1. EXPOSITORY PREACHING
It is impossible for Christ to be preeminent in His church apart from the Word of God being preeminent when we gather in His name. (Psa. 138:1-2). God's plan for His Word is that it is to be "preached"! (1Cor. 1:17-18; 2Tim. 4:2-4) We don't simply preach from the Word, or about the Word, we "preach the Word" (2Tim. 4:2).

We call it "expository" because the responsibility of the "preacher" is not to "impose" his ideas or interpretations onto the truth of the Word of God, but simply "expose" the truth that is there. Expository Preaching is not negotiable with us. It is a hill we die on!

2. BIBLICAL DISCIPLESHIP
Prior to sin entering into the world, God's plan through Adam was physical reproduction. Through the intimacy of his relationship with his bride, they were commissioned to be "fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth" (Gen. 1:28) with sons and daughters who would not only be their children, but God's children! Sin thwarted God's plan (Gen. 5:3).

But God still has a plan. He now carries out His plan through Christ's church. The plan now, however, is through spiritual reproduction. The New Testament refers to Christ as the "second Adam" (1Cor. 15:45-47) and refers to us as His bride (Rev.19:7; 21:2; 2 Cor. 11:2). Through the intimacy of our relationship with Him, we have been commissioned to "be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth" with sons and daughters of God (John 15:16; Matt. 28:19-20; 2Tim. 2:2). That's what we mean by Biblical Discipleship. . . spiritual reproduction. Biblical Discipleship is not negotiable with us. It is a hill we die on!

3. GLOBAL MISSIONS
In terms of the scope of our commission of spiritual reproduction, God is adamant about us not only viewing our responsibility locally, but globally! (Acts 1:8; Mark 16:15) God certainly knows that we cannot do everything in terms of fulfilling His commission, but He wants all of us to recognize both our great privilege and responsibility to do something! (1Thess. 2:4)

We believe that God has given to our church collectively, and to each member individually, a destiny to fulfill concerning global missions. Global Missions is not negotiable with us. It is a hill we die on!

4. EXPONENTIAL REPRODUCTION
The commission of spiritual reproduction we have received corporately as the body of Christ, and as individual members of that body, is always expressed biblically with not only a view toward addition, but multiplication. (Gen. 1:28; Acts 6:1)

As the body of Christ, we are a living organism. We believe that means that we have been entrusted with both the ability and responsibility of reproduction. Our vision is not only to set in order a plan that includes the reproduction and multiplication of disciples, but the reproduction and multiplication of churches. That's what we mean by exponential reproduction. In the fulfilling of that vision, we seek to follow the model of the first century church in Antioch (see Acts 13:1-3). Exponential Reproduction is not negotiable with us. It is a hill we die on!

5. SPIRITED WORSHIP
God's interest has never been an issue of simply taking a massive group of people to heaven when they die. God's interest has always been a matter of worship. Jesus told us in John 4:23 that our Father in heaven is seeking worshippers! True worshippers! Jesus defined true worshippers as those who worship Him "in spirit and in truth". We believe worship is actually "worthship". That it is declaring with our words and demonstrating by our actions that for which we consider the Lord worthy.

Every time our church gathers in Christ's name, we seek to express true worship to our glorious Father in heaven. But, spirited worship isn't simply something we challenge people to do when we gather together for our weekend services. We challenge our people to understand that God is seeking our worship 24/7/365! We believe that all of life is a worship service! Spirited Worship is not negotiable with us. It is a hill we die on!

6. SACRIFICIAL LOVE
Jesus told us in Mark 12:30-31, that love is really the bottom line with God. He said that our love is to be expressed in two specific directions: first, in loving GOD; and second, in loving PEOPLE.

The kind of love that Jesus was talking about was not an indiscriminate, casual, or half-hearted love. Jesus said that our love for God should be "with ALL of our heart, and ALL of our soul, and ALL of our mind, and ALL of our strength"; and that our love for people should be equal to the love that we have for ourselves.

In other words, Jesus wasn't calling us to possess a love that is natural—but a love that is supernatural! A love that can only be expressed because the supernatural love of our supernatural God has supernaturally loved us, and is now supernaturally loving through us! Sacrificial Love is not negotiable with us. It's a hill we die on!

7. CHRIST-LIKE HOLINESS
The moment we called upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ to save us, the Spirit of God immediately placed us "in Christ" (1 Cor. 12:13). The Bible teaches us that because we are "in Him," we have been made positionally holy (Eph. 1:4; Col. 1:22). In other words, because we are "in Christ", God now sees us the way He sees His Son—absolutely, completely, and perfectly holy. What an incredible reality!

But as true as that is, the New Testament also teaches that God intends for all who have been made positionally holy, to now become practically holy (2 Cor. 7:1; 2 Tim. 2:19). God has called us to Christ-like holiness. 1 Peter 1:14-16 says that as His children, we are to "be holy as He is holy"! He is the standard, nothing less.

No, our members are not perfect, but we unashamedly call people to live lives that mirror the holiness of our blessed Savior. Christ-like Holiness is not negotiable with us. It is a hill we die on!