Church
Church Staff
Pastor Mike
Michael is a veteran of the US Air Force, where he served for over 12 years. He received his theological training at Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, KY, earning a Master of Divinity in 2016. Michael is passionate about the empowered church of our Lord Jesus and advancing the Kingdom of God. He is married to his wife, April, and they are proud parents to 2 grown sons, Brett and Blake.
Statement of Faith
WE BELIEVE that God is the Eternal King. He is an infinite, unchangeable Spirit, perfect in holiness, wisdom, goodness, justice, power, and love. For all eternity, He exists as the One Living and True God in three persons of one substance: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, which are equal in power and glory.
WE BELIEVE that, in the fullness of time, God honored His covenants with Israel and His prophetic promises of salvation by sending His only Son, Jesus, into the world. Conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary as fully God and fully man in one person, He is humanity as God intended us to be. Jesus was anointed as God’s Messiah and empowered by the Holy Spirit, inaugurating God’s Kingdom reign on earth, overpowering the reign of Satan by resisting temptation, preaching the good news of salvation, healing the sick, casting out demons, and raising the dead. Gathering His disciples, He reconstituted God’s people as His dying for the sins of the world. Jesus was raised from the dead on the third day, fulfilling the covenant of blessing given to Abraham. In His sinless, perfect life, Jesus met the demands of the law, and in His atoning death on the cross, He took God’s judgment for the sin that we deserve as lawbreakers. By His death on the cross, He also disarmed the demonic powers. His death on the cross also opened up healing as part of the Gospel to be preached.
WE BELIEVE that the Holy Spirit inspired the human authors of the Holy Scripture so that the Bible is “God-breathed.” We receive the 66 books of the Old and New Testaments as our final, absolute authority, the only infallible rule of faith and practice.
WE BELIEVE that Jesus Christ committed two ordinances to the church: water baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Both are available to all believers. We recognize that grace is also conveyed through the preaching and study of the Word of God, the Bible.
WE BELIEVE that the Holy Spirit was poured out on the church on the evening of the resurrection when Jesus breathed upon His disciples and told them to receive the Holy Spirit. This was the experience of receiving the indwelling Spirit bringing “Zoe,” or life, to them. The baptism of repentance is when this is continued in the history of the church. This is the one baptism referred to in 1 Corinthians 12:13: baptizing believers into the Body of Christ. These disciples and others would later receive the “Promise of the Father”: the mighty baptism with the Holy Spirit when He would come upon (“epi”) them. This was the experience of the disciples (who had earlier received the Spirit when Jesus breathed upon them and said, “Receive the Spirit“) on the Day of Pentecost. Whereas the receiving of the Spirit on the evening of the resurrection was for life, at Pentecost, the Spirit came upon them in power and released the gifts of the Spirit to them. The Holy Spirit brings the permanent indwelling presence of God to us for spiritual worship, personal sanctification, building up the church, gifting us for ministry, and driving back the kingdom of Satan by the evangelization of the world through proclaiming the Word of Jesus and doing the works of Jesus.
WE BELIEVE that the Holy Spirit indwells every believer in Jesus Christ and that He is our abiding Helper, Teacher, and Guide. We believe Jesus is the one who baptizes us in the Holy Spirit, as a conscious experience, for ministry today. We believe that this baptism in the Spirit is almost always subsequent to conversion and that, on very rare occasions, it comes at the time of conversion. Even with this observation, it is difficult to know if it was truly simultaneous or occurred a few seconds after conversion. We believe the Biblical pattern is for this experience to be subsequent, though there was even an instance in the Bible when it wasn’t (the experience of Cornelius in Acts 10, in light of Acts 11:14, “He will bring you a message through which you and all your household will be saved”).
WE BELIEVE in the present ministry of the Spirit and in the exercise of all Biblical gifts of the Spirit. We practice the laying on of hands for the empowering of the Spirit, for healing, for impartations of gifts of the Holy Spirit, and for recognition and empowering of those whom God has ordained to lead and serve the church. We also recognize that another of the two ways that God empowers people recorded in the Bible is through individual or corporate prayer and waiting upon God, and, in this latter scenario, there is no laying on of hands. We value both of these ways of receiving impartations and empowering experiences from God.
WE BELIEVE that God’s Kingdom has come in the ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ, that it continues to come in the ministry of the Holy Spirit through the church, and that it will be consummated in the glorious, visible, and triumphant appearing of Christ: His return to the earth as King. After Christ returns to reign, He will bring about the final defeat of Satan and all of his minions and works, the resurrection of the dead, the final judgment and eternal conscious punishment of the wicked, and the eternal blessing of the righteous. Finally, God will be all in all in His new heavens and new earth, recreated by His mighty power, in which righteousness dwells and in which He will forever be worshiped.
WE BELIEVE that, in the fullness of time, God honored His covenants with Israel and His prophetic promises of salvation by sending His only Son, Jesus, into the world. Conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary as fully God and fully man in one person, He is humanity as God intended us to be. Jesus was anointed as God’s Messiah and empowered by the Holy Spirit, inaugurating God’s Kingdom reign on earth, overpowering the reign of Satan by resisting temptation, preaching the good news of salvation, healing the sick, casting out demons, and raising the dead. Gathering His disciples, He reconstituted God’s people as His dying for the sins of the world. Jesus was raised from the dead on the third day, fulfilling the covenant of blessing given to Abraham. In His sinless, perfect life, Jesus met the demands of the law, and in His atoning death on the cross, He took God’s judgment for the sin that we deserve as lawbreakers. By His death on the cross, He also disarmed the demonic powers. His death on the cross also opened up healing as part of the Gospel to be preached.
WE BELIEVE that the Holy Spirit inspired the human authors of the Holy Scripture so that the Bible is “God-breathed.” We receive the 66 books of the Old and New Testaments as our final, absolute authority, the only infallible rule of faith and practice.
WE BELIEVE that Jesus Christ committed two ordinances to the church: water baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Both are available to all believers. We recognize that grace is also conveyed through the preaching and study of the Word of God, the Bible.
WE BELIEVE that the Holy Spirit was poured out on the church on the evening of the resurrection when Jesus breathed upon His disciples and told them to receive the Holy Spirit. This was the experience of receiving the indwelling Spirit bringing “Zoe,” or life, to them. The baptism of repentance is when this is continued in the history of the church. This is the one baptism referred to in 1 Corinthians 12:13: baptizing believers into the Body of Christ. These disciples and others would later receive the “Promise of the Father”: the mighty baptism with the Holy Spirit when He would come upon (“epi”) them. This was the experience of the disciples (who had earlier received the Spirit when Jesus breathed upon them and said, “Receive the Spirit“) on the Day of Pentecost. Whereas the receiving of the Spirit on the evening of the resurrection was for life, at Pentecost, the Spirit came upon them in power and released the gifts of the Spirit to them. The Holy Spirit brings the permanent indwelling presence of God to us for spiritual worship, personal sanctification, building up the church, gifting us for ministry, and driving back the kingdom of Satan by the evangelization of the world through proclaiming the Word of Jesus and doing the works of Jesus.
WE BELIEVE that the Holy Spirit indwells every believer in Jesus Christ and that He is our abiding Helper, Teacher, and Guide. We believe Jesus is the one who baptizes us in the Holy Spirit, as a conscious experience, for ministry today. We believe that this baptism in the Spirit is almost always subsequent to conversion and that, on very rare occasions, it comes at the time of conversion. Even with this observation, it is difficult to know if it was truly simultaneous or occurred a few seconds after conversion. We believe the Biblical pattern is for this experience to be subsequent, though there was even an instance in the Bible when it wasn’t (the experience of Cornelius in Acts 10, in light of Acts 11:14, “He will bring you a message through which you and all your household will be saved”).
WE BELIEVE in the present ministry of the Spirit and in the exercise of all Biblical gifts of the Spirit. We practice the laying on of hands for the empowering of the Spirit, for healing, for impartations of gifts of the Holy Spirit, and for recognition and empowering of those whom God has ordained to lead and serve the church. We also recognize that another of the two ways that God empowers people recorded in the Bible is through individual or corporate prayer and waiting upon God, and, in this latter scenario, there is no laying on of hands. We value both of these ways of receiving impartations and empowering experiences from God.
WE BELIEVE that God’s Kingdom has come in the ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ, that it continues to come in the ministry of the Holy Spirit through the church, and that it will be consummated in the glorious, visible, and triumphant appearing of Christ: His return to the earth as King. After Christ returns to reign, He will bring about the final defeat of Satan and all of his minions and works, the resurrection of the dead, the final judgment and eternal conscious punishment of the wicked, and the eternal blessing of the righteous. Finally, God will be all in all in His new heavens and new earth, recreated by His mighty power, in which righteousness dwells and in which He will forever be worshiped.