Our Motives

Jesus is not only first in the line of priorities for us as church, but he is the foundation of our church (Matthew 6:33). As a matter of fact, to know Jesus is to have life to its fullest potential (John 10:10). We believe that when someone makes Jesus the hub of their life, it transforms every aspect of their life. This discovery means that we should view everything through the lens of Jesus and his gospel. Every time we open the Bible, we will connect it to Jesus. Jesus transforms us forever at conversion, but he never stops changing us until we are with him in heaven. Everything breaks down if this motive is missing in anything we do as a church.

For better or worse, a person’s family of origin is the most significant influence in their life. That’s because God’s original plan for discipleship is through the family (Deut. 6:4-9). That means we will put a large portion of our resources into marriage ministry, kids’ ministry, and student ministry, emphasizing partnering with and equipping families to center their homes on Jesus. We believe healthy marriages and strong parenting are the building blocks of a healthy church. Everyone should understand that your family is your greatest gospel responsibility, and your family could be the greatest avenue to connect the gospel to others.

We were not meant to go through life alone. From the beginning, God has existed in community, three persons in one God (Genesis 1:26, Matthew 3:16-17), and desires the same for us. Relationship with other Christians pushes us to become stronger in our faith (Proverbs 27:17, Hebrews 10:24-25). If you are trying to follow Jesus alone, you are depriving yourself of the essential spiritual oxygen you need to live as a Christian. We feel that if you build trust with other Christians, you can be transparent with them about your shortcomings and be challenged with the truth. We also believe when Christians live in dependent community, it has the power to bring more people to Jesus (Acts 2:42-47).

One of the marks of the early church is their willingness to sacrifice for each other (Acts 2:45). They lived as if nothing they had belonged to them, but they always looked for ways to give to others. At this church, we want to develop a culture where everyone is open-handed and generous with their time, talents, and treasure. We desire to see our congregation viewing their home, neighborhood, workplace, and everyday life as a mission field to display the sacrificial love of Jesus. To accomplish this, we will ask all people to discover their God-given gifts and use them to serve the church and the community to advance the gospel (Ephesians 2:10).

As followers of Jesus, we are called to a life of integrity, not because Jesus will somehow love us more, but because Jesus has transformed our lives (Romans 6:1-2). Integrity means that we strive to be the same at home, school, work, and church. Integrity also means that the leadership of our church will be transparent in our communication and set the tone of integrity by being transparent with our lives, even if it hurts. The spiritual health of our people is more important than our personal reputation or the reputation of the church.

Jesus calls us to love him with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. As a result, we are compelled to put everything we have into the ministries we lead because they are an act of love for our Savior (Mark 12:30). Nothing we do is perfect, but we want to work hard to be as excellent as possible because we work for God (Colossians 3:23). A priority on excellence will be a part of our ministries’ planning, strategizing, execution, and evaluation. The gospel is our message, but we think delivering the gospel with excellence can make a big difference.