About Neighborhood Church
The Heart to Plant Neighborhood Churches
The Scriptures
We believe only the 66 books of the Bible are the inspired, and therefore inerrant, Word of God. These
books were written by divinely inspired men and are God's revelation of Himself to man. Inspiration
extends to the very words of Scripture, not just its teachings, and to everything in the Bible, not just
the portions that pertain to matters of faith and practice. The Scriptures are inerrant in the sense
that the Scriptures in the original manuscripts are true in all that they say, therefore without error.
They are necessary and clear for knowing the gospel, maintaining spiritual growth and knowing God's
will. They are sufficient for all that God requires us to believe and do and are the supreme standard by
which all human conduct, creeds, and religious opinions should be tried.
The Triune God
We believe in one God who exists eternally in three Persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. All three are
co-eternal, co-existent, and co-equal. The Father is not the Son and the Son is not the Holy Spirit, yet
each is truly God. One God - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - is the foundation of the Christian faith and
life.
God The Father
We believe God the Father is the creator of heaven and earth. By His word He freely and supernaturally
created the world out of nothing. Through the same word, He daily sustains all His creatures. He rules
over all His creation along with the flow of human history according to His good pleasure and sovereign
will. His plans and purposes cannot be thwarted. In His unfathomable grace and love, He gave His Son
Jesus Christ for mankind's redemption. His ultimate purpose in all things is His own praise and glory.
Jesus Christ
We believe Jesus is the eternal Son of God, fully God and fully Man. In His incarnation, Jesus was
conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. Although He took on human flesh He never
ceased to be fully God, lived a perfectly sinless life, and offered Himself as a penal substitutionary
sacrifice for the sins of all people by dying on a cross. He was raised from the dead three days later
in a literal physical body demonstrating His power over sin and death. He then ascended into heaven
forty days later and was seated at the Father's right hand where He now intercedes for His people and
rules as Lord over all. He will someday return in bodily form to judge the world and reign as King in a
new heaven and a new earth for all eternity.
The Holy Spirit
We believe the Holy Spirit, through the proclamation of the gospel, supernaturally convicts men of sin
and regenerates the hearts of God's people by making alive what was spiritually dead. At the point of
conversion the Holy Spirit unites the believer into the body of Christ, indwells them, and seals them
unto the day of redemption. The Spirit then fills the believer, causes him to grow in holiness, and
equips him with spiritual gifts for the building up of the body of Christ.
Man
We believe man and woman were the crown of God's good creation, being created in His own image,
originally righteous and without sin. However, because of Adam's disobedience the human race has fallen
resulting in all of mankind being born into this world absolutely depraved, corrupted with sin, and
alienated from God. Mankind therefore is subject both to imputed and inherent sin and is therefore by
nature and choice deserving of God's just wrath. Humans are unable to save themselves or contribute in
any way to their acceptance before God and are in desperate need of a Savior.
The Way of Salvation (The Gospel)
We believe that Christ's life, death, and resurrection is the good news of the gospel and provides the
way of salvation for sinful man. Christ's death is a substitutionary and propitiatory sacrifice to God
for our sins. On the cross Jesus vicariously bore the exact punishment for sins in the place of sinners
thereby satisfying the demands of God's holy justice and appeasing His holy wrath - and gloriously
demonstrating His mysterious love and amazing grace. Christ and His work on the cross alone is the basis
for our salvation.
Man's Response to the Gospel (Faith and Repentance)
We believe the proper response to the gospel is faith in the person and work of Jesus Christ - a faith
that must naturally be accompanied by repentance from sin. Biblical repentance is characterized by a
changed life and saving faith is evidenced by a life of kingdom service and good works. God alone
because of His mercy and sovereign election through the power of the Holy Spirit can awaken this
response of faith and repentance. While neither repentance nor works save, they are the evidence that
one's heart has truly been regenerated.
Man's Inheritance Through the Gospel
We believe salvation is provided by grace alone, through faith alone, because of Christ alone, for the
glory of God alone. Anyone turning from sin in repentance and relying solely upon Christ and His
substitutionary death, looking to Christ alone for their righteousness, receives the gift of eternal
life and is declared righteous by God - having the righteousness of Christ imputed to him. He is
justified and fully accepted by God. Through Christ's atonement for sin he is completely forgiven the
debt of his sin, reconciled to God as Father, and adopted as His beloved child. Once salvation is
obtained it cannot be lost. Those who are truly redeemed are kept by God's power and therefore secure in
Christ forever.
Sanctification
We believe sanctification is a progressive work of God and man through the presence and enabling power of
the Holy Spirit that makes us more and more free from sin and like Christ in our actual lives. Although
the process is continuous in this life it is never completed.
The Church
We believe the Church universal is made up of those from all the nations, both living and dead, who have
genuinely repented of their sins and trusted in Christ alone for their salvation. A local church is an
autonomous group of baptized believers who have covenanted together as the church under identifiable
church leadership. Local churches gather together regularly to celebrate the life, death, and
resurrection of Jesus Christ. This is accomplished through the observance of the ordinances of baptism
and the Lord's supper, the worship of God through Jesus Christ, the preaching and teaching of the Word
of God, and the exercise of spiritual gifts and service leading to the edification of the body of
Christ. Local churches then scatter into the world for the purpose of making disciples of all nations.
The Ordinances of the Church
Water baptism and the Lord's Supper are the two ordinances given to the church to be observed until
Christ returns. Water baptism involves a believer being completely immersed under water in the name of
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. This ordinance has no saving power yet symbolizes the
believer's union with Christ in his death, burial, and resurrection. It signifies that one's former way
of life has been put to death, that one is released from the mastery of sin, and that one has entered
into a new life of obedience and faith. The Lord's Supper is a symbolic act of obedience whereby
believers, by partaking of the bread and the cup, remember the death of the Lord Jesus Christ,
anticipate His second coming, and signify our unity with other members in the body of Christ. The bread
is symbolic of Christ's body and the cup represents His blood.
Last Things
Jesus Christ will return to earth personally, visibly, and bodily as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. At
his appearing the dead shall be raised in bodily form and the living and the dead will be judged. The
wicked and unbelieving will be consigned to hell, a place of eternal conscious punishment. Those
belonging to Jesus will have eternal life in the new heavens and the new earth and live in
ever-increasing joy to the glory of God.
Our Mission
"To be a community of satisfied children of God who bless our neighbors where we live, work, learn, and
play."
The HEART for the Gospel
Our desire is to worship and enjoy God with our lives and offer to others the satisfaction of Jesus
by living with gospel intentionality.
We are on a journey of grace where God has used His Word, many loving leaders, friends and family,
the local church, para-church ministries, and international missions to direct our lives toward
church planting.
The Early Years
We grew up in West Tennessee, where Rivers and I both put our faith in Jesus while in middle school.
We were married in 1998 and began our journey of ministry together at Beaver Baptist Church. This is
where I felt my call to full-time ministry and was licensed to preach.
We then moved to Kansas City to work with Young Life. This ministry taught us to go and meet people
where they are and bring Jesus to them. In 2002, I accepted the High School Student Director
position at Covenant Chapel. These seven years were an impactful season of learning to shepherd
others and develop ministry plans centered on the Gospel.
From Budapest to Pennsylvania
In 2009, we were sent to serve in Budapest, Hungary with Cru. These four years deepened our love for
healthy team ministry. We saw evangelism and discipleship modeled in relational environments like
never before. During our time in Hungary, our conviction was solidified: the local church is the
primary means to reaching the world.
In 2013, we moved to Harrisburg, PA, to help an Acts 29 church plant called Liberti. There, we
focused on leadership development, student ministries, and shepherding small group leaders to live
missionally.
Planting Deep Roots
In May 2015, I graduated from Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City. Our prayer
times and conversations with leaders continued to affirm a call to plant a new gospel-centered,
missional church.
The reality that ten American churches close their doors every day while only three start weighed
heavily on us. The need in Kansas City, paired with our previous eight years of living here, led us
to Overland Park.
In the fall of 2015, we partnered with the North American Mission Board, Westside Family Church, and
the New Thing Church Planting Network to begin Neighborhood Church.
Want to be part of the next chapter?
We'd love to meet you this Sunday.
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