Address: 2100 Highway 150
Floyds Knobs, Indiana 47119
Phone: 812.944.2570
Email: wesley@wesleychapel.org
We are online only in January at 8:30 and 11:00 am.
O U R C H U R C H
We are a church family rooted in Christ and growing in grace.
At Wesley Chapel, it is our mission to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. We do this by focusing on four areas: Worship, Faith Development, Serving, and Generosity. We live together as people of faith to grow as disciples in each of these four areas.
W H A T W E D O
Our Mission
Serve the Church
When we serve we are being like Jesus. Jesus calls us to serve within our faith community so that we can grow in our faith and be equipped to go into the world to share the love of God with all people. The primary areas of Serve Here are Hospitality and Food Service. Serving at Wesley Chapel also includes other ministry areas such as Worship, Faith Development, and Facility Team just to name a few. There are always opportunities to serve and we would love to have you connected to Wesley Chapel through service.
Serve the City
We believe serving those around us is central to growing in our relationship with God. As disciples of Jesus Christ, we serve our local communities in Southern Indiana.
Serve the World
We are a church on mission to go into the world and share the hope of Jesus. Through local and global ministry partnerships, we are working diligently to be the hands and feet of God.
New Here?
Join us for worship on Sundays at 8:30 am or 11:00 am. Our campus is located in the heart of Floyd County, Indiana. No matter who you are, or where you’ve been, we welcome you with open arms.
M I S S I O N
We are traveling this journey of faith together, developing the character of Jesus within, and sharing the love of God with our community.
Tony Alstott
Lead Pastor
L E A D E R S H I P
Our Team
Tony Alstott
Lead Pastor
Cory Feuerbacher
Director of Worship +
Director of 20s/30s Ministry
Becky Perkins
Director of Faith
Peter Williams
Associate Pastor
In charge of Youth and Mission
C H U R C H M E D I A
Latest Sermon Series
15
Jan '20
Cue the Eagle
15
Jan '20
“Run to the roar means facing my pain and fears and trusting God to help me with those fears. As a part of that, I wanted to deepen my relationship with God, and in return He provided me with strength. I ask God for strength many days and he gives it to me along with hope of eternal life.”
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15
Jan '20
Three Generations Impacted
15
Jan '20
“In my early 20’s I was going through rough times. I was trying to figure out what to do to better myself and get back on track to get out of the rut I was in. I asked my mother if she would be interested in trying out Wesley Chapel, and we went that next Sunday and the rest is history. We fell in love with the church from that point on. I loved the church, and the feeling of family was important to us. We got that feeling from the beginning.”
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14
Jan '20
A Church to Call Home
14
Jan '20
“We felt very loved, there was a lot of grace, not judgement. Our lives at that time were a real mess. I wouldn’t wish any family to go through that, but we went through it. And what we found as we had that journey, and we would share that journey, the more and more love we got. It almost intensified and helped us through that time. Peoples lives are messy, and if you don’t have a mess, just wait because there will be one.
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W E S L E Y C H A P E L B L O G
Recent Articles
07
Jan '21
Breathe
07
Jan '21
Written by Rachel Alstott
Inhale. Exhale. The act itself seems simple enough. Breathing.
For my first tattoo, I wanted it to be something that was impactful; that told a story about me. I was twenty-five. I chose oxygen. The atomic makeup of oxygen in fact. I wanted something to remind me to do that simple act, to breathe. When I picked it, I thought it told the story of my past, my struggles with suicide and depression, but it actually was foretelling of what I was to go through in the upcoming years.
I joined a cult when I was nineteen. I was fresh in the college life and I was trying to figure out my place as a new adult who was away from family for the first time. I don’t think any of us that were pulled in knew the journey that it would be. It started out by us joining intramural sports team and as time progressed turned into something else. It was religiously abusive. It kept me away from family. I rose in the ranks and became a student leader in it, pushing the agenda on anyone that would listen. I still cringe as I think of the things I participated in, the shame I shoveled on others, trying to bury them so that they would see their need for the group. What I didn’t realize is that I was being buried alive. I was so restricted, I couldn’t breathe. I believed so much in what I was fed that my life was one of shame. I could tell you story after story of the abuse and trauma I went through, but it can be summed up in four words: there was no freedom.
I met Betsey when I was twenty-two. She was about my parents’ age and was new to the church that the cult fed into. She felt a calling to start a young women’s Bible study. The church would not allow her to do it since she was a woman and was not in the cult, but the calling was so strong that she opened up her home to some of us. She fed us each week and we studied scripture. When it started, I was the only one in the cult. She slowly began to ask questions about the group I was a part of, subtly questioning if things I was being taught were actually biblical. For three years she poured into me. That Bible study became the only breath of fresh air for me throughout the week. I began to invite other girls from the cult as well. It became a lifeline from the abuse we were stuck in.
I was twenty-five when I got my first tattoo. I was also twenty-five when I started to see that the group I was a part of was not for my good and maybe Betsey was right. Maybe there was freedom in Christ and not just the chains that had been given to me.
It took two years for me to leave the cult. Two years of laying in the bathroom, tracing my tattoo and reminding myself to breathe. Two years of self-harm and panic attacks as the “support” system I had surrounded myself with kept pulling me back. I attempted suicide but interrupted myself, for reasons I can’t explain other than God’s grace. I clawed my way out of the dirt and grime, trying desperately to once again breathe. And finally, I tasted the air.
I had been trapped in a world of legalism and mental and emotional abuse, where I gave others the control of my life, a place God never intended for me to be. He wanted control and it is His control that there is absolute freedom.
It has been three years since I was there. There are still moments when I am reminded of those times and feel like the air is being sucked from me,
but then I remember God. Psalm 77, one of the chapters I continue to go back to, has a verse that states “I will zakar the deeds of the Lord.” Zakar means to remember and it now joins my list of tattoos to remind myself who God is. When I am in a place where I feel as if I can’t breathe, I zakar. I remember the goodness of God. I remember how he rescued me time and time again. And I remember that if he has done all this in my life, he will continue to do so with my future.
The cult is still on the college campuses across the United States. Betsey was able to help at least 10 girls to leave before she had to leave the church. Two of those girls I still remain best friends with today. And they know freedom as well. Just so you know, I am in a good place now. I am engaged to a man who loves God and me. I didn’t know men could be good. We’re getting married in October. I work with youth in a group home as a Spiritual Development Leader where I get to teach them about their worth and freedom in Christ. I went back to my family who never gave up on me. And I haven’t self-harmed in one year. God is good. Remember to breathe and know that.
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23
Dec '20
Conceived in Love
23
Dec '20
Written by Rhonda Alstott
I was born into a family heritage of several persons serving in ministry. On my mother’s side, she was blessed to have a maternal uncle and three paternal cousins that answered a calling to be pastors. On my father’s side my uncle felt a calling to the priesthood until his calling to be a husband and father was greater and ended his seminary. He lived out his new calling with faithfulness to God and his family. I grew up in my early years on a pew in a holiness church surrounded by my great grandmother and grandmother, both of whom I dearly adored and loved. They loved me as well, but sadly, when I think of that time, I did not feel loved by God or the church and if I did, those moments were far and few between. The godly heritage of my family that should have been celebrated was always overshadowed by the fact I had unbelieving parents that did not attend church. I remember one morning when a well-intentioned Sunday school teacher told me that God uses bad things to bring people to Christ. More specifically, God could have something bad happen to me or my siblings to turn my parents toward God and they would come to church. If there was ever such a term as spiritual anxiety I had it after that lesson and would cry and plead with God to spare me and my siblings lives every night in bed. What a burden placed on me… the weight of my nine year old world was all contingent upon the faith of my parents, both of which I had zero control over. I did not want to die. I followed God out of fear and a resolution that He had to be better than the alternative, hell. If I were honest, I didn’t love Him, I only feared Him, like He was up in the clouds waiting to catch me being bad and ready to hand out punishment to me. I lived in fear that I would be the sacrifice to turn my parents to Jesus. What a heavy convoluted faith I had. The sign hanging above the door at the back of the sanctuary said “For the Wages of Sin is Death”. I read that sign three times a week as I exited the sanctuary.
At the invitation of a childhood friend, I left my family church, but thankfully never left my faith. I became a member of a United Methodist Church. My faith grew in my new church with the influence of loving and faithful saints to mentor me. My confirmation teacher bought me a study Bible. What a gift…I had always had a Bible, but one with a very small print that even my eagle eye could not read well. I could read and take notes in my new Bible and it had a concordance. Wow! An entire new universe was at my hands. I remember my astonishment when I read Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” The context of that plaque became more real to me. Punishment for my sin was earned, but there was some good news. I had been given a gift through Jesus and that was eternal life. I didn’t even have to pay the wages of my unbelieving parent’s sin; Jesus took care of that too. I would not have to be a sacrificial child after all. Things were looking up. Spiritual abuse is a real thing and just like any other abuse, I had to have recovery and healing from it. Things began to click as I read more of my new Bible. God loved this world so much that He gave us Jesus so we could believe in Him and have eternal life (John 3:16). Love has always been God’s motivation, even when those entrusted with my childhood faith were only able to instill the fear of the Lord in me. Learning all about God’s love for me is where my love for Jesus gained traction and I was able to grow a relationship with Him that has carried me for 55 years now. In those early days I had to constantly fight for the truth that God really did love me and that He did not want to hurt me. That He not only loved me, but He also loved my parents that didn’t acknowledge Him. He wasn’t a God in the heavens ready to shoot the gun of “bad things” at me when I messed up. His love for me was unconditional. I did not need to be perfect for Him to love me. God cares for me (Psalm 139:16-17, Matthew 10:29-31). The song really is true, “Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so…”
Last week, Tony’s Christmas message included scripture from Luke where Mary the mother of Jesus has an encounter with the angel Gabriel telling her about her role in bringing the Messiah to humanity. Mary, a young teenager, responds with “I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” She displays such spiritual maturity in her answer. She seems to understand that this is part of God’s plan to love humankind. There was so much at stake on a personal level here for Mary. My heart would immediately have turned to the realization that being an unwed mother could cost me my life at the most and my reputation at the least, but not Mary. She commits to God’s plan and seems to have an understanding that she is part of something great involving love. We see her present at the wedding in Cana in John chapter 2, where Jesus performs his first public miracle by turning the water into wine. Mary tells the servants present to “Do whatever He tells you”…
Do whatever He tells you…we as His servants today can assuredly do this as well because we know He is going to tell us things to do, each and every one of those things conceived in love, because that is Christ’s nature. I can trust that whatever situation comes my way, He is with me and will show me His way of love. My mother passed away in 2016. She had a hard life and spent the last 20 years of it under my care. Tony was able to deliver her eulogy knowing that she was with Jesus. She had a personal relationship with Jesus that came many years after my childhood and her life was full of heartache and pain. I can look back now at those hard times as we cared for her through the years where God pushed me to love better, be more sacrificial and have compassion for others I did not understand. He not only did this for me, but for my five children as well. Helping care for their grandmother has made them some of the most compassionate young adults I know.
Jesus shared with us His way of love in the New Testament and even summed it up so we could easily understand. Love God and love others. In theory it sounds so simple, but in practice can be so hard, even elusive. Sometimes I let my experiences and expectations get the most of me and cloud what that is, but God has given me His Spirit and Words to guide me. The spiritual condition of my own heart is the greatest effector of my ability to love God and love others. What I’ve discovered through the years is that it has a lot more to do with how I treat people. I’ve also realized that as a mother and a teacher, I never want to leave a child or a student with a picture of an unloving and uncaring God. God is Love is a Biblical Truth we can build a foundation on (1John 4:8 I have listed this verse, but read 1 John 4 for some fantastic words about God, us and love).
In Luke 2:10 the angel appears to the shepherds and says to them “I am bringing you Good News of great joy for all people.” My prayer for you this week is that as you gather to celebrate Christmas, you remember that the Good News is the best news and that all people includes you and all those around you…and that you can trust that God loves and cares for each of you, and because of that, you can have joy.
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17
Dec '20
Joy
17
Dec '20
Written by Bill Sabala
So how’s your 2020 going?
Just asking the question probably caused some of you to scoff, roll your eyes, and say “Yeah, right.” Let’s face it, unless you’re a toilet paper or mask manufacturer, 2020 has been a year you’d just as soon forget. So your “joy index” must be going through the roof, right? I mean with all the quarantines, virtual school, and cancelled vacations, it’s a shame we’re wearing masks because it’s hiding our ear-to-ear smiles.
The funny thing is that, according to James, this should be the most joy-filled year of our lives. Now you’re saying, “Bill has lost his mind.” Have I? In James 1:2-4 the Bible says, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” This may sound a bit far-fetched to many. After all, are we really supposed to count it all joy? Are we really supposed to count it joy when we lose our job because of down-sizing? How about when our loved one gets COVID-19 and is in the hospital on a ventilator? Does James really mean to count it joy when my mother/father/aunt/uncle/… dies? What kind of twisted dude was James?
The truth is, he’s not twisted at all. You see, James understood that the difficulties we go through help build our faith. Seriously, without faith, how could we get through all of these difficulties (trials) AND keep our sanity? Our faith in Jesus is how we do it. Our faith in Him gives us the ability to have joy; even though our circumstance seems dire. So let’s listen to Paul who writes in Romans 15:13, “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” Let’s remember Jesus is the reason we celebrate, and He enables us to have joy through every situation.
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Pastor Tony recommends reading:
Be The Bridge: Pursuing Gods Heart for Racial Reconciliation
In an era where we seem to be increasingly divided along racial lines, many are hesitant to step into the gap, fearful of saying or doing the wrong thing. At times the silence, particularly within the church, seems deafening.
But change begins with an honest conversation among a group of Christians willing to give a voice to unspoken hurts, hidden fears, and mounting tensions. These ongoing dialogues have formed the foundation of a global movement called Be the Bridge—a nonprofit organization whose goal is to equip the church to have a distinctive and transformative response to racism and racial division.
In this perspective-shifting book, founder Latasha Morrison shows how you can participate in this incredible work and replicate it in your own community. With conviction and grace, she examines the historical complexities of racism. She expertly applies biblical principles, such as lamentation, confession, and forgiveness, to lay the framework for restoration.
Along with prayers, discussion questions, and other resources to enhance group engagement, Be the Bridge presents a compelling vision of what it means for every follower of Jesus to become a bridge builder—committed to pursuing justice and racial unity in light of the gospel.
But change begins with an honest conversation among a group of Christians willing to give a voice to unspoken hurts, hidden fears, and mounting tensions. These ongoing dialogues have formed the foundation of a global movement called Be the Bridge—a nonprofit organization whose goal is to equip the church to have a distinctive and transformative response to racism and racial division.
In this perspective-shifting book, founder Latasha Morrison shows how you can participate in this incredible work and replicate it in your own community. With conviction and grace, she examines the historical complexities of racism. She expertly applies biblical principles, such as lamentation, confession, and forgiveness, to lay the framework for restoration.
Along with prayers, discussion questions, and other resources to enhance group engagement, Be the Bridge presents a compelling vision of what it means for every follower of Jesus to become a bridge builder—committed to pursuing justice and racial unity in light of the gospel.
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