"A disciple is someone who knows and follows Jesus, is becoming like Jesus, and is committed to the mission of Jesus."
- Jim Putman

3 Key Organizational Values: (our HOW - our flavor)
*these 3 values are going to help us pursue our vision/mission - they will shape all we do.

We strive to be a church that will: Reach, Equip and Send

REACH people with Jesus
EQUIP people to know Jesus
SEND people out for Jesus

We live in a day and age where anything and everything can be sent right to us. We can log in, pay up and it shows up - we don’t even have to go. That luxury can begin to breed an internal culture of self-focus. But the life of following Jesus calls us to live with a different mindset - not one where we’re the center of attention or our focus is merely internal - but cultivating a mindset that is outward and others focused. Where we’re SENT ONE’s

We want to SEND people out for Jesus.

SEND is an important word. The word is used often throughout the New Testament. The Apostle Paul uses it as he discusses sending leaders to the early churches. He modeled it, as he lived out his early missionary journey’s taking the gospel of Jesus out from Jerusalem to the surrounded gentile world and establishing new churches. As a matter of fact, one of the very first words that came out of Jesus’ mouth after he was resurrected was SEND.

“As the Father has sent me, so send I you.” -John 20:21

Jesus said:
Matthew 28:19 – GO… and make disciples in every nation…
Acts 1:8 -- be my witnesses, to the ends of the earth…


God has given every believer, in every one of HIS churches, a mission – we’re enfolded onto His team, to go into the world and share the Good News about Jesus and love like He loves!

2 Corinthians 5:14 – says: “For the love of Christ compels us.”
God’s love for us is never fading – it stirs our love for Jesus and moves us to share His love with others.

We are compelled to share the love of Jesus with ALL, because Jesus loves us, after all.

2 Corinthians 5:14-5:20 (NLT)
"...Christ’s love controls (compels) us. Since we believe that Christ died for all, we also believe that we have all died to our old life. 15 He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them.
16 So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know him now! 17 This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!
18 And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. 19 For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. 20 So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!”

God loves PEOPLE. He cares about them - and because God cares, He sends YOU and ME to show God’s care to all we encounter.
Friends, so many people – don’t believe that God loves them or is FOR them…they believe a lie that God is AGAINST them – but the CROSS of Jesus stands as a lasting testimony to how far God went to prove his love…He is a God who is FOR people.

We need to help people encounter that truth…

We won’t change people through protests. Or arguments. Or nasty comments. We change them by love. Helping them see the truth of God’s heart, by how we live & how we love.

“Go and be my witnesses" (Acts 1:8)

Jesus’ last command needs to stay our first priority

Each of us is an ‘active agent’ for God and His good. Jesus releases his people into the world to be agents of reconciliation, ambassadors of hope, and stewards of justice.

People outside of the church are not our enemies to hate, they are our neighbors to love.

Apathy might just be a bigger problem than atheism for Christianity.

If we don’t adopt Christ’s mindset of looking outward, we’ll naturally drift inward.

The Bleachers Are The Cheap Seats
We’ve all been invited to get into the game. We are all equipped and gifted to contribute on God’s team and to His Kingdom. We’ve been recreated in Christ to fully express His hope into a world that needs it. We do that creatively and actively. Each one, in the game. We are to BE the church everyday – because a 7-day a week faith is better than a faith moment once a week. (Ephesians 2:10; 1 Corinthians 12)

Matthew 5:16
“In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.”

Wake up each day - living as a ‘sent one’!
As a church - we want to release and SEND each follower of Christ to live this way - to approach life this way.

Each follower of Jesus is to live sent as an ‘active agent’ for God and His good in this world. We’re each sent on mission to be His ambassador in how we live, speak — interact and react. We are sent locally, globally and actively - daily.