Transforming our World through Christ, One Leader at a TimeGRACE ADVENTURES seeks to implement this mission on two levels:
1. Penetration in the New Orleans
GRACE ADVENTURES is a team ministry that engages, reaches and deploys business, political and spiritual leaders for the cause of Christ.
· Preaching
· Bible Studies
· Seminars
· Mentoring
· Community Speaking
· Leadership Training
· Prayer Breakfasts
· Consulting
· Books/Resources
· Retreats
· Radio & Television
· Short-term Adventures
· Discipleship & Multiplication
2. Ministry beyond the New Orleans
In addition to a local ministry, Michael Sprague is engaged in a ministry of speaking and writing that reaches a broader contest. Part of the vision is to participate in spiritual revival and renewal on a wide scale through the distribution of ministry resources and training developed as a by-product of local ministry. The ministry aims to add value to the church and leaders and stimulate partnership in the Great Commission community.
Core Values
1. Preeminence of Christ (Colossians 1:27-28)
We keep Jesus first in everything we do. We follow the Lord’s direction and hold loose our plans and methods. Our life is in Christ and His life is in us.
2. Life-on-life friendships (1 Thessalonians 2:8)
Ministry is all about relationships. We value people for who they are and trust that changed lives will come as we heed Jesus’ words, “Follow Me.”
3. Spiritual reproduction (2 Timothy 2:2)
Ministry develops others to take Jesus to the community, marketplace and world.
4. Certainty and sufficiency of scripture (2 Timothy 3:16)
To overcome the bent to water down, entertain and drift by giving people the uncompromising, relevant, life-changing Word of God.
5. Kingdom called (Matthew 28:19-20)
Priority on building the Kingdom of God
6. Sacrificial service (1 Corinthians 15:31b)
Life can be lived as if on a cruise ship or a battleship. When Christ calls a person, it is to come and die to our agendas and plans and live for Him.
7. Synergy (Ecclesiastes 4:9-12)
Recognizing what can’t be accomplished individually can be done in collaboration with others, we affirm the priority of multiplying results through intentional partnerships.
Grace Adventures Doctrinal Statement
Core Beliefs
· The Trinity
· The full deity and humanity of Christ
· The spiritual lostness of the human race
· The substitutionary atonement and bodily resurrection of Christ
· Salvation by faith alone in Christ alone
· The physical return of Christ
· The authority and inerrancy of Scripture
Full Doctrinal Statement
God
1. We believe in one God, Creator of all things, holy, infinitely perfect, and eternally existing in a loving unity of three equally divine Persons: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Having limitless knowledge and sovereign power, God has graciously purposed from eternity to redeem a people for Himself and to make all things new for His own glory.
The Bible
2. We believe that God has spoken in the Scriptures, both Old and New Testaments, through the words of human authors. As the verbally inspired Word of God, the Bible is without error in the original writings, the complete revelation of His will for salvation, and the ultimate authority by which every realm of human knowledge and endeavor should be judged. Therefore, it is to be believed in all that it teaches, obeyed in all that it requires, and trusted in all that it promises.
The Human Condition
3. We believe that God created Adam and Eve in His image, but they sinned when tempted by Satan. In union with Adam, human beings are sinners by nature and by choice, alienated from God, and under His wrath. Only through God’s saving work in Jesus Christ can we be rescued, reconciled and renewed.
Jesus Christ
4. We believe that Jesus Christ is God incarnate, fully God and fully man, one Person in two natures. Jesus-Israel’s promised Messiah-was conceived through the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. He lived a sinless life, was crucified under Pontius Pilate, arose bodily from the dead, ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father as our High Priest and Advocate.
The Work of Christ
5. We believe that Jesus Christ, as our representative and substitute, shed His blood on the cross as the perfect, all-sufficient sacrifice for our sins. His atoning death and victorious resurrection constitute the only ground for salvation.
The Holy Spirit
6. We believe that the Holy Spirit, in all that He does, glorifies the Lord Jesus Christ. He convicts the world of its guilt. He regenerates sinners, and in Him they are baptized into union with Christ and adopted as heirs in the family of God. He also indwells, illuminates, guides, equips and empowers believers for Christ-like living and service.
The Church
7. We believe that the true church comprises all who have been justified by God’s grace through faith alone in Christ alone. They are united by the Holy Spirit in the body of Christ, of which He is the Head. The true church is manifest in local churches.
Christian Living
8. We believe that God’s justifying grace must not be separated from His sanctifying power and purpose. God commands us to love Him supremely and others sacrificially, and to live out our faith with care for one another, compassion toward the poor and justice for the oppressed. With God’s Word, the Spirit’s power, and fervent prayer in Christ’s name, we are to combat the spiritual forces of evil. In obedience to Christ’s commission, we are to make disciples among all people, always bearing witness to the gospel in word and deed.
Christ’s Return
9. We believe in the personal, bodily and premillennial return of our Lord Jesus Christ. The coming of Christ, at a time known only to God, demands constant expectancy and, as our blessed hope, motivates the believer to godly living, sacrificial service and energetic mission.
Response and Eternal Destiny
10. We believe that God commands everyone everywhere to believe the gospel by turning to Him in repentance and receiving the Lord Jesus Christ. We believe that God will raise the dead bodily and judge the world, assigning the unbeliever to condemnation and eternal conscious punishment and the believer to eternal blessedness and joy with the Lord in the new heaven and the new earth, to the praise of His glorious grace. Amen.
