Our Story
A Coffee Shop with a Higher Purpose.
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Welcome to Renew.
We're Will and Kari Ritter and we would like to thank you for taking the time to learn more about us. Renew is the result of a vision to see our community transformed. We desire that this transformation is deep, wide, and lasting. We function out of the belief that true transformation, both in the community and within ourselves, can only be accomplished through the power of Jesus. Yes, that's right, we are Christians, and Renew is a conduit of the love of God.
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Our Story:
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The Vision for Renew started long ago, around 2011, when Will and Kari Ritter felt God calling them to plant a church (whatever that was!) in Jerome, the community in which they lived, but never spent any time in. Will was currently in seminary and the Ritter’s were active in the Church community they were part of in Twin Falls. After much prayer and dreaming, Will and Kari were “sent out” with the Church’s blessing to live into this dream of church planting.
Over the course of the next 6 months, the Ritter’s entered into a time we fondly refer to as “the desert”. As it turns out, our call into church planting needed some refining and partnership with the greater Church in Jerome. Will and Kari eventually came into partnership with First Presbyterian Church-Jerome where they were encouraged and equipped to have a realistic pathway to church planting which included a rigorous assessment process as well as valuable training and proper expectations.
Will finished up Seminary, fell in love with Covenant theology, and was ordained into the Covenant Order of Evangelical Presbyterians (ECO). The Ritter family enjoyed a time of healthy church community and encouragement until God began to reveal the initial vision for what would become “Renew”.
The greater Church in Jerome was invigorated with the idea of Renew. Individual churches all over the community, and all over the country, sent resources and prayer that enabled the vision to become reality.
The following local churches sowed into making God’s vision for a missional outpost in downtown Jerome a reality.
First Presbyterian Church of Jerome
Calvary Chapel of Jerome
Believers Church of Jerome
First Methodist Church of Jerome
St, Paul’s Lutheran Church of Jerome
First Baptist Church of Jerome
We thank them and many, many individual volunteers and donors for turning a dream into a reality.
About Will and Kari
Will and Kari Ritter met on their first day at Boise State University in the fall of 1999. While Kari grew up in a family of faith, Will was not a believer at the time. God began a great work in their lives and continues to display His faithfulness to the Ritter family each and every day. They enjoy life in rural Idaho with their four children. They share a great love for Jesus, a passion for the Gospel, and a deep burden for the hurting and unreached people in the Magic Valley. It is because of this love for Jesus and the community that they are passionate about renewing life in Jerome & creating new ways to reach out to others.
About First Presbyterian Church-Jerome
Will and Kari are not alone in planting RENEW. FPCJ is the essencial partner and are excited to be a part of proclaiming the Gospel in Jerome. FPCJ has been in existance for almost 100 years and is committed to becoming a "sending" church that plants new churches.
To learn more about First Presbyterian Church- Jerome go to:
About ECO:
The Covenant Order of Evangelical Presbyterians is committed to "building flourishing churches that make disciples of Jesus Christ."
Renew part of this movement and are proud to be partners in proclaiming the Gospel in a lost and dying world.
For more information about ECO go to: