The Mountain aims to reach the 'unchurched'

Reaching the “unchurched” is one of the goals of a new ministry located in Jessamine County. The Mountain sought to begin fulfilling that goal with an open house Saturday to answer questions and solicit support.

“The Mountain is a nondenominational community and Christian learning center,” Mountain organizer Ron Bishoff said. “Out of 47,700, or whatever the new population of Jessamine County is, 26,000 are unchurched for one reason or another.”

The idea behind The Mountain is to provide a community Christian learning center and café for those who need something different in their search for God.

“It’s going to be life lessons, and how God affects those life lessons though teachings in the Bible,” Bishoff said. “We are Bible-based, but it’s nondenominational.”

According to an informational pamphlet, the organization’s vison is Biblically based: “Christ called us to be disciples and go out and make other disciples (Matthew 28:19, NIV)” and “We are called to gather together as family, community, and fellow believers (Acts 2:46-4, 7 NIV).”

Bishoff said the open house, attended by about 60 people, helped gauge community interest.

“We’re trying to figure out what kind of acceptance we have in the community, and we’re trying to figure out if people are interested in volunteering,” he said.

The event was held at the old John Michael Montgomery’s Restaurant on Plaza Drive.

Bishoff said organizers are seeking to use the building full-time, but support is needed.

“If we can aquire this building, it would give us the ability to seat 250 for meetings, host groups, weddings and that sort of thing,” he said. “The next step is to find out how much support we can muster and to see if we can come up with anybody that can help support it in a financial sense. It’s still a building; it’s still owned by people, and the world still revolves around money.”

For more information on The Mountain, call Bishoff at 859-552-8122.