About Us
We are a group of Jesus followers who serve a perfect God, even though we are imperfect. Through Jesus, God has restored our lives and we make it a priority that others, like us, find their lives restored, too. We want to become friends and walk with those who may feel disenfranchised or left behind.
We are all about restoration.
When we see an old rusty vehicle with scratches, dents, and bumps, we often think that vehicle is worthless. However, a person with an interest in classic cars may look at the worn vehicle and see a treasure that can be restored. Sometimes our lives have plenty of rust, scratches, dents, and bumps, and we often allow our circumstances and our choices to make us feel worthless.
God looks at our lives with our rust, bumps, scratches, and dents, and He still sees us as a treasure. He loves us so much that He gave us the sacrifice of His Son. He longs to redeem us from that old junkyard of living for sin and self and restore us to a new and life-giving relationship with Him.
We at the Garage Church want to encourage you & walk beside you as you become a living restoration to God. Having a right relationship with God motivates us toward good stewardship in every area of life. Life is just much better when we join God in His plan for us!
OUR BELIEFS
About the Bible
The Bible was written by men divinely inspired and is God’s revelation of Himself to man. It is a perfect treasure of divine instruction. It has God for its author, salvation for its end, and truth, without any mixture of error, for its content . Therefore, all Scripture is totally true and trustworthy. It reveals the principles by which God judges us, and so is, and will remain to the end of the world, the true center of Christian values and beliefs. It is the supreme standard by which all human conduct, creeds, and religious opinions should be tried. All Scripture is a testimony to Christ, who is Himself the focus of the Bible.
About the Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God, fully divine. He inspired holy men of old to write the Scriptures. By His influence and presence, He enables men to understand truth. He exalts Christ. He convicts men of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. He calls men to the Savior, and new spiritual birth. At the moment of this new spiritual birth, He welcomes every believer into the Body of Christ. He cultivates Christian character, comforts believers, and gives them the spiritual gifts by which they serve through His church. His presence in the Christian is the guarantee that God will bring the believer to finally become like Jesus to the fullest extent. He enlightens and empowers the believer and the church in worship, evangelism, and service.
About Eternal Security
Because God gives us eternal life through Jesus Christ, the true believer is secure in that salvation for eternity. If you have been genuinely saved, you cannot “lose” it. Salvation is maintained by the grace and power of God, not by the self-effort of the Christian. It is the grace and keeping power of God that gives us this security. That same grace that saves and secures us also teaches us to live holy lives but does not license us to live in sin.
About Salvation
Salvation is God’s free gift to us, but we must receive it. We can never make up for our sin by self-improvement or good works. Only by trusting in Jesus Christ as God’s offer of forgiveness can anyone be saved from sin’s penalty. When we turn from our self-ruled life and turn to Jesus in faith, we are saved. Eternal life begins the moment one receives Jesus Christ into his life by faith.
We believe that (a) salvation is by grace, a free gift of God apart from works, (b) salvation involves repentance, a turning from one’s own way to God’s way, (c) salvation is through personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, (d) all who receive Jesus Christ are regenerated by the Holy Spirit and become the children of God, and (e) true salvation will be manifested by a changed life.
Rom. 6:23; Eph. 2:8, 9; John 14:6; 1:12; Titus 3:5; Gal. 3:26; Rom. 5:1
About God
There is one and only one living and true God. He is an intelligent, spiritual, and personal Being, the Creator, Redeemer, Preserver, and Ruler of the universe. God is infinite in holiness and completely without flaw in His character and existence. God is all powerful and all knowing; and His perfect knowledge extends to all things, past, present, and future, including the future decisions of His free creatures. To Him we owe the highest love, reverence, and obedience. The triune God reveals Himself to us as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, with separate personal characteristics, but without any difference in nature, essence, or being.
About Human Beings
Man is the special creation of God, made in His own image. He created them male and female as the crowning work of His creation. The gift of gender is thus part of the goodness of God’s creation. In the beginning man was innocent of sin and was endowed by his Creator with freedom of choice. By his free choice man sinned against God and brought sin into the human race. Through the temptation of Satan man violated the command of God and fell from his original innocence so his offspring (all of mankind) inherit a nature and an environment inclined toward sin. Therefore, as soon as we are capable of moral action, we become sinners and stand condemned before God. Only the grace of God can bring man into His holy fellowship and enable man to fulfill the creative purpose of God. The sacredness of human personality is evident in that God created man in His own image, and in that Christ died for man; therefore, every person of every race possesses full dignity and is worthy of respect and Christian love.
About Jesus Christ
Christ is the eternal Son of God. In His incarnation as Jesus Christ, He was conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. Jesus perfectly revealed and did the will of God, taking upon Himself human nature with its demands and necessities and identifying Himself completely with mankind yet without sin. He honored the divine law by His personal obedience, and in His sacrificial death on the cross He made provision for the rescue of men from sin. He was raised from the dead with a glorified body and appeared to His disciples as the person who was with them before His crucifixion. He ascended into heaven and is now exalted at the right hand of God where He is the One Mediator, fully God, fully man, in whose Person man is no longer at odds with God and instead is made right with Him. He will return in power and glory to judge the world and to bring to completion His redemptive mission. He now dwells in all believers as the living and ever present Lord.
About Eternity
God, in His own time and in His own way, will bring humanity’s earthly existence to its appropriate end. According to His promise, Jesus Christ will return personally and visibly in glory to the earth; the dead will be raised; and Christ will judge all men in truth. The unrighteous will be consigned to Hell, the place of everlasting punishment. The righteous in their resurrected and glorified bodies will receive their reward and will dwell forever in Heaven with the Lord.
OUR VALUES
We value Biblical authority.
The Bible is the foundation on which everything else is built. We will honor and proclaim the truth.
We value authenticity.
We are real people with real struggles, and we are learning to manage life by God’s design. We help one another overcome our struggles and effectively deal with life’s challenges.
We value meaningful worship.
Worship as individuals and as a group is an essential part of what God uses to restore us to His design as believers.
We value redeeming relationships.
When we spend time together, we encourage one another toward a Jesus – centered lifestyle. Our gatherings are a safe place of worship for the whole family. We see people as gifts from God.
We value personal development.
We all have room for growth in our lives, so we will consistently promote personal growth through Biblical teaching and small groups.
We value prayer.
We see prayer as communication with God where we hear His heart and share ours with Him.
We value growth by multiplication.
When God changes our lives, we tell people about Him. We desire to effectively reach our community for Christ.
Thomas and Dian Glover
In 2015 Thomas and Dian Glover were sent by Lake Valley Community Church as local missionaries and they joined the Garage Church. They are long-time residents of Hot Springs, where Thomas works at Keith Smith Company while also pastoring the Garage Church. They have two sons and two grandchildren. The Garage Church was planted in 2010 by Mike and Deby Prince, along with volunteers David and LaDonna Roshto. The church has grown due to the leadership of Mike and Deby, the care and labor of the volunteers/members, and the support of many prayer warriors.
