Statement of Faith

My Personal Statement of Faith

 I believe that all of Scripture is inspired by God and has been kept by Him to be inerrant and infallible.

I believe in One God – eternally existent in Three Persons – Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

I believe in the deity of Jesus Christ, along with His perfect, sinless humanity; He is one Person with two natures – fully God and fully Man.

I believe that man is totally depraved and can do nothing to save himself from an eternity spent in hell, unless he responds to the conviction of his sin from the Holy Spirit with his free will to the grace and faith given to him through the saving power of Jesus Christ.

I believe that God created all that exists and that He did so personally and directly – without any evolution.

I believe that the Holy Spirit is God, and that in addition to all of the attributes ascribed to Him in Scripture, He baptizes believers with power so that we can minister to one another and to the lost through His power.

I believe that the gifts of the Holy Spirit are essential for today, but that they must be operated decently and in order (1 Cor. 14:40), without hype or showmanship.

I believe that all who refuse God’s gracious offer of forgiveness of sins through Jesus Christ will spend eternity in hell in real, agonizing torment, and without any possibility of escaping hell.

I believe in the personal, visible return of Jesus Christ to this earth to rule and reign -- along with His Church -- in complete justice, peace, and righteousness for 1,000 years.  After that comes the Eternal State – the New Heaven and the New Earth.

I believe in the physical resurrection of all believers to life everlasting in a real heaven.

I believe in two sacraments or ordinances of the Church: Communion and water baptism by immersion – both powerful symbols of our union and identification with Jesus in His death, burial, and resurrection.

I believe that my responsibility as a minister of the gospel is to live before God and man in Christ-likeness – seen especially in the fruit of the Spirit – and that the way to live this out is through a consistent devotional life of God’s Word, prayer, worship, fellowship and accountability.

I believe it is paramount for me to teach sound doctrine, to mentor believers and to equip the saints for the work of service -- including evangelism.

My approach to ministry is to heed the statement attributed to Augustine: “In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things, charity.”