wednesdays of each month, sharing a pot of something and a meal before the word.
Thursday evenings at 6:30, the Spencer Home Group meets in the home of Chris and Dianne Spencer at 2104 Donna Kaye Court in Mt. Juliet.
On most Saturday mornings at 8:00, the men's Bible study meets at The Paper Mill at 4066 North Mt. Juliet Road for breakfast and a study of Scripture together. Rob Shearer leads the discussion.
Two monthly gatherings fill out the week. On the third Friday evening at 6:00, the Ladies' Fellowship, led by Doris Bratcher and Anita Crosby, meets at the church for Bible study, prayer, snacks, and community. On the first Friday at 7:00, the Band of Brothers, led by Charlie Bretz, gathers at the church for dinner, worship, and a message - occasionally relocating to a pool hall, TopGolf, or a Sounds game.
ALC Kids and the Youth Praise Team
Children have their own space inside the Sunday gathering. During the sermon, four- to twelve-year-olds gather for Bible instruction that moves chronologically through the Old and New Testaments in a way that is interactive and faithful to the text. A nursery for infants through age three is available for the entire service. Cyndy Shearer, the wife of Elder Rob Shearer and herself a longtime educator and leader in the home school movement, directs the children's ministry.
Wednesday evenings belong to the youth. Samuel Manning serves as the youth pastor; he and his wife Rachel, a vocalist on the Sunday morning praise team, lead the youth praise team in their own time of worship on Wednesday nights before turning to study and fellowship.
The Francis Schaeffer Study Center
The most distinctive educational ministry attached to Abundant Life Church is the Francis Schaeffer Study Center, founded by Rob and Cyndy Shearer along with Kevin and Karen Brummett, Deb Pennebaker, and Janene MacIvor. Inspired by the life and writings of Francis Schaeffer and named in his honor, the center equips high school students in grades eight through twelve with biblical literacy and a Christian understanding of Western civilization. Each year students work through integrated courses covering the history, literature, and art of a historical era. Classes meet on Wednesdays from mid-August to early May.
For younger students, the center also runs the Charlotte Mason Elementary Tutorial (CMET) on Tuesdays and Thursdays for grades one through seven. The Charlotte Mason approach emphasizes living books, narration, art, music, and nature study, treating the child as a whole person rather than as a mind to be filled.
Kevin and Karen Brummett, who co-teach the capstone Worldview Course for high school seniors, are longtime Mt. Juliet residents who joined Abundant Life Church in 2000 because of its support for home-schooling families. Kevin is a veterinarian who owns and operates The ARK, a veterinary clinic just east of Mt. Juliet.
Band of Brothers and the Ladies' Fellowship
Two adult fellowships anchor the men's and women's ministry alongside the weekly Bible studies. The Band of Brothers is open to men of all ages and meets once a month on the first Friday at 7:00, most often at the church building. The evenings combine a shared meal, worship, and a talk from a brother in the church or a guest speaker from the wider community, with the occasional outing to a pool hall, a TopGolf, or a Nashville Sounds baseball game in months when the calendar permits. Charlie Bretz leads the group.
The Ladies' Fellowship meets on the third Friday at 6:00 at the church, bringing together women of all ages and stages of spiritual maturity for Bible study, prayer, and community. Doris Bratcher and Anita Crosby lead the gathering. Attendees are invited to bring a Bible and a snack to share.
The Care Team
The Care Team, led by Susie Frassato and Donna Westphall, carries out the fourth point of the church's REAP vision: practical demonstrations to one another of God's love. The team's work is intentionally visible but quietly done. Members run the meal food train when a family is in crisis. They send cards and prayers to those who are hurting or grieving. They organize food drives and step in wherever hands and feet are needed - both within the church and out in the neighborhoods around Mt. Juliet. The team's text is Ephesians 2:10 - that we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
A Teaching Pulpit and the Kernels of Truth
Pastor Larry Grainger keeps a steady stream of written ministry in addition to his preaching. Each month he publishes a teaching newsletter called Kernels of Truth, which is distributed to readers and then collected into bound volumes that are sold through the church's online store. The series has run for more than two decades. Kernels of Truth: Meditations and Exhortations on the Christian is the foundational volume, with endorsements from ministry leaders including Charles Simpson. Subsequent volumes are organized thematically: Volume 2 on the Kingdom, Prodigals, and Happiness; Volume 3 on Participating, Synchronizing, and Harvesting; Volume 4 on the Gospel, God's Glory, and Victory in Jesus; Volume 5 on Worship, Serving, Yielding, and Re:Jesus; Volume 6 on Covenant Friendship, Fishers of Men, and A Secure Identity; Volume 7 on Humility, Obedience, and Gratitude; Volume 8 on Reconciliation, Mission, and An Extraordinary Man; and Volume 9 on Birds Chirping, Plans That Succeed, and The Tithe Is the Lord's. A special edition booklet, The Tithe is the Lord's, is also available.
The teaching style is conversational, biblical, and built around careful exposition of a single text or theme. Recent articles have ranged across the guarding of the heart, the danger of cheap grace, the discovery of God's will, the danger of the prowling adversary, the importance of corporate worship, the finishing of a faithful life, the working out of God's kingdom on earth, the hearing of God's voice, the meaning of finishing well, and the meaning of staying in your own pea patch rather than envying someone else's larger field.
Sermons and recordings are posted to the church's media page, and selected messages are made available through the church's podcast on iTunes and through Sermon Cloud. The same messages can be watched on the church's YouTube channel.
A Network of Friends Outside the Walls
Abundant Life supports a network of ministries and missionaries beyond its own walls. Among those listed on the We Support page are the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Everyone's Wilson, Compassionate Hands, Gary Browning Ministries, Outward Focused, The Operation Andrew Group, Ronald Gray Ministries, Charles Simpson Ministries, and Faith Mission International. Several of these partnerships are personal rather than institutional. Phil Eakes, an elder at Abundant Life, has long been a part of the modern day Movement of the Spirit and is a recognized minister within the Apostolic Resource Ministries organization; he is also a member of Opportunities, Inc., led by Ron Gray, a minister within the CSM organization, taking the gospel to the nations through business connections.
Elders, Staff, and the Office
The pastoral team is led by Senior Pastor Larry Grainger and four elders: Rob Shearer, Kevin Brummett, Don Poythress, and Phil Eakes. Cheryl White Jones serves as the office administrator and is herself a member of The Whites, a country music family who have been members of the Grand Ole Opry since 1984, were inducted into the Texas Country Music Hall of Fame in 2008, were cast members of the film O Brother Where Art Thou, and are Grammy Award-winning recording artists.
Finding the Church
Abundant Life Church meets at 1000 Woodridge Place in Mt. Juliet, Tennessee. The mailing address is P.O. Box 641, Mt. Juliet, TN 37122. The church office can be reached by phone at (615) 754-7035, with fax at (615) 754-1200. Giving is available online through PayPal and Venmo. Recorded messages and livestream teaching are available on YouTube and through the church's podcast on iTunes, with a fuller archive at Sermon Cloud. A public Google Calendar lists scheduled services and special meetings. Those who want to learn more about the Francis Schaeffer Study Center can visit its own page at schaefferstudycenter.org.
Sunday morning begins at 9:30. The chairs are filled with people from Mt. Juliet and from the surrounding Wilson County neighborhoods, and the stage is filled with musicians whose names you have probably seen on the back of Nashville albums. The pastor stands behind the same wooden frame that has been there since 1988. The Bible study that started in someone's living room has, by the long obedience of a great many people, become a teaching church with a school attached, a string of small groups scattered across homes in Mt. Juliet and Lebanon, a writing ministry that reaches readers well beyond Wilson County, and a worship team that could play any stage in town. The names may change, the years roll on, and the building ages a little more each season, but the gospel that first drew a handful of neighbors into someone's living room is still being taught from the same pulpit, on the same street, in the same town.