Today we’d like to introduce you to Travis Yeargans.
Hi Travis, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
in 2006 River’s Edge Christian Fellowship was started with a goal to bring a church to the urban core of Kansas City Missouri that would provide excellence in leadership and Biblical accuracy in preaching and teaching. During the next 11 years we sought to bring that vision to fruition while struggling to find a place to call our own. In 2017 we purchased a building in East Kansas City, very close to Raytwon. While we set up in the community to serve and share, we did not realize God had a bigger plan. In January 2023 I was approached by leaders from Sterling Acres Baptist Church about the possibility of merging our churches. Sterling Acres was a fairly close neighbor to us at the time and we had built a relationship through ministry collaboration and building sharing. We began to pray and seek God’s guidance about this proposal and believed He was leading us to take the next steps. In July 2023 both churches overwhelmingly voted to merge our congregations. There are some details about our churches that make this an especially unique situation; River’s Edge was a black church of young families while Sterling Acres was a white church who’s median age was 70 years old. Our merger created a church that is now expressed in our vision statement: “multi-ethnic, multi-generational family of Christ’s disciples on mission to advance the Kingdom of God”. Now over two years later we have witnessed God building a thriving, unified congregation that is poised to reach our diverse community with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The road has mostly been smooth. As it is with any major change, some people struggle to get on board. We saw a few families leave the church because of the merger. Otherwise the challenges have not been significant. God has blessed us with a tremendous amount of grace during this process. We have avoided turbulence through focusing on what unites us and not on what could divide us. Surely, people from very different backgrounds can find many things to disagree with each other about. We continually remind each other that our differences are designed to be an asset, not a liability.
As you know, we’re big fans of River’s Edge Fellowship. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
We are a baptist church. We have weekly worship services and Bible classes for anyone to attend. Our building is strategically positioned in the city to reach a variety of people from different ethnic backgrounds, family makeup, and as well some houseless people. We cooperate with other churches and groups in this area to provide services to those who need them. I would say I am most proud of how we have made a big impact utilizing a small group of volunteers. What I would want your readers to know is that our church is poised to do great things and have just began to scratch the surface. We welcome your readers to come and collaborate with us to make Kansas City a world class city.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.riversedgekc.org
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@riversedgekc
