What We Believe

With over 30 years as pastors and church planters, David and Christine DeGarmo are pioneers who are passionate about seeing people thrive in relationship with their heavenly Father!

They have been married for over 30 years and have four grown children, grandchildren, horses, dogs, and a bunch of chickens! David’s experience at a working ranch and riding/boarding stables created a passion for working with horses. He and Christine share a desire to incorporate equine experiences into an integrated approach to ministry and inner healing.

They love the outdoors, spending as much time as possible in nature. You will often find them cooking and hosting gatherings for friends and family!

THE HOLY BIBLE

The written words of the Holy Scriptures are divinely inspired, authoritative, and the only writings containing the words of God Himself. The autographs of the Scriptures are inerrant, and its teachings are infallible. The Scriptures are clearly understandable by all persons who will read them with a willingness to follow them, seeking proper understanding from the Lord. The Scriptures contain everything God intended to be known for salvation, and are useful for teaching, conviction, correction, and training in righteousness so the people of God may be adequately equipped for every good work. 2 Timothy 3:15-17; Hebrews 4:12; Psalm 1:2-3, 19:7-8, 119:11, 105; John 17:17; Romans 15:4, 16:25-26; Isaiah 40:8; 2 Peter 1:21. 

 GOD

Yahweh, the God of the Bible, is the one and only God, Creator of the heavens and the earth. God eternally exists in the three Persons of the Trinity including God the Father, God the Son Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. Father God is love and primarily relates to humanity on the basis of His extravagant love for us. His chief desire is to reveal Himself to us as a loving father and draw us into our true identity as sons and daughters! He demonstrated His love by sending His one and only Son Jesus into the world to die for humanity's sin, while we were yet sinners. Nothing can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus. 1 John 4:7-10, 5:7; Romans 5:8, 8:38-39; Genesis 1:1; 1 Corinthians 8:6; Jeremiah 10:10, 32:17; Hebrews 11:3; Revelation 1:8; Deuteronomy 6:4, 10:14; John 17:21-22; Matthew 3:16-17, 28:19. 

JESUS CHRIST

Jesus Christ, the Messiah, was conceived by the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin Mary to live among people on the earth, where He performed miracles demonstrating his divine love for people and his power over all creation, signs, which identified Him as the Messiah, and wonders, provoking faith in the hearts of those who believed. Jesus was both fully God and fully man and was without any sin. According to the Scriptures, Jesus died on the cross for the sin of all humanity, was buried and sealed in a tomb, yet physically rose from the dead on the third day after His death, appeared in a glorified body to His disciples and many witnesses, ascended bodily into heaven to take His exalted place at the right hand of God the Father. Jesus will return to earth again in power and glory. Through the shedding of His blood in His substitutionary death on the cross and His resurrection three days later, Jesus atoned for all humanity's sin once and for all, and is the one Mediator between God and people by which all people can be reconciled to God. Hebrews 1:1-2, 4:14-15, 5:9, 7:24-27, 12:2; 1 Corinthians 15:21-22; 1 Timothy 2:5-6; Colossians 1:15-20, 2:9; Galatians 4:4-5; Isaiah 7:14; Acts 1:9-11, 2:23-24, 9:20; Matthew 1:18, 25, 16:16-17, 26:63-64, 27:33-37, 59-60, 28:6; John 1:1-5, 14, 29, 2:19-22, 11:25-27, 20:14-18; Luke 1:35, 22:70, 24:45-47. 

THE HOLY SPIRIT

The Holy Spirit is the fully divine Spirit of God that inspired men to record the Scriptures, convicts people of sin, calls people to Jesus Christ for redemption, comforts believers, and enables understanding of truth and the meaning of the Scriptures. The Holy Spirit enables every believer to live a Spirit-filled and Spirit-empowered life. Furthermore, all the gifts of the Holy Spirit are in operation in the church today through the lives of believers. John 14:16-17, 26, 15:26, 16:7-11, 13-15; 1 Corinthians 2:10-16, 3:16; Joel 2:28-29; Titus 3:5-6; Galatians 4:6, 5:25; Mark 13:11; Acts 1:5, 8, 2:1-4, 38-39, 4:31, 9:31, 10:44-45, 15:8, 16:6; Romans 5:5, 8:11, 16, 26-27; 1 Corinthians 12:4-7. 

MAN AND THE FALL

Adam and Eve were created by God in His own image as His highest creation. They were created with free will and without sin. God placed the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the Garden of Eden so that Adam and Eve might freely choose life with Him over sin and independence from Him. Satan in the form of a serpent tempted Adam and Eve to choose to disobey God. Because all humanity was in Adam and Eve when they sinned by disobeying God, all humanity throughout time fell prey to sin, as well as the curse for sin—death. Each person, while still created in the image of God, sins; because all people sin, death falls on all people. Only by God’s grace are people saved from sin and death, and brought into fellowship with God. Only through the Son of God, Jesus Christ, are people saved. The Lord Jesus Christ’s life, death, burial, and resurrection are able to redeem all who trust and receive Him from the power and penalty of sin and death. Genesis 1:27; 2:22, 3:1-24; Romans 3:23; 5:8; 6:23; 1 Corinthians 15:21-22; Psalm 51:5; John 1:12 

 SALVATION

Salvation and redemption from the power and penalty of sin and death are offered to all who by faith alone confess their sin and believe in their heart that Jesus is the risen Lord and Savior. Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross and resurrection from the dead after three days atoned for sin and is the only way to be reconciled to God, as Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to God the Father but by Him. 1 Corinthians 15:3-4; Romans 3:12, 22-24, 5:8, 6:23, 8:1-4, 10:9-10; 1 John 1:8-9, 4:9-10, 15, 5:1; John 1:12, 3:16, 14:6, 17:3, 20:31; 1 Timothy 2:4; 2 Corinthians 5:17-21, 6:2; Revelation 3:20; 1 Peter 1:18-21, 3:18a; Colossians 1:13-14; Ephesians 1:7, 2:8-9; Galatians 2:16; Psalm 32:5; Acts 4:12, 16:30-31; Titus 3:5. 

WATER BAPTISM

Baptism in water is the physical representation of one's old self or sin nature being buried with Christ in His death and resurrected with Him into “new life”, after their repentance from sin and confession of faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.  Baptism is a picture of the believer sharing in the crucifixion, burial, and resurrection of Christ. The believer shares in the death and burial of Christ because their sins and old self were nailed to the cross and buried with Christ, setting the believer free from sin, which is symbolized in baptism by immersion in water. Believers also share in the resurrection of Christ because with Christ they are raised to new life and made alive to God, which is illustrated in baptism by rising out of the water. Jesus commanded that new believers would be baptized in the name of the Father, Jesus Christ the Son, and the Holy Spirit. As the Church began, the apostles and early disciples baptized those who received the Lord Jesus. Baptism has been observed by Christians throughout the history of the Church. Matthew 3:13, 28:19-20; Acts 2:38, 41, 8:12-13, 16, 35-38, 9:18, 10:47-48, 16:15, 33, 18:8, 19:5, 22:16; Romans 6:1-14; 1 Corinthians 6:11; 2 Corinthians 5:17; Galatians 2:20, 3:27; Ephesians 4:3-6, 5:26; Colossians 2:12, 3:1, 3; Titus 3:5; Hebrews 10:22; 1 Peter 3:21. 

CHRISTIAN LIVING

A person who has experienced salvation is “born again” and is united with Christ in His death and resurrection, having crucified the old sinful self by appropriating Christ’s death on the cross, and having been delivered from bondage to sin. At the moment of salvation, the believer stands in a right relationship with God, and is adopted as a member of God’s family. As a result of salvation, the new believer has been spiritually transformed and begins walking in the Light of Truth as a child of God, and, by the power of the Spirit within every believer, grows in freedom from sin and obedience to the Lord, being guided by the Holy Scriptures with a desire to practice righteousness. As an example of practiced righteous Christian living, the Scriptures teach that the marriage covenant is reserved only for one biological man with one biological woman, and limit the expression of human sexuality exclusively to such a marital relationship. 

Evidence of one’s new birth is a willing desire to continually turn away from practices and beliefs that Scripture identifies as sin or immorality, and submit to the sanctifying work of the living Word of God. Moreover, believers living in righteousness have a special love for one another as God’s love is perfected in every believer, who increasingly bear the fruit of the Spirit including love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control, and demonstrates faith through good works. John 3:1-8; 1 Corinthians 6:1-11, 19-20, 9:24-27, 13:1-13; 2 Corinthians 7:1; 1 John 1:7, 2:3, 15-17, 3:3-10, 4:12, 19, 5:3-4; 1 Peter 1:14-16, 2:24; 2 Peter 3:14; 1 Thessalonians 4:3-8; Titus 2:11-14; Ephesians 4:22-24; Galatians 2:20, 5:22-23; Romans 6:11-14, 12:2; John 15:12; Matthew 19:4-6. 

THE CHURCH

The Church is the fellowship of God in Christ and the family of all believers who have accepted the free gift of salvation and profess the Lordship of Christ in their lives. The Church engages in worship to God and the singing of psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to the praise of His glory. In order to bring every believer to maturity and completion, the Church nurtures believers, admonishing and teaching them with all wisdom. The Church equips believers for the works of service that build up the Body of Christ and achieve unity in the faith. As instructed by Jesus at the end of His ministry on earth, the Church, through the empowerment of the Holy Spirit, brings His teachings to all nations, teaching them and baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Colossians 1:24-28, 3:12-17; Ephesians 2:19-22, 3:10; Hebrews 10:24-25; Matthew 28:19-20; Mark 16:15; John 17:20-23; Acts 1:8. 

LAST THINGS

God has appointed a day when He will judge the world. On that day, God will demonstrate His mercy by eternal salvation in Heaven for all who have placed their faith in Jesus Christ for salvation, and His justice by eternal damnation in Hell for those who have rejected God’s free gift of salvation in Jesus Christ, but instead chose to live life on their own terms. Proverbs 16:25; 1 Corinthians 15:52-57; 2 Corinthians 5:1, 10; 1 Peter 1:3-4; 2 Peter 3:7, 10; 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17; 2 Thessalonians 1:7-9; 2 Timothy 4:8; Joel 2:30-32; Revelation 20:11-15, 22:1-5; Acts 1:11, 17:30-31; Matthew 16:27, 24:27, 36, 44, 25:31-34, 41; John 14:1-3; Luke 13:28, 17:34-35, 21:27-28; Hebrews 9:27.