who we are
WE ARE A CHURCH THAT IS
IN PURSUIT
PURSUING THE PRESENCE OF GOD
“You have said, “Seek my face.” My heart says to you, “Your face, LORD, do I seek.”” – Psalm 27:8
“In Him and through faith in Him we may enter God’s presence with boldness and confidence.” – Ephesians 3:12
“Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.” – James 4:8
“Anyone who wants to draw near to God must believe that He exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.” – Hebrews 11:6
“And so, dear brothers and sisters, we can boldly enter the Most Holy Place because of the blood of Jesus. By his death, Jesus opened a new and life-giving way through the curtain into the Most Holy Place. And since we have a great High Priest who rules over God’s house, let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him.” – Hebrews 10:19-22
“The Holy Spirit wants to intensify the heat of his presence among us, to inflame our hearts, and infill us with the warmth of his indwelling power. … He gives gifts that manifest his presence.” – Dr. Sam Storms
“The difference between revival and every other state that is spiritual is that the church may know the manifest presence of God. … People should come to a church worship service not anticipating entertainment but expecting the high and holy manifestation of God’s presence.” – A. W. Tozer
“We must desire to know more of God’s presence in our lives, and pray for a display of unleashed, reforming, revivifying power among us, dreading all steps that aim to domesticate God.” – D.A. Carson, co-founder, The Gospel Coalition
Watch Pastor Adrian’s full message HERE
PURSUING TRANSFORMATION BY THE TRUTH
“If you continue in my word … you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:32)
“So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” (John 8:36)
What is Truth? Truth is a Person, and His name is Jesus Christ. “I am the Way, the Truth…” Jesus claimed (John 14:6). “Your word is truth,” Jesus prayed to the Father (John 17:17). “Truth is in Jesus,” wrote the Apostle Paul (Eph. 4:21). “When the Spirit of Truth comes, he will guide you into all truth,” said Jesus (John 16:13).
The “Capital T” Truth brings freedom from: confusion, life-controlling habits, guilt and shame, condemnation, empty religion, dissatisfaction, fear of the afterlife, lost purpose, slavery to sin, spiritual bondage and blindness and oppression, and satanic dominion.
We rejoice to see people finding freedom from opioids and alcoholism, disease and death, nightmares and phobias, trauma and abuse, anger and rage, lust and sexual deviance, dysphoria and identity crisis.
We value biblical literacy, knowing our Bibles and being able to discern truth from falsehood. We value spiritually strong families, with one generation discipling the next. We value experiential and systematic discipleship for all, and we are believing God for hundreds of transformation groups across the Tri-Cities.
Watch Pastor Adrian’s full message HERE
PURSUING THE FULLNESS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
“And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.” (Acts 4:31)
“ ‘If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. . . .’ Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive.” (John 7:37, 39)
“…how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” (Luke 11:13)
“Be filled with the Spirit.” (Ephesians 5:18)
A New Testament church can live in the fullness of the Holy Spirit: both zealous and thoughtful, both free and self-controlled, both unpredictable and grounded, both fearless and respectful, both bold and sensitive, both supernatural and rational, both daring and wise.
We seek to be a church of deep brokenness and fiery boldness for the mission of Jesus. A church that lives in holiness and sensitivity. A church that is obedient to Scripture’s call to seek the full spectrum of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, for the purpose of building up others. A church that is experiencing biblical revival, with the fruit of repentance, hunger, compassion, zeal and transformation. A church with discipleship that emphasizes the Holy Spirit, as modeled in the Book of Acts, in the fullness of his power and his presence.
“I wish that some Christian people were filled with the Spirit. … Seek earnestly for more of the Spirit of God than you ever had before. … We should all pray… that God will give to his churches more and more of the Holy Spirit. … O that we had this fire! It is to be had. The Spirit of God will come in answer to our cries… Oh that the Spirit of God would come upon this entire church, and fill you all to overflowing!” – Charles Spurgeon
Watch Pastor Adrian’s full message HERE
PURSUING FREEDOM FOR THE LOST
“For the Son of Man came to seek and to save those who are lost.” (Luke 19:10)
“It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. … I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” (Matt. 9:13)
“Come, follow Me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.” (Mark 1:17)
“Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” (Matt. 28:19-20)
“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” (Luke 4:18-19)
God has called us to reach the 375,000 people of our region with the Truth of the Gospel, ministering hope and healing to all, including: the Hispanic community (36% of the Tri-Cities), the academic community (highly concentrated in our city), families with special needs, victims of human trafficking, those incarcerated in prisons, those experiencing homelessness and addiction, those identifying as LGBTQ, and the 47,000+ young adults in our area.
“…go after the lost sheep…”
– Jesus Christ –
(Luke 15:4)
Watch Pastor Adrian’s full message HERE
Meet our pastors and team
THE NICENE CREED
We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is, visible and invisible.
We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, of one Being with the Father; through him all things were made. For us and for our salvation he came down from heaven, was incarnate from the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary, and was made man. For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate; he suffered death and was buried. On the third day he rose again in accordance with the Scriptures; he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end.
We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son is worshiped and glorified, who has spoken through the prophets. We believe in one holy worldwide and apostolic Church. We acknowledge one Baptism for the forgiveness of sins. We look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.
c3 tri-cities convictions
SCRIPTURE
The Bible is the inspired word of God, is reliable, and is the final authority for faith and practice.
SALVATION BY GRACE ALONE
We do not believe in salvation through works or morality or baptism or promises to obey. We believe in salvation by grace and through trust in Jesus. We become Christians by trusting Jesus Christ as Savior. We believe in Jesus to give us life and a relationship with God that begins now and lasts for eternity. The way to God is by grace, through faith and trust. The Bible teaches this continually, especially in books such as John, Romans, Galatians, and Ephesians.
We do not become Christians by promising to obey him. We should do that as a response to salvation. Every follower of Jesus will commit their entire life and all they are to Jesus. But we are saved, that is regenerated, by trusting a Savior who died for our sin and rose again. We transfer our trust from self (being good enough) to Jesus and start by simply believing in Jesus effective power to save us. (See John 1:12, 3:15-16, 5:24, Romans 3:21-31, Ephesians 2:8-9). We recognize that a mark of a true believer is obedience and Lordship of Jesus Christ.
WATER BAPTISM
We believe water baptism is for ‘believers’—an action that follows a personal conversion. We practice believers’ baptism.
We are aware that many Bible-believing Christians experience water baptism differently. We respect their view and see this issue as one that Christians can disagree with each other on and not part ways.
If believers in our church choose not to be baptized our way, because of biblical conviction (not just convenience or tradition), then we respect their views and we enthusiastically welcome them as partners.
We practice baptism by immersion but do not see this as a major issue. What if there is a shortage of water? Christians can and do disagree on many aspects of baptism, we still recognize that baptism is an important step of obedience to Jesus Christ, to symbolize that he has saved us, and we testify we are his.
We do not believe baptism is necessary for salvation; for it is by grace alone through faith we are saved.
SEXUALITY
We believe in the unique nature of human beings that defines human sexual intimacy between one man and one woman in marital union (Genesis 2:24). Followers of Jesus seek freedom from sexual sin (Acts 15:28-29; Romans 11:17) clearly defined in scripture (Acts 15:28-29; Romans 11:17).
HUMANITY
We believe that God created, and science confirms there are two binary human genders (Genesis 1:27; 5:2) equal in divine stature and distinguished as male and female.
PROPHECY
We believe in gifts of the Holy Spirit (see also Baptism in Holy Spirit). God’s Word reveals God’s desire for the body of Christ to practice the Holy Spirit gift of prophecy with an attitude to preserve and protect the body of Christ from those who would lead people astray. (Jeremiah 23:24-32, James 3:13-18) Much of the prophetic word gift is used within the context of preaching or bringing the message of scripture from stage to the large group gathering. Private prophetic words can be given to C3 pastors for discernment and action.
BAPTISM IN THE HOLY SPIRIT
We believe that every Christian receives the Holy Spirit when they trust Christ as their Savior. The Holy Spirit resides in the saved believer to teach, lead, guide, direct, and empower. This filling grafts the person into the body of Christ at the time of conversion.
There can also be a different, non-technical use of the word “baptize.” God invites followers of Christ to seek daily renewal and empowerment by the Holy Spirit. One might pray “Lord, fill me with Your Holy Spirit today” or “Holy Spirit manifest your power through me today”. We are encouraged to seek the Holy Spirit for Gods gifts and for us to bear his fruit.
Some segments of faith believe that the spiritual gift of tongues is THE evidence for either salvation or to prove one has the Holy Spirit living in them properly. We would not demand a physical manifestation of tongues to determine someone is filled by the Holy Spirit.
We believe the Holy Spirit distributes all the spiritual gifts today, there were not some gifts that ended at some time in the past. A person receives the Spirit of God with or without the manifestation of one singular gift. (See 1 Corinthians 12:13). In addition, no one gift is for everyone, neither does one have all or many of the manifested gifts. Gifts can manifest as needed based on the circumstance and the Holy Spirits will in the moment.
WOMEN AS MINISTERS
We believe that women and men are equally created in God’s image and given equal authority and stewardship of God’s kingdom. We affirm a classic traditional egalitarian theology.
We hold to a classic orthodox position of women leading in the local body. We avoid latter reformation views on this issue. We do not believe gifts of the Holy Spirit or authority are dictated by gender. Therefore, gender is not the point of entry or exit for ministry. There are difficult passages for all positions on this issue and there is a need for great humility and sensitivity.
This means that at C3, women can vision cast, instruct, and lead from any physical platform and in any ministry affirmed by leadership. That is not limited to and includes board of director, lead pastor, pastor, and director which are all overseeing roles.
As Jesus followers, the Bible is our authority, and we wrestle with the passages that address the issue from both and all reasonable exegesis and argument. (See 1 Timothy 2:8-15, 1 Corinthians 11:2-16; 14:34-35, Acts 2:17-21; 21:9, Romans 16:1-2, Galatians 3:28, Judges 4)
Our position is in alignment with our association in the Church of God, Anderson Indiana, whereas since 1876, this Wesleyan holiness movement, recognized women as co-equal partners and submissive one to another in the family home and in local church leadership.
OUR STORY
We are rooted in the Book of Acts, then influenced by the ministry of John Wesley in the 1700s, with DNA from the First and Second Great Awakenings.
Our church was birthed through a prophetic word and faith-filled prayer: In the 1940s, about 30 miles west of the Tri-Cities, two women sensed that the Holy Spirit was prompting them to pray for God to plant a church in Richland, WA. Our first worship service was on Mother’s Day, May 9, 1948, with 23 people gathered in an elementary school in Richland, WA.
In 1974, the church was renamed “Columbia Community Church,” not far from the Columbia River, named after the Columbia Rediviva, the first sailing ship to enter the Pacific Northwest in the 1700s. The vessel’s name is from the Latin meaning, “The Dove Revived,” and left a legacy in America, signifying freedom, exploration, and discovery.
In 1980, we relocated to our current location on Gage Boulevard, growing to be a beacon of light for thousands of people in the Tri-Cities. We are currently seeing a move of God’s Spirit, with more than 6,000 people who call C3 their church home, witnessing more salvations, baptisms, and newcomers than we’ve ever seen in the history of our church.
We are praying for revival in our church, for a great awakening in our region, with a ministry that looks like that of Jesus (Isaiah 11:2-5). We describe ourselves as “Jesus people doing what Jesus did,” as a church on mission – “not a cruise ship church, but a battleship church!”