Core Convictions

It's Not About Me

What would happen if everyone lived by this one principle? It would completely change marriages, workplaces, communities, cities. It would change Monday morning traffic! Jesus was the only person that ever lived that had the right to make the world about Him, and yet He came to serve (Mark 10:45). We believe as Jesus changes our lives, He’ll give us more of His heart to serve others.

It's Not Ok to Stay Not Ok

It’s ok to not be ok. No baggage, background, sin, habit, hang-up or circumstance can keep you from the love of Jesus. But He also loves you enough to not let you stay that way. As His followers we are certainly not perfect but we are on a steady and consistent journey to be changed to become more like Him.

It's Impossible To Do Alone

There’s no such thing as a Lone Ranger Christian. Just like you need a spotter in a gym in order to max out, we need people surrounding us and encouraging us so we can maximize the life Jesus has for us. If Jesus did life and ministry with people it’s impossible for us to try to go at it alone.

It's Not Mine

Everything we have in our possession was given to us by God. We’re not owners of anything. How do we know that? What do you get to take with you to your grave? Nothing. So while we’re alive, we’ve been called to manage God’s resources well.

It's Too Good to Keep Silent

When you get a good deal you tell all your friends. When you eat at a good restaurant or see a good movie you do the same. Jesus is the best deal going! When he changes your life, it’s impossible to keep silent! We have to tell someone and invite them to join the party!

Our Beliefs

God

God is the ultimate creator being. Everything in the universe exists because of and is sustained by Him. He knows everything, sees everything, is everywhere at the same time, is dependent on nothing and no one, and exists completely outside of the limits of time. He exists in 3 equally divine, mutually submissive, persons called the Trinity - the Father, the Son (Jesus Christ), and the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit is given to those who receive Christ as their Savior. He is a person of the Trinity that exists to draw unbelievers to Christ and help those who are believers of Christ, either by conviction of wrong or encouragement in right. The Holy Spirit speaks to the believer in many different ways, but He is most often sensed through a nudge of the heart or conscience. He also equips believers for their role in the advancement of the Church.

Jesus Christ

Jesus is one of the persons of God in the Trinity. He is fully God and at the same time became fully man, leaving His place at the right hand of God and coming to earth as a baby in a specific time period in history. He grew to be a man and lived a sinless life. He spent 3 years doing public ministry where He proclaimed the coming of God's Kingdom by teaching, healing the blind, lame, deaf, and sick as well as performing other miracles to prove his authority over everything. His ultimate mission in the world was to bridge the gap between God and man. He fulfilled this mission by suffering and dying on the cross as the substitute to the punishment that man deserved to endure. This satisfies God's wrath for those who receive and submit to Christ as their Savior and Lord. After 3 days of being completely dead, Jesus defeated death and sin by being raised back to life and appearing to many witnesses on earth before returning back to Heaven with God the Father. He is the only mediator by which man can be saved and have a right relationship with God.

Man

Man was created by God for God's pleasure and placed on earth to steward it's resources. Man's ultimate purpose in life is to please God . Man receives the fullness of Joy when his life is given to the Glory of God. Although man was created in God's perfect image, beginning with the first man - Adam - and despite the enormous amount of protection and provision given to him by God, he chose to rebel against the commands of God. This severed the relationship between man and God resulting in sin entering into the world and mortality for man.

Eternity

Everyone spends eternity somewhere. Death for man is just an open door into eternity. Those who have been reconciled back to God by receiving Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord will spend eternity in a very real place called Heaven. Heaven is a place with no sin and is filled with all of God's splendor. Those who refuse God on earth, either passively or actively, will spend eternity in a very real place called Hell. Hell is completely void of God. The Bible explains Hell as a place of eternal suffering, torment, shame, guilt, and pain. Hell is the result of God's wrath that, because of His perfection, cannot co-exist with sin.

Baptism

Baptism is an outward, physical symbol of an inward, spiritual transformation that has taken place in someone's life. The Bible instructs that Baptism is only necessary once and is the first step for a believer after Salvation. The Bible also gives no example of Baptism being anything other than by being fully immersed into water and brought back up, therefore this Church will practice believer baptism by immersion. Jesus also demonstrated and instructed this.

Salvation

Salvation from sin and God's wrath cannot be achieved or earned by man's "good works." Good doesn't look so good in the light of a perfect God. Therefore salvation can only be received, as the Bible says, by grace through faith. It is by God's grace (giving man something he doesn't deserve) that He sent his son, Jesus, to die for man to mend the relationship between God and man. Those who submit to Jesus as their Savior and Lord and believe that God raised Him from the dead will be saved.

The Bible

The Bible is God's actual word to man and the ultimate authority on truth. It was written with no errors and no faults by imperfect men under the inspiration and guidance of the Holy Spirit. The Bible consists of 66 books in what is called the Canon - the books that over time have been tested and approved to be the books that God wants his people to have as His Word to them. The Bible tells the story of God and man and how God reconciled man back to Him through His son Jesus (see beliefs on God, Man, Jesus Christ, and Salvation).

The Church

The Church is the only thing Jesus left behind for us. It is not a building or a service, rather a group of people who have professed Christ as their Savior and Lord. He established the Church as his "bride" and the way by which God will spread the message of Jesus Christ and reconciliation. God promises that he will build and sustain His church through Godly men and women. The church will always remain no matter what other institutions, empires, or kingdoms fall throughout history.