On a road that climbs east out of Leeds, Alabama, the Ashville Road Church of Christ has built its identity around three words, Seed, Plant, Fruit, and a practice that feels almost forgotten in modern American Christianity. On the second and fourth Sundays of every month, the evening service moves out of the building at 1401 Ashville Road and into the living rooms and kitchens of its members. The congregation calls these gatherings Open Home Meetings, and they have become one of the clearest expressions of how this body of believers understands its mission.
A Three-Stage Process: Seed, Plant, Fruit
Ask anyone at Ashville Road what the church is trying to do, and they will give you the same short answer: make disciples. They turn to the words of Jesus in Matthew 28 to frame the work, then break it into a metaphor pulled from agriculture.
In the Seed phase, the focus is evangelism: sowing the Word of God through personal Bible studies, gospel meetings, and foreign mission efforts. The Plant phase centers on worship and Bible classes that help new believers remain connected to Christ the way a branch stays attached to a vine, with fellowship as the soil that lets those branches grow together. The Fruit phase is where members move from the pew to active service. Ashville Road's elders have organized a plan of work that includes 22 ministries with around 200 opportunities to serve, and the stated goal is that every event and program ultimately ties back to sowing more seed.
The church's motto is "Seed. Plant. Fruit. Glorifying God through service." It sets the tone for everything that follows.
Open Home Meetings: Worship Around the Kitchen Table
Most Sunday evenings look like Sunday mornings across the country: a building, pews, an order of service. At Ashville Road, the second and fourth Sunday evenings unfold differently. Members open their homes, and the whole church gathers for a meal, a Bible study, and conversation. The practice takes its cue from Acts 5:42, where Luke records that the early Christians did not cease "teaching and preaching that the Christ is Jesus... in the temple and from house to house."
The goals are threefold. Deeper knowledge of Scripture comes from discussing a passage together rather than listening to a sermon. Stronger relationships grow from sharing meals and burdens. Evangelism happens because people like to be invited into someone's home in a way they rarely feel invited to slip into a pew as a stranger. Recent lesson series for the Open Home Meetings have included "Seek," a study of the Christian's pursuit of God and the lost, and "From First to Third," a survey of firsts, seconds, and thirds in Scripture. A longer-running strand, "Christian Social Studies," has explored what it means to be brothers and sisters in Christ, neighbors, and citizens.
Open Home Meetings pause during the summer months, when the church meets for evening worship at the building instead, and resume in September.
A Capella Voices and the Five Acts of Worship
Sunday morning worship at Ashville Road is built on five expressions: prayer, singing, teaching, communion, and giving. There is one conspicuous absence: no musical instruments. The a capella tradition rests on passages like Matthew 26:30, Ephesians 5:19, Colossians 3:16, and Hebrews 13:15, and on a desire to follow the practice of the New Testament church.
Communion is observed every first day of the week. The two emblems, unleavened bread and the fruit of the vine, are passed as a memorial of Christ's death. The invitation is open, but each worshiper is asked to examine himself or herself before partaking. Giving follows the same pattern laid out in 1 Corinthians 16: a collection on the first day of the week. Guests are never expected to put anything in the plate.
Worship is corporate, with everyone encouraged to participate. The whole service, Bible classes and preaching alike, is recorded and posted to the church's Media page and to its YouTube channel, where recent series include a verse-by-verse walk through Acts, a study called "God's Providence," a special "Victory Sunday" set of sermons, and a study of the suffering of Christ called "Man of Sorrows." A recurring Q&A format gives members the chance to pose questions that are then addressed from the pulpit.
The Pulpit, the Youth Room, and the Elder's Bench
Two preachers carry the bulk of the pulpit and family work. Drew Kizer has served as pulpit minister since 2000. He holds a B.A. in Bible and an M.A. in New Testament from Freed-Hardeman University, has written several books, and preaches at lectureships, gospel meetings, and mission campaigns across the country. His latest book, From Captives to the Cross, is a study of the restoration of Israel in Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther. Kizer has spoken publicly about his eleven-year battle with early onset Parkinson's disease and the way his experience with chronic illness has shaped his ministry to others who suffer.
Eli Mann joined the staff in November 2022 as youth and family minister. A native of Columbia, Tennessee, he graduated from Faulkner University with a B.A. in Biblical Studies and worked in West Tennessee before moving to Leeds. He is married to Jenna, a local kindergarten teacher.
Four men serve as elders. Richard Box has been at Ashville Road since 1977 and on the eldership since 2013. Kevin Dixon joined the same year Box did and has served as an elder since 1995. Jim Gaston began attending what was then called the Leeds Church of Christ after leaving the Navy in 1980 and joined the eldership in 1995. Will Brooks came with his family in 2017 and joined the eldership in 2022 after serving as a deacon with responsibilities over education, VBS, and Lads to Leaders; he works at UAB as a curricular dean in the Heersink School of Medicine.
A Sunday and Wednesday Rhythm
The weekly rhythm at the building is straightforward. Sunday morning Bible classes begin at 9 a.m., followed by morning worship at 10 a.m. On the first, third, and (when applicable) fifth Sundays of the month, the congregation gathers again at the building for evening worship at 5 p.m. On the second and fourth Sundays, the evening moves into homes for Open Home Meetings. Wednesday evenings are set aside for Bible study at 7 p.m.
There is no dress code. The guidance is simple: modesty, and "best," with the understanding that best ranges from jeans and a polo to a suit and tie. All a visitor needs to bring is an open heart and a Bible; if you don't have one, the church will hand you one when you walk in.
A Nursery, a Training Room, and Hearing Devices
First-time visitors with small children will find a nursery to the left of the foyer for children two and under. Older children are welcome in a training room equipped with sound and video so parents can still follow the service even if they need to step out with a restless toddler. Hearing devices are available for those who need them; greeters hand them out on request.
Twenty-Two Ministries, Two Hundred Doors
The Fruit phase of the process is where the church tries to put its theology into action. The elders have organized 22 ministries offering roughly 200 opportunities to serve, ranging from teaching and benevolence to local outreach. Will Brooks has overseen Vacation Bible School and the Lads to Leaders program, known locally as L2L. L2L trains children and teens in Bible knowledge, speech, art, and leadership through conventions that draw participants from congregations across the country.
Other named ministries include youth and family work under Eli Mann, the nursery, the training room for older children, worship and Bible class coordination, and the ongoing series of studies distributed through the church's YouTube and Facebook pages. Guest speakers regularly contribute to the pulpit rotation, among them Jimmy Pulliam, Will Brooks, Eric Lyons, Eli Mann, and Patrick Burch, so the preaching ministry draws on the gifts of the whole congregation rather than only the full-time staff. Members can also give online through a Tithe.ly.
Restoring the First-Century Pattern
Ashville Road identifies as a Church of Christ in the broader restoration movement, which seeks to recover what its members see as the New Testament pattern for the church. The church teaches and practices "the pure gospel without adding anything to it or taking anything from it." Each piece of the Seed-Plant-Fruit metaphor is rooted in a specific passage: the Sower of Luke 8 for evangelism, the vine and branches of John 15 for worship and growth, and the call to bear fruit in John 15:8 as the proof of true discipleship.
That commitment shapes the weekly schedule, the a capella singing, the open Communion table, the home meetings, and the emphasis on every member finding a place to serve. It is also what brings the congregation together around a simple, three-word summary of everything they are trying to do.
That is the heart of Ashville Road Church of Christ: a Leeds congregation where the gospel is taught in living rooms as well as an auditorium, where the pulpit and the kitchen table both count as sacred space, and where the work of making disciples is summarized in three words: Seed, Plant, Fruit.