Greetings!
Thanks for taking the time to learn about Alabaster Church. We carry both the weight and joy of inviting others to join us in seeing Asheville—a city of spiritual seekers—become a family of Spirit-filled saints.
In the pages ahead, you’ll find a glimpse of our story, the call we’ve received, and the strategy we believe will help us walk it out. Your partnership—through prayer, encouragement, and support—makes this work possible, and we’re grateful to share it with you.
Please reach out with any questions and feel free to visit our website for more information.
Grace and Peace,
Ryan Smith
Our Story
Erin and I met in college and were married in 2012. From the start, the local church has been at the heart of our shared life and calling. In our first year of marriage, we joined Mars Hill Church in Seattle, and later served at Living Stones Church in Reno. In both places, we witnessed the powerful impact a united church can have on a city—and also the harm that can come when spiritual authority is misused. Those years shaped in us a resilient commitment to Jesus, his Church, and a deepening conviction for humble, healthy leadership.
In Reno, Erin led in worship and community life, while I served in a range of roles—from executive assistant to leading the youth and college ministry, to eventually serving as the Pastor of Liturgy and Theology. I also earned a Master’s in Biblical and Theological Studies through Western Seminary. During those years, our daughter Emma was born.
In Los Angeles, I served five years as the Teaching Pastor at Collective Church, where Erin served as a regional lead for our church’s care team. That season became one of healing, joy, and the birth of our son Arlo.
From the West Coast to Appalachia
After a decade of ministry on the West Coast, Erin’s desire to be closer to family led us into a year of prayer and discernment. By the end, we sensed a clear call—out of Los Angeles and toward Asheville, a city we had grown to love and just an hour from her family. Rather than join an existing ministry, we felt led to plant something new. Over six months, we brought this calling to mentors, spiritual directors, and the pastors of Collective Church, engaging in communal discernment and completing two church planting assessments. Only after their affirmation and the sending partnership of Collective did we step out. In July 2024, we relocated to Asheville for a year of listening, embedding, and preparation. Over these twelve months, our vision has been refined by the unique rhythms of this city, affirmed by neighbors both Christian and not, and confirmed again and again as we discover God already at work ahead of us.
References
LORENZO SMITH
Lead Pastor,
Collective Church
“We hired Ryan as our teaching pastor six months before COVID hit. Being in the trenches with him during that chaotic ministry season revealed much about how God had shaped him and prepared him for ministry. Over the five years we worked together, I witnessed Ryan approaching challenges with tenacity and dedication, and he was always deeply thoughtful about the theological content he preached, demonstrating a willingness to tackle difficult topics and faithfully proclaim God’s Word.”
BRYAN ROBBINS
Lead Pastor,
Steadfast Church
“I have known Ryan since 2017, but over the past 18 months I’ve had the joy of walking more closely with him as he prepares to plant Alabaster Church in Asheville. Ryan is a thoughtful leader, a faithful husband and father, and a humble disciple of Jesus. He listens well, loves deeply, and leads with both conviction and compassion. It has been a joy to watch God clarify his calling and sharpen his gifts as he’s served within Steadfast Church. I believe Alabaster will be a faithful and compelling expression of the gospel in one of the most spiritually diverse and creatively vibrant cities in the Southeast. I’m thrilled to support him and eager to see the fruit of this new work.”
GERRY BRESHEARS
Professor of Theology,
Western Seminary
“I have had the privilege of knowing Ryan Smith for nearly a decade—as professor, mentor, and friend. I have shared life with him in his home and church, and watched his journey from administrative assistant to Spirit-empowered pastor. At Collective, Ryan served with humility and skill—equipping leaders, shepherding the church, and preparing them well for his sending to North Carolina to plant in Asheville. He is a devoted husband and father, an outstanding preacher and teacher, a gifted team builder, and a caring pastor. I am eager to see how God will use him in this next season of ministry.”
Our City
“Asheville is a cultural mecca of independent breweries, art studios, and five-star restaurants… the perks of civilization amid remote natural beauty,” writes U.S. News, which recently ranked it among the top ten U.S. cities for quality of life. Nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains, Asheville had the second-highest net move-in rate in the nation in 2024, drawing creatives, remote workers, entrepreneurs, and spiritual seekers in search of beauty, pace, and purpose. With just over 100,000 residents and a metro nearing 400,000, it is progressive, idealistic, and independent at its core.
Tourism drives nearly $3 billion annually and drew 13 million visitors in 2023, but it also brings strain. Asheville now has the highest cost of living in North Carolina, with housing prices pushed up by short-term rentals and long-time residents displaced. Hurricane Helene in 2024 exposed just how fragile this ecosystem is—forcing the question across neighborhoods and council chambers alike: What kind of city will Asheville become, not only economically, but communally and culturally?
Though it sits in “Billy Graham’s backyard” and Haywood Avenue was once hailed as having “more churches per mile” than any street in America, Asheville today is profoundly post-Christian. Most carry church in their rearview mirror, often as an experience of control or hypocrisy. The city’s “Sodom of the South” reputation underscores its rejection of conservative religious norms, yet Asheville is deeply spiritual—what sociologists call post-secular: dismissing religion while hungering for transcendence. Tarot, yoga, energy work, and neo-pagan practices mark its search for meaning beyond institutional faith.
This spiritual ferment sits inside sharp cultural divides. Asheville is one of North Carolina’s whitest cities, increasingly gentrified, and surrounded by deeply conservative counties—a pressure cooker of progressive ideals and polarized politics. In this landscape, the church is often seen as partisan or irrelevant. Any new church must walk a narrow road: bold enough to speak truth, humble enough to listen, and rooted enough to hold people together.
In the past decade, more than two dozen church plants have failed here, giving rise to the refrain: “Asheville is where church plants go to die.” Yet we believe the difficulty of the soil is the very reason for hope. Hard soil makes for an honest harvest. We long to learn from past attempts while prayerfully contending for a fresh work of God in this city.
Our Vision
TO SEE A CITY OF SPIRITUAL SEEKERS BECOME A FAMILY OF SPIRIT-FILLED SAINTS
In Asheville, spiritual seeking takes many forms—some mystical, some more pragmatic–whether crystals or tarot, therapy or wellness, career or activism, parenting or politics—all signs of a deeper longing for meaning and belonging. Yet for many, the Church feels like the last place to look—archaic, harmful, or hypocritical. We believe the way to reach further into a city of seekers is by calling deeper into life with Jesus: a Spirit-made family where seekers find welcome, saints are apprenticed in everyday discipleship, and God’s presence renews lives. We trust the slow, beautiful work of discipleship—ordinary lives poured out in costly love, so that Asheville might experience Jesus and his Kingdom as the answer to their seeking.
Our Mission
FOLLOWING JESUS
The heart of Christianity is discipleship—a whole-life apprenticeship to Jesus. At Alabaster, we follow him as the Way, the Truth, and the Life: practicing his way together, rooting ourselves in his truth, and living by his Spirit-empowered life. In this, the gospel not only saves us but shapes us, transforming every part of our lives by his presence, story, and power.
AS A FAMILY
The New Testament most often calls Jesus’ followers brothers and sisters, showing that the church is a Spirit-formed family. At Alabaster, we long to be a healthy family that shares life together with honesty and care, a joyful family that blesses, eats, and celebrates around the table, and a growing family that multiplies through hospitality and welcome. Together, in pace and place, we follow Jesus as a family.
FOR ASHEVILLE
To be for Asheville means living out the gospel in every dimension of our city. Physically, we serve our neighbors with compassion and practice faithful stewardship. Culturally, we celebrate and contribute to the beauty, art, and creativity that make Asheville unique. Spiritually, we invite people into the life of Jesus through authentic relationships, courageous witness, and Spirit-empowered presence.
Our Values
Inspired by our “Alabaster” namesake – the story of the woman with the alabaster jar in the gospels – these are the culture-shaping commitments that define both what we mean by “saint” and how we follow Jesus as a family for Asheville. They guide how we live, lead, and love— they’re the values we’re called to embody.
01 SACRIFICAL WORSHIP
Worship means offering our first and finest—our time, energy, resources, attention, and songs — as a response to Jesus’ worth. Like the costly offering of the alabaster jar, we take our everyday, ordinary lives—our sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering.
02 RADICAL HOSPITALITY
Like the woman who contrasted Simon’s bare minimum with extravagant welcome, we offer more than polite gestures. For Jesus, for the outsider, and for one another, we welcome with joy and excess—curating spaces of belonging and care where grace surprises and the Spirit is truly invited. Hospitality is how we embody the gospel together.
03 PROPHETIC DISCERNMENT
Like Mary, we want to act in step with what Jesus is already doing—not rushing, reacting, or copying trends, but listening carefully and responding with prayerful awareness. Spirit-guided wisdom is our pace.
04 COURAGEOUS PRESENCE
Like Mary, we risk being misunderstood and let Jesus defend us. We stay present when it’s hard. We name reality, offer compassion, and speak truth in love.
05 QUIET MISSION
We believe quiet faithfulness speaks loudest. Like Mary, who said nothing but poured everything out, Jesus declared her act would echo wherever the gospel goes. In the same way, we trust that humble, slow faithfulness can shape generations and mission-focused isn’t the same as mission-frantic.
Our Partners
Church planting is never a solo endeavor. The most sustainable efforts are carried by three communities: family and friends, local churches, and a wider denominational or relational network. We’re grateful to see that pattern already shaping Alabaster, as each of these groups actively partners with us to plant and establish this new community. In line with our commitment to shared leadership, we are also raising up voices from within our core to serve alongside our advisory team—so that from the beginning, Alabaster is led with humility, accountability, and plurality.
Collective Church
Sending Church
Los Angeles, CA
Steadfast Church
Incubating Church
Asheville, NC
Mission Church
Morganton, NC
Living Stones Churches
Reno & Sparks, NV
City Parish Church
Petaluma, CA
Leaders Collective
Church Planting Cohort
Our Strategy
After a year of embedding, listening, and learning, we will plant Alabaster by establishing a core membership shaped by shared rhythms of worship, hospitality, and formation. These rhythms will grow and evolve, but we’ll move at the pace of the Spirit—measuring progress by milestones, not timelines.
Discernment Phase
We’ll begin by hosting Interest Dinners to share the vision and mission of Alabaster and invite others into a discernment process. Those sensing a call to join the core team can take a next step by identifying themselves for a follow-up interview.
Core Group Phase
This season is focused on forming our first members through a simple Sunday evening rhythm. We’ll gather for Vision & Mission Nights (2–3x/month) to explore Alabaster’s theology and values, with make-up options available. Once a month, Family Night offers space to build friendship over shared meals in homes or parks. And each month, we’ll hold a Prayer Night to seek the Spirit’s guidance together—for one another, our city, and the church we’re becoming.
Public Planting Phase
As Alabaster moves from core formation into public expression, our rhythms will grow to reflect the life of a maturing church. We’ll gather weekly for Sunday worship as our anchor of Spirit-filled formation, continue Monthly Prayer Nights for intercession and discernment, and meet weekly in Discipleship Cohorts of 2–4 for prayer, Scripture, and deep formation. Twice a month, Family Dinners in homes will build community and be supported by emerging teams for Care, Connection, and Coordination. We’ll also host Events and Classes as needed—book clubs, retreats, and discipleship intensives—and offer Monthly Membership Classes as an ongoing invitation for new people to enter the life of the community.
Our Ask
01 PRAYER
More than anything, we need intercessors. Pray for revival in Asheville, protection and direction for our leaders, and the Spirit’s presence to shape every part of Alabaster.
02 PARTNERSHIP
We’re eager to learn from and walk alongside pastors and churches who’ve gone before us. Your wisdom and encouragement are part of what will sustain this work.
To move forward wisely and sustainably, we’re aiming to raise $1,000,000 over five years through a mix of monthly and one-time gifts. So far, we’ve secured $230,000 in pledges and $40,000 in early support, leaving $730,000 still to raise—or roughly $200,000 per year. Our plan follows an intentional path: as internal giving steadily increases, external support will decrease year by year until Alabaster is fully self-sustaining by 2030.
04 JOIN US
Some are called not just to send, but to go. We’re praying for people who will plant roots in Asheville—who will serve, love, and help build something lasting.
*All donations are tax deductible