A Conversation with George Wright

Recently I sat down with George Wright, lead pastor of Cedarcrest Church. This fall, their church is making the move to Allatoona High School. George has been the pastor at Cedarcrest for the past 2 years. He and his wife have three kids. We hung out at Vito’s Cafe to talk about what is happening at our two churches but also talk about life and faith.

Ken: What has been happening at Cedarcrest?
George: The last six months or so has seen a lot of new people we have been able to connect with. Our passion is to connect the disconnected. We really believe the best answer to that is in a relationship with Jesus Christ. We’ve currently outgrown the space at Shelton which has been an exciting, new adventure for us.

We have a vision that the church is here for the community. When we’re in the church, it is easy to think the church is there for us. In reality, what we believe the Bible teaches is that we are here to serve God and serve the community and our people have gotten fired up about that.

Ken: What are some of the hopes you have for our community?
George: We love our community. There is an opportunity to meet a lot of new people and help them connect with the plan God has for their lives. There are obvious issues with growing traffic, infrastructure and all that but that is worthwhile to me. It means there are a lot of new people we can connect with and meet.

We would love to make a difference in this community any way we can. We are trying to live in such a way that we are addressing needs, that we are making this world a better place. We really do care about this community as a whole.

Ken: What is God doing in your life?
George: It is an interesting time in my life. With the addition of a third child, it is a pretty big change. Not only that but Cedarcrest Church was a campus of Johnson Ferry Baptist Church and we’ve had the opportunity to go out on our own, to stand on our own. This has been a big step of faith.

What God has reminded me of is His faithfulness. With some overwhelming changes, at home and church, I’ve been intentional to be alone with God where He has reminded me of His faithfulness. One of my favorite Bible verses is Proverbs 3:5-6. It simply says,
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge Him and He will direct your path.

I need to hear that consistently, even as a pastor. If you’re willing to trust God with everything in your life, He is going to show you the way to live. He does have a great plan.

For more info about Cedarcrest Church visit www.cedarcrestchurch.com

What you may not know is that Cedarcrest Church has been a tremendous help in helping Crossroads UMC to launch too! My thanks to George for his Kingdom-mindset, his help, but most of all his friendship. Be on the look out for a future interview coming up with J.R. Lee from Freedom Church as they approach their 1 year anniversary of launch.