About

How We Began

Senior Leader Tim Bright was radically saved from drugs and alcohol when he gave his life to Jesus Christ on July 10, 1998. He was immediately transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit, beginning his steadfast relationship with the Lord. Tim stepped into his ministry call the following year. His mind was miraculously healed from all drug effects, and he continues to walk in great freedom.

Tim has been happily married to his wife, Jessica, for over 20 years. They have three amazing sons. He’s passionate about leading people to Jesus and equipping believers to grow in their relationship with Him. Tim and the apostolic council officially launched Encounter Jesus on April 2, 2023.

Apostolic Council

We are a community of believers led by a senior leader and apostolic council. Together, they jointly oversee this church family. The senior leader is accountable to the apostolic council, composed of appointed elders who delegate authority, wisdom, and faith of God to this church family. It is a relational team effort that will pull on each others’ strengths by sharing the ministry workload responsibilities appropriately with mutual accountability, grace, and trust. There is an emphasis on empowering the leadership team to equip the saints to do the work of the ministry.

The apostolic council functions with the first among equal principle like Peter led the 12 apostles Jesus chose in Acts 2:14-4 and how James led the council of Jerusalem in Acts 15. Each elder is committed to working together by the power of the Holy Spirit in human-Christlike love to fulfill the vision (Titus 1:5-9, I Timothy 3:1-7, I Timothy 5:17-18, Proverbs 29:18, Proverbs 11:14, Proverbs 15:22, Proverbs 24:6).

Values

Scripture

We value the study and revelation of God’s Word as our source of truth for maturing in affection and wisdom of the divine love and grace of the Lord.

Prayer

We value the power of prayerful agreement with heaven for releasing God’s heart on earth.

Presence

We value the worship of the one true living God in all areas of our life. We acknowledge and give space for the Holy Spirit to lead, direct and move through us individually and as a church family.

Healing

We value the Holy Spirit’s ministry of healing mind, body, and spirit, believing it is always His will to heal and our privilege to agree in prayer.

Freedom

We value the destiny/purposes of God’s children and the strength of the church family to empower dreams and visions.

Family

We value God’s heart for all to know and experience love and belonging in Christ and through the body of Christ/church family.

Serving

We value the honor of serving God, others and our city/nation/world with love, compassion, and resources.

Beliefs

The Bible

We believe the Bible is living, active, God-breathed, and the only infallible, authoritative Word of God (Hebrews 4:12, 1 Thessalonians 2:13, 2 Timothy 3:16, Ephesians 6:17).

Trinity

We believe that there is one God who is eternally existent in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19, John 10:30, Ephesians 4:5-6).

Jesus

We believe Jesus is the Son of God who experienced a virgin birth. He destroyed the works of the devil through a sinless life (Matthew 1:23, Luke 1:31, Luke 1:35, 1 John 3:8, 1 Peter 2:22, Matthew 4:1-11).

Salvation

We believe Jesus is our only way to salvation. We become a new creation when we confess Jesus is Lord and believe in our hearts that he died for our sins and was raised three days later (John 14:6, 2 Corinthians 5:17, Romans 10:9-10).

Ascension

We believe God demonstrated his love by sending Jesus Christ to die for our sins and sicknesses. Jesus was crucified, buried, raised from the dead, and ascended to the Father so the power of the Holy Spirit could be sent to empower our lives (John 3:16, Isaiah 53:3-5, Matthew 28:5-6, Luke 24:50-53, Acts 1:8, Acts 2:4).

Holy Spirit

We believe the purpose of the Holy Spirit in our lives is to reveal Jesus, especially as it pertains to us being transformed into the likeness of Jesus Christ (John 14:17, Ephesians 5:18, 2 Corinthians 3:17-18, Romans 8:29, John 4:13-14).

Great Commission

We believe the purpose of the Holy Spirit on our lives is to proclaim the good news, disciple nations, heal the sick, raise the dead, and drive out evil spirits (Matthew 28:16-20, Matthew 10:8, Luke 7:22, John 7:37-38).

Baptism and Communion

We believe Jesus gave us two ordinances to follow: baptism and communion (Matthew 28:19, Romans 6:1-4, Acts 2:41-47, 1 Corinthians 11:23-32).

Body of Christ

We believe each born-again believer has a valuable part in the Body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:12-31).

Throne Room Worship

We believe the Body of Christ will be edified and built up through throne room worship (Isaiah 6, Revelation 4, Matthew 22:37-39, John 4:23-24, Ephesians 4:11-16).

Marriage

We believe God’s plan for human sexuality is to be expressed only within the context of marriage, that God created man and woman as unique biological persons made to complete each other. God instituted monogamous marriage between male and female as the foundation of the family and the basic structure of human society. For this reason, we believe that marriage is exclusively the union of one genetic male and one genetic female (Genesis 2:24, Matthew 19:5-6, Mark 10:6-9, Romans 1:26-27, 1 Corinthians 6:9).

Human Life

We believe that human life is sacred from conception to its natural end and that we must have concern for the physical and spiritual needs of our fellowmen (Psalm 139:13, Isaiah 49:1, Jeremiah 1:5, Matthew 22:37-39, Romans 12:20-21, Galatians 6:10).

Eternity

We believe there is a heaven and hell. There will be a resurrection of the saved and lost. The lost will have everlasting death and the saved will have everlasting life (Hebrews 9:28, Revelation 20:11-15, John 6:40, Luke 23:43, John 14:3, Revelation 21:1-8).