Our Purpose

Our Purpose: We celebrate others and invite them into a lifestyle of transformation through Christian trainings, seminars, workshops, and outreach.

The purpose of our programs include provoking individuals to love and good works, which demands a repentant lifestyle, a daily discipline of forgiveness, and continuing sanctification.

Repentance. We define repentance as a heartfelt sorrow for sin, a renouncing of it, and a sincere commitment toforsake it and walk in obedienceto Christ. To walk in obedience to Christ is to love God with all I am and to love my neighbor as myself, regardless of past betrayals, abuse, sins, or hurts. As defined by systematic theologian Wayne Grudem, "Repentance...is an intellectual understanding (that sin is death), and emotional approval of the teachings of Scripture regarding sin (a sorrow for sin and hatred of it), and a personal decision to turn from it (a renouncing of sin and a decision of the will to forsake it and lead a life of obedience to Christ instead)."

True repentance results in a changed life. In fact, a repentant person will begin at once to live a changed life, and we can call that changed life the fruit of repentance. Thus, repentance is something that begins in the heart and involves the whole person resulting in a decision to turn from sin.

Participants in our programs have the opportunity to realize that mere sorrow for one's actions or even deep remorse over one's actions does not constitute genuine repentance unless it is accompanied by a sincere decision to forsake the sin.

The result of such repentance is a renewal of love, vision, and life.

Norman Grubb compares the cases of David and Saul to distinguish true repentance: "Why was David's repentance acceptable to God and yet Saul's, for a much less apparently carnal sin of failing to slaughter all the Amalakites, unacceptable? The reason is plain. Both kings, when faced respectively by the accusing finger of the prophets Nathan and Samuel, admitted their guilt before God, and said, 'I have sinned' (1 Samuel 15:24 & 2 Samuel 12:13), but Saul's repentance was demonstrated to be insincere because he desired that his sin be hidden from the people (1 Samuel 11:30). Whereas, the proof of David's utter humility was that he told the whole world in Psalm 51 what a sinner he was and that his only hope was in God's mercy."

Our programs are designed to support individuals in distinguishing the difference between Godly sorrow and worldly sorrow.

Paul wrote that he rejoiced over the Corinthians "not because you were grieved, but because you were grieved into repenting…for Godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation and brings no regret, but worldly grief produces death" (2 Corinthians 7:9-10).

One of the fundamental purposes of our programs is to open up the reality of repentance as a lifestyle.

We believe that it is important to realize that faith and repentance are not confined to the beginning of the Christian life. They are rather attitudes of heart that continue throughout our lives as Christians. Jesus exhorts us to pray to God in Luke 11:4 "Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us."

Although it is true that initial saving faith and initial repentance occur only once in our lives, and when they occur they constitute true conversion, nonetheless, the heart attitudes of repentance and faith only begin at conversion. We are called by God to continue these same attitudes throughout the course of our lives. Each day demands heartfelt repentance for sins that we have committed and faith in Christ to provide for our needs and to empower us to live the Christian life.

Forgiveness. Forgiveness is the releasing of a debt that another owes you, freeing you to love others, even if they to do not love you. What binds us to others are the implicit and explicit promises that define our relationships. When those implicit or explicit promises are broken, a debt remains. Whenever we continue to hold that debt to the person's account, we suffer: we live in suspicion that others will hurt and defraud us the same way again. Our lives narrow down; possibilities for life, freedom, and joy are smashed.

As we forgive others, we also are forgiven. We are freed to see new possibilities for accomplishing our vision of the future.

In forgiveness, we reconnect ourselves to the source of life, the power of love, and hope.

Forgiveness frees us from the repetitious cycles of life and allows us to progress further into relationship with God and others. Forgiveness works into our lives the virtue of humility.

Sanctification. Sanctification is defined as "a progressive work of God and man that makes us more and more free from sin and like Christ in our actual lives" (Wayne Grudem).

Our trainings and seminars provide an opportunity for individuals to further the ongoing sanctification of the individual and the church.

Some Christians object to the idea that man has a role in his sanctification. But we believe Scripture is clear that we each have a role in the ongoing sanctifying process of our lives.

Sanctification is a joint venture between God and each of us. The roles that God plays and we play in sanctification are by no means equal, yet we cooperate with God in ways that are appropriate to our status as God's creatures. All the moral commands of the New Testament emphasize the role that we play in sanctification. If our will wasn't involved in the process, God would not have needed to command us to act in certain ways. Our role in sanctification is both a passive role in which we depend on God to sanctify us and an active one in which we strive to obey God and take steps that will further our sanctification.

Primarily, our role is passive. We are encouraged to trust God or to pray and ask that he sanctify us. Paul tells us, "Yield yourselves to God as men who have been brought from death to life" (Rom. 6:13), and he says to the Roman Church "present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God" (Romans 12:1). Paul is clear that we depend on the Holy Spirit's work to grow in sanctification, because he says, "If by the spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live" (Romans 8:13).

One of the challenges we have experienced in the Church today is the misconception that the passive role in sanctification (the idea of yielding to God and trusting him to work in us) is the only component to sanctification. Many times the idea of our active responsibility in our own sanctification is met with fear and accusation. The popular phrase "let go and let God" is given as a summary of how to live the Christian life. This is, however, a tragic distortion of the doctrine of sanctification.

Our programs teach and train individuals to take responsibility for their role in their own sanctification. Further, they are designed to provide participants with an opportunity to exercise that responsibility.

The active role which we are called to play is indicated in Romans 8:13, where Paul writes, "if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live." Here Paul acknowledges that it is "by the Spirit" that we are able to do this. But he also says we must do it! The Holy Spirit is not the one commanded to put to death the deeds of the flesh, but Christians! Similarly, Paul tells the Philippians, "Therefore my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for God is at work in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure" (Philippians 2:12-13). Paul encourages them to obey even more than they did when he was present. Only through obedience can we "work out" the further realization of the benefits of salvation in our Christian lives.