Excellence in Athletics, Leadership & Service

Andy Rittenhouse arrived at HCBA in 1981 as a sophomore during a difficult season following his parents’ divorce. President Hubert Smothers raised scholarship funds that enabled Andy and his siblings, Chad and Angel, to attend. They contributed to their own support through the school’s work-study program. The school and families who welcomed them provided care and stability that Andy credits with changing the course of their lives.

Andy played basketball and football at HCBA, serving as co-captain of teams in both sports. In 1981–1982, he earned All-Conference honors in football and basketball, leading the team to the East Tennessee Independent Conference Championship. He was named First Team All-State as a linebacker. The student body elected him Student Government Association President. Andy graduated as Valedictorian of the Class of 1984.

At Tennessee Technological University in Cookeville the following year, he played defensive tackle for the Golden Eagles, lettered three years, and earned Division I First-Team Academic All-American honors in 1986. At the time, TTU was in NCAA Division I-AA, later the FCS, as part of the mid-major Ohio Valley Conference. Andy earned the B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Tech in 1989.

As an engineer, Andy and his wife, Paige, an industrial engineer, both subsequently worked for Martin Marietta Energy Systems at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and later at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California. His engineering work focused on using lasers to enrich uranium.

Coinciding with his engineering work, Andy’s volunteer service with Prison Fellowship led him to pursue seminary training and a career in ministry. In 2000, Andy earned the Master of Divinity in Urban Church Planting from Columbia International University. Later, he served on the planting team for Two Rivers Church in Knoxville. Andy’s ministry has focused on helping churches work together for the good of their communities.

As the founder of Compassion Coalition in 2000 and as its Executive Director until 2007, Andy helped build a network of 75 churches, unite pastors, and equip congregations to address local needs. He helped produce three Salt and Light Guidebooks, citywide research and mobilization guides designed to help Christians understand and bless their cities. During that time, the Rittenhouses relocated to the Mechanicsville neighborhood in Knoxville, where he and Paige raised five of their sons while engaging firsthand in urban ministry. That commitment eventually helped lead First Baptist Concord, where Andy later served as Outreach Pastor, to establish a long-term ministry presence in Mechanicsville. In 2012, Christianity Today featured Compassion Coalition and its city renewal work in Knoxville.

While serving at First Baptist Church, Concord, Andy initiated efforts among surrounding nonprofit organizations to address child trafficking and refugee resettlement. In 2017, he founded Vital Families, a Knoxville nonprofit purposed to empower families to love deeply, build leaders, and strengthen communities. Now renamed Flourish Lab, the organization is developing training to help churches form people who bring flourishing to their communities through prayer, formation, and hopeful action.

Andy also co-founded Team Behind the Team, an organization that provides faith-based mentoring to public high school football players.

Andy and Paige have been married for 37 years. They have seven children, six sons and one daughter, and four grandchildren. They reside in Lenoir City, Tennessee. Andy is a TKA Prayer Partner and faithful financial supporter. His brother, Dr. Chad Rittenhouse (’85), has served as an academy trustee and is Missions and Education Pastor of Beech Grove Baptist Church in Louisville, Tennessee. Their sister, Angel, graduated in 1983 and resides in Knoxville.