Who We Are – What We Believe

  • The Bible is the Word of God; fully inspired and without error. It is the supreme and final authority for all matters of Christian life and belief.
 
  • There is one true and living God, who eternally exists in three persons—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—who are equal in every divine perfection and who execute distinct but harmonious offices in all the work of the Godhead.
 
  • Man was created by God in His own image, but, through his sin, incurred physical and spiritual death. As a result, all people are separated from God by their sin, lost, and without hope apart from salvation in Christ.
 
  • The Gospel is the good news of God’s saving actions towards sinners through Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ, the eternal son of God, took on human nature, lived a sinless life, and died a substitutionary death for sinners.
 
  • Salvation is a free gift that comes only by God’s grace, through faith in Jesus Christ. Anyone who turns from their sin and trusts in Jesus Christ and His death on their behalf receives forgiveness of sins and the gift of eternal life 
  • The Holy Spirit works progressively to transform genuine believers more and more into the image of Christ. His work is carried on in our hearts through such appointed means as the study of Scripture, prayer, worship, and fellowship with other believers. The Holy Spirit empowers believers for Christian witness and service. He also gives gifts for the building up of the body of Christ, the church.
 
  • The universal Church, composed of genuine followers of Christ, exists to worship, serve, and glorify God. All members of the universal Church are to be vitally committed members of a local church, where they receive pastoral care and the opportunity to employ their God-given gifts in His service
 
  • Jesus Christ will return to the earth, personally and visibly, to establish His kingdom. We believe in the bodily resurrection of both the saved and the lost—the saved to endless joy, living and reigning with Christ, and the lost to endless punishment away from the benevolent presence of God.


Is Your Church Healthy?

Many of today’s church leaders flock to church growth seminars. I believe that it would be wiser to concentrate on church health and here’s why:


Devoting Themselves To Prayer

This is a true story of when I was in the Army:    In the summer of 1973, it was almost dusk on a deserted country road in Germany.  After several failed hitch-hike attempts to return to our base before curfew, my buddies and I were becoming rather nervous about getting in trouble . . .


Keep Your Focus On Jesus This Christmas

I heard a story about a woman who was doing her last-minute Christmas shopping at a crowded mall. She was tired of fighting the crowds. She was tired of standing in lines. She was tired of fighting her . . .


A Thankful Heart

While we certainly have much to be thankful for, I am often amazed at the general lack of gratitude in our culture. So, instead of spouting off about the widespread


A Grateful Heart

A Grateful Heart:
A Steve’s Blog Classic
Originally Posted on 6/17/11
 

I will always remember the day my brother and I became men. Paul was about 10 years old and I was 12. We were playing in the front yard on a typically beautiful Saturday morning at the house where we lived in Santa Barbara. My dad was working in the garage with his new radial arm saw from Sears when all of a sudden there came a heart stopping, thunderous cry of “ahhhh”. . .  Read more…



Don’t Look Back

doty-no-u-turn

I love this picture of my friends Russ and Mary Doty. I took this photo on the Golden Gate Bridge and I noticed the sign in the background, so I made sure it got in the shot as well. You see . . . when this was taken, Russ and Mary had just . . .


It Takes A Village To Make A Disciple

 
A body reproduces a body.

A hand does not reproduce a body. Neither does an eye or a foot reproduce a body.

A healthy local church

made of healthy believers

reproduces healthy Christ followers. Read more…



What? Me Worry?

Too much stress is not a good thing.  What do you think about most?  What might you worry about … Read more…



Hell Hole Singing

The faint sounds of singing resonate through the pitch black night as you stoop down low and feel your way through roughly chiseled solid rock tunnels.  The air is heavy, damp, and overflowing with the stench of human misery, open sewage, and death.  Read more…