I. My Salvation
In January of 1996, at the age of 16, I accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as my personal Savior. After hearing the gospel for the first time, along with testimonies from other Christians, I was convinced of my need for salvation. With tears in my eyes I turned to the Lord in faith and asked Him to save me. On December 27, 1998 I was baptized at Victory Baptist Church in Elsmere, Delaware.
II. My Call To The Ministry
Soon after I began attending church I felt God dealing with my heart about preaching His Word. After much prayer and council with my pastor, God confirmed His calling to me and I decided to attend Northeast Baptist Bible College to prepare. During my first semester of college I was invited to go on a missions trip to Honduras, Central America. I agreed to go, having no idea that God would call me to serve there as a missionary. In January of 2000 the Lord made this calling known to me at a missions conference. Since then my life has been surrendered to reaching the people of Honduras with the gospel.
III. Statement of Faith
A. The Bible: I believe in the verbal, plenary inspiration of the Bible; that every word of the entire content of the Bible was inspired by God and is therefore free from error or any injection of the human author’s personal opinions; that God has also promised to preserve His words and has done so for the English-speaking people in the King James Bible; that the Bible is to be the Christian’s final authority in all issues of faith and practice. (II Pt. 1:21; Jer. 36:4; I Chr. 28:19; II Tim. 3:15-16; Ps. 12:6-7; Matt. 24:35)
B. The Trinity: I believe in One God eternally existing in three distinct, literal persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. (Gen. 1:1, 26; Isa. 9:6; Matt. 28:19; II Cor. 13:14; John 10:30; Acts 5:3-4; II Cor. 3:17; I John 5:7)
C. The Person of Jesus Christ: I believe that Jesus Christ, being fully God, is co-equal with the Father and the Holy Spirit; that He is the Eternal Son of God, and that becoming a man He did not surrender His deity in any way, but rather was both fully God and fully man; that He was born of a virgin by Holy Spirit conception; that He lived a sinless life, and that, in fact, it was impossible for Him to have sinned; that His substitutional death on the cross and His shed blood are the only atonement for the sins of the world; that He was buried, and that three days later He rose from the dead, bodily; that He ascended into Heaven bodily and is now seated at the right hand of the Father acting as the believer’s High Priest, ever living to make intercession for him; that He will fulfill His promise to come again for His saints to bring them to be with Him in glory and then to come with His saints to judge the earth to and establish His kingdom. (Isa. 9:6; John 1:1, 2, 14; John 10:30; I Tim. 3:16; Micah 5:2; Col. 1:16-17; Isa. 7:14; Matt. 1:18-25; Lu. 1:27, 34-35; II Cor. 5:21; I Pt. 1:18-19; Rev. 1:5; I John 2:2; I Cor. 15:3-4; Lu. 24:39-40; John 20:26-28; Acts 1:9-11; Ro. 8:34; Heb. 8:1; Heb. 4:15; John 14:1-3; I Thess. 3:13)
D. The Person of the Holy Spirit: I believe that the Holy Spirit is a divine Person, co-equal with God the Father and God the Son; that He restrains the evil one until the rapture of the church; that He convicts the world of sin and witnesses to the truth of the gospel in preaching and in testimony; that an unbelieving person cannot receive Him; that when one receives Jesus Christ as Savior He comes to indwell the believer, baptizes him into the body of Christ, and will abide with him forever; that He seals, endues with power, guides, teaches, sanctifies, and helps the believer. (Acts 5:3-4; II Cor. 3:17; I John 5:7; Matt. 28:19; II Thess. 2:7; John 16:8; John 14:16-17; I Cor. 6:19, 12:13; Eph. 1:13; Acts 1:8, 16:6-9; I John 2:27; I Cor. 6:11; Ro. 8:26)
E. Creation: I believe that God created the universe in six literal, 24-hour days; that evolution is a false, man-made theory; that man was created directly by God and in God’s own image. (Gen. 1:1, 26-27, 31; Ex. 20:11; John 1:1-3; Col. 1:16-17; Heb. 1:10, 11:3; Rev. 10:6)
F. The Fall of Man: I believe that man was created in a state of innocence by God but through the disobedience of Adam, the human race was plunged into sin; that man is without excuse before God and is responsible for his own sins; that eternal torment awaits the unregenerate man, whose only hope is acceptance of the atonement provided by Jesus Christ. (Gen. 3:1-7; Rom. 5:12, 19; Rom. 1:20, 3:23; Rev. 20:14-15; John 3:36)
G. The Personality of Satan: I believe that Satan was created by God as the “covering cherub” Lucifer; that through his pride in aspiring to be like God he fell and drew after him a great host of angels; that he is now the open enemy of God and His people, the unholy god of this world, and the accuser of the saints; that he is destined to be defeated by the Son of God and to be cast into the Lake of Fire for all eternity. (Isa. 14:12-17; Ezk. 28:12-19; Rev. 12:4; II Cor. 4:4; Job 1:6-12; Rev. 20:1-3, 10)
H. Salvation: I believe that salvation is wholly of God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ and that it is not earned or kept by good works; that salvation is offered freely to all who will accept; that the only atonement for the sins of the world is the precious shed blood of Jesus Christ. (Eph. 2:8-9; Rom. 3:20, 22, 28, 4:1-8, 6:23; John 3:15-18, 36; Acts 16:31; I Pt. 1:5; Rev. 22:17; Lev. 17:11; I Pt. 1:18-19)
Repentance and Faith: Repentance is a drastic change of mind in a person, produced by Holy Spirit conviction, that affects his way of life. A sinner sees himself as being lost, sin as being wicked, and Jesus as being the only hope of salvation. You cannot have true repentance without true faith, nor true faith without genuine repentance. (Ps. 51:1-4; Matt. 3:7-9; Mk. 1:15; Lu. 13:3, 18:13; Acts 20:21; Ro. 10:9-10, 13; I Thess. 1:9)
Regeneration: To be born again or born from above. Regeneration causes us to be born into the family of God and makes us partakers of the divine nature. (John 1:12-13, 3:3-8; Titus 3:5; I Pt. 1:23)
Justification: Justification is a change in man’s standing before God. God pardons the sinner and declares him to be righteous based on his faith in the shed blood of Jesus Christ. (Isa. 53:11; Rom. 3:24, 28, 4:1-16, 5:1; Gal. 2:16, 3:11; II Cor. 5:21; Titus 3:5-7)
Adoption: Means the placing of a son. In regeneration the believer becomes a child of God and in adoption the believer, already a son, receives a place as an adult son. (Gal. 4:1-7; Ro. 8:15,23; Eph. 1:5)
Redemption: To deliver by paying a price. Christ’s blood paid the price to purchase us from the slave-market of sin. (Isa. 59:20; Ro. 7:14; Eph. 1:7; Gal. 3:13, 4:4-5; Titus 2:14; I Pt. 1:18-19)
Sanctification: Sanctification is three-fold. First, God sets a person apart from condemnation at salvation; second, the believer is progressively being sanctified as he grows in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. Finally, believers will be totally sanctified when we see Jesus and are made to be like Him. (I Cor. 6:11; II Pt. 3:18; I John 3:2-3; I Thess. 4:3-7, 5:23)
Eternal Security: I believe that once a person is saved that they are forever secure in Christ, and that no deed, no matter how wicked, can cause a person to loose their salvation. (John 5:24, 6:37, 10:27-29; Isa. 43:25, 44:22; Eph. 1:13, 4:30; I Cor. 5:4-5; Gal. 2:16, 3:3)
Election: God foreknew who would accept His Son and choose them to be saved. Election is not based on any personal merit, nor did God randomly choose for some to go to Heaven and for others to be condemned to Hell. Election is according to the foreknowledge of God. (I Pt. 1:2)
Predestination: God has predestinated the believer to be conformed to the image of Christ. (Ro. 8:29)
I. The Church: I believe that the local church is the only institution that God has ordained to fulfill the Great Commission; that it is to be made up of baptized believers with Christ as its Head; I hold that the local church has the right of self- government, free from the interference of any hierarchy of individuals or organizations; that the true mission of the church is found in the Great Commission: to win the lost to Christ, to baptize them, and to teach them the Word of God; the church has the responsibility and calling to glorify God in all that it does, to boldly stand for and proclaim the truth, to observe the two ordinances delivered to it (baptism and the Lord’s supper), and to maintain discipline among its members; that there are two offices in the New Testament church, the pastor and the deacon, and that only qualified men should be considered for them. (Matt. 28:19-20; Mk. 16:15; Acts 2:41, 8:36-37; Eph. 4:15, 5:23; Rev. 1:11; Acts 20:20; Eph. 1:4-6; Jude 3; I Cor. 11:23-29; I Cor. 5:1-13; I Tim 3; Titus 1:5-9)
J. The Sign Gifts: I believe that the gifts mentioned in I Corinthians 12:8-10 and the gift of Apostle mentioned in Ephesians 4:11 were only temporary in nature. In many cases these gifts were used to authenticate the Apostles’ message. After the completion of the Word of God these confirmatory signs were no longer needed and vanished away. We now have a completed Bible to confirm the message being preached and the Holy Spirit to convict sinners. I believe that the Pentecostal/Charismatic Movement is unscriptural and is not of God. (I Cor. 14:22; II Cor. 12:12; I Cor. 13:8-12; Heb. 2:3-4)
K. Divorce and Remarriage: I believe that God ordained marriage and that He intended it to last until one of the spouses dies; that God hates divorce and that it is never His will for two people to get divorced; that a divorced and remarried person can never be considered for the offices of pastor or deacon. (Mal. 2:14-16; Mk. 10:2-12; Lu. 16:18; I Cor. 7:10, 11, 39; I Tim. 3:2-12; Titus 1:6)
L. Separation: I believe that God has called the church to be separate from apostasy and false teaching; that the church is to abstain from worldly practices and methods; that every believer is to separate from other believers who are disobedient in their lifestyle or in doctrine, and from the sinful practices of the world to live a holy life unto God. (II Cor. 6:14-7:1; II Thess. 3:14; I Cor. 5:11, 15:33; Ro. 1:1, 12:1-2, 16:17; I Pt. 1:14-16)
M. Christ’s Coming:
The Rapture: I believe in a pre-tribulational rapture of the entire body of the church. (I Thess. 4:13-18, 5:9; Titus 2:13; Col. 3:4; I John 3:2; I Thess. 1:10)
The Revelation: I believe that the Lord will return to the earth with His saints at the end of the tribulation period to judge the world and to set up His kingdom; that the Lord’s second coming is pre-millennial and bodily. (Rev. 19:11-20:6; Zech. 14:1-16; Acts 1:11; II Thess. 1:7-10; Isa. 64:1-2; Matt. 24:27-31; I Thess. 3:13)
N. Heaven and Hell: I believe that Heaven and Hell are both literal places; that Heaven is the abode of God and the resting place of those who have put their trust in Jesus Christ as Savior; that Hell is a place of fiery torment, a holding place for those who have died in their sins until they are judged by Jesus Christ and cast into the Lake of Fire forever. (John 14:1-3; Ph. 1:23; Lu. 16:22-28; Rev. 20:11-15)
O. Worship: I believe that God desires for us to worship Him in spirit and in truth, therefore all carnal methods of worship which appeal to the flesh, such as contemporary “praise” music, are unacceptable to God and should never be used in His service or be part of a believer’s life. I believe that instruments that were designed to be used in the performance of worldly music, such as drums, have no place in the church. (John 4:23; I John 2:15-17)
