Humans are multifaceted creatures called to submit their entire being to the lordship of Christ. Church leadership plays a vital role in this process through empowering, enabling, and equipping the saints to better know, love, and serve God. The basic building blocks for this task are the same as those for living the Christian life: Bible study, prayer, fellowship, and service.

The Bible presents a dual view of ministry. First of all, those in servant-leadership -- pastors, evangelists, deacons, elders, and teachers -- are responsible "for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ" (Eph. 4:12, NASB). Secondly, every Christian is called to minister (= serve) through the exercise of his or her spiritual giftedness, which calls for (a) reaching inward toward those in the local church in order to provide both support and accountability, and (b) reaching outward toward those in the world in order to demonstrate in word and deed God's glorious good news of forgiveness and new life found through personal, committed faith in Jesus Christ (Gal. 6:10; 1 The. 3:12; 1 Tim. 4:10; Heb. 10:24). (see W. L. Liefeld, "Ministry" in the Evangelical Dictionary of Theology)

While God reveals himself in a general sense through nature, history and the inner workings of the human person, it is only through Scripture that we learn of his particular plan for being reconciled to a spiritually lost and dying world: the birth, life, death, burial, resurrection, ascension, intercession, and future return of Jesus Christ. We are made right with God through -- and only through -- real and personal commitment to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

In particular, I accept and support The Baptist Faith and Message statement (as adopted by the Southern Baptist Convention on June 14, 2000).