The Big Reveal

There is a time and a season for everything. The time for our fellowship of believers to be recognized by the name Higher Praise Church has come and gone. It is now time for a NEW NAME!

The decision is not one that was made quickly. For 18 months I have wrestled with, and sought wise counsel, regarding the concept.

I firmly believe when God is dealing with your heart about something, He will honor the promise of His word and confirm His plans through "the mouth of two or three witnesses." Over the course of these last 18 months it has been an amazing lesson for me in obeying God, as far more than two or three people (that I greatly respect) have prayerfully agreed that it is time to change the name of our church. As well--and maybe most importantly--HPC's Lead Team has also expressed an overwhelming consensus of agreement that it is time to reveal a new name.

Why is there so much certainty that the name of our church needs to be changed? I believe there are at least 4 significant reasons.

1) I have become burdened, and even broken, in prayer about the fact that "Higher" Praise may, on occasion, be perceived as an arrogant proclomation. While that was NEVER the intention behind using Higher Praise as a name, I believe God and wise counsel has helped me to see how someone might perceive our name to be an egostistical statement. Perhaps, there have even been some who wrongly interpreted our name to mean that we are of the opinion that our praise is more effective at reaching God than someone else's might be. I sincerely apologize to our community if we have ever UNINTENTIONALLY given that perception.

2) Our church was once focused on the theme of "Come and See". We sat and waited for the community to come to us as we held our worship gatherings. During that six-year period, we struggled to consistently break the 200-attendee mark. Today, the attitude of our Lead Team and church is totally different. Everyone is still invited to come, but first we will "Go and Tell"! No longer do we lazily sit inside our church waiting for the world to change itself.

Three years ago we made a decision to serve this community tirelessly. "Captivate" at the Adair County Fairgrounds is one example of an outreach that was birthed from that decision. This particular event has exploded with success, as we take a Saturday in April and do our best to bestow unconditional love upon the Lake Cumberland region. Last year over 1,000 people received help in a 3-hour period of time. God has taught our church that nothing is more exhilirating than finding a need and meeting it.

The result of our new approach has been phenomenal, as our church has more than doubled in size during the last 36-months.

Because of this change in ministerial philosophy our new name must effectively move us away from a term that denotes the event that happens at our gatherings (praise) and move us toward better communicating that we are here as a church to follow Jesus' example and take up our cross. To put it bluntly, it is time to more effectively communicate through our church name that we are here for one specific reason and that is to present the love of Jesus' sacrifice to all of Lake Cumberland.

3) The growth of Higher Praise leads us to another significant reason for the name change.

Every Sunday, people are gathering on our hillside from at least 7 different counties, and it is not unusual to see as many as 9 counties regularly represented. This is an awesome thing. But, one dilemma has been discovered as our influence has expanded: there are several other churches and ministries using the term Higher Praise to identify themselves. There are even two more ministries sharing our name in just the state of Kentucky. This has caused confusion on more than one occasion, not only online, but also with UPS. :)

Our new name has already been secured and it is a name that no other church in America currently uses. This will help us tremendously as we move out across Kentucky with other satellite locations and across America with media ministries.

4) There is a growing lack of emphasis on the Cross of Jesus in the world today. Our new name will more clearly communciate the happenings on a hillside 2,000 years ago, which has led to the OPPORTUNITY of salvation for each and everyone one of us!

This new name will even allow our church (when inviting unsaved friends or family) to find a quick opportunity to sow salvation seeds regarding the events of Calvary. And even more specifically, present without awkwardness, the central truth of the Gospel, which I believe is that we must all decide whether to receive or reject Jesus as our Lord.

I'm ecstatic! I feel like it is September 2000 all over again as we prepare for a new day of ministry. But, a New Name is not the only Reveal we have planned for the month of April!

Our schedule for the Reveals will be as follows...

THE BIG REVEAL: New Name. New Vision. New Facility.

New Name Reveal: Saturday, April 3rd @ 5pm.

New Vision Reveal: Easter Sunday, April 4th @ 9am  11am  12:30pm

New Facility Reveal: Sunday, April 25th @ 10:30am.

Greater things are yet to come!