DISCOVER 101

WELCOME TO DISCOVER 101

You were created for a purpose.

God formed you within himself before time began, drew you out of his own being as a “line of God-code,” and then embedded you in your family lineage, in your mother’s womb, sending you into the world to manifest the Creator’s image in your unique, one-of-a-kind way—in the way that only you can! (Psalm 139:13-18; Ephesians 1:)

You were created for a purpose.

We want to help you discover it.

Our goal at Freedom Life Church is to help you find your purpose, to help you fully emerge into the vocation for which you were created. The New Testament describes this vocation as “the ministry of the saints” (1 Corinthians 16:15) and “the work of [your] ministry” (Ephesians 4:12).

It is your service in the world.

As Paul the apostle put it, all believers have been given by God “an assigned area of influence,” a sphere of action—a “metron,” to use the original Greek word—in which we are called to serve. (2 Corinthians 10:12-18)

INTERACT: Does everyone understand the Greek word “metron”? It is the word from which we derive the English word “meter.” It means “a measured place.”

What is your metron?

To help you find your purpose, our Pastors Team at Freedom Life developed a process we call NEXT STEPS, which is a pathway designed to guide you into your ministry and calling through involvement in:

  1. FREEDOM LIFE SERVE TEAM (our volunteer team)

  2. FREEDOM LIFE BASIC TRAINING (a four-week equipping course)

  3. FREEDOM LIFE GROUPS (house-to-house ministry gatherings)

As you follow this pathway, you will (1) CONNECT with Freedom Life Church; (2) GROW as you are equipped in your gifts and callings; and (3) LEAD by serving in your assigned areas of influence.

Here’s the bottom line: You were created in the image of God to share in dominion over the earth and manifest the glory of God in your assigned area of influence until “the knowledge of the glory of the Lord fills the earth as the waters cover the sea” (Habakkuk 2:14).

That’s your purpose.

We are honored to help you find and fulfill it.

INTERACT: There are three areas of involvement listed above that we invite you to join to discover your purpose. What are they?

GET TO KNOW FREEDOM LIFE CHURCH

Let’s start this discovery journey together by telling you a little more about Freedom Life Church.

We are a multi-generational, multi-ethnic congregation joined together by our love for Christ and for his mission—and for one another. We are a church where everyone has the opportunity to develop and use their gifts within the congregation and in the world. We believe that service is the heart of leadership. Those who aspire to lead must eagerly serve. This is the heart of Christ’s kingdom!

OUR MISSION

Freedom Life Church was planted with one simple goal:

→ To help people LIVE FREE as transformed people, family, church and culture.

Thus, our name: Freedom Life Church.

INTERACT: Everyone repeat with me: “Our mission is to help people LIVE FREE as transformed people, family, church and culture.”

In Christ, we are saved from death and come alive in the Spirit to live out the “freedom for which Christ has made us free” (Galatians 5:1). We are liberated from the fear of death and thereby from slavery to the flesh, the world and the devil, as the Bible puts it. (Hebrews 2:13-14; Ephesians 2:1-3)

As we step into freedom, we are transformed to reflect the image of God revealed in Christ. (2 Corinthians 3:17–18) Personal transformation works its way out as transformed family, church and culture. That’s precisely how—as we love to say!—changed people change the world.

OUR VISION

If our “mission” is what we do from day-to-day at Freedom Life Church, then our “vision” is the ultimate goal of all we do, the end-game for everything. At Freedom Life Church, our long-term, generational vision is to see the glory of the Lord cover the earth as the kingdom of God comes in every nation through transformed people, family, church and culture. (Habakkuk 2:14; Matthew 28:18-20; 2 Corinthians 3:17-18)

OUR STORY

Freedom Life Church has deep roots.

It all started in 1980 when James and Linda Pixler planted Cornerstone Apostolic Church in Fort Worth, TX. They served as pastors until 1999 when Steve and Jeana Pixler assumed pastoral leadership. From then on, James Pixler was affectionately known to the Cornerstone family as “Bishop.” Bishop passed away in April 2018, but all who knew him honor his memory and ministry. We owe everything to our founding pastors’ faithfulness!

Steve and Jeana served as pastors at Cornerstone in Fort Worth for seventeen years, and then, in 2017, led with an incredible team of friends the re-location and re-launch of Cornerstone Church as Freedom Life Church in Mansfield. Freedom Life Church re-launched as an Association of Related Churches (ARC) plant, and we are deeply grateful for the impetus that ARC gave us from day one.

The Freedom Life story continues, and you are invited to help us write the next chapter.

FIRST STEPS

Just before we dive into our beliefs and values, we should pause to ask if you have made the decision to “live free”? Are you a believer and devoted follower of Jesus?

If not—or if you want to renew your faith commitment to Christ—then please let us know so you can sign up for First Steps, our new believers’ class at Freedom Life Church. If you are taking your first step of faith in Jesus—or your first step back to Jesus!—don’t take that step alone.

  • In First Steps, you will meet pastors and other believers who are ready to walk this journey of faith with you.

  • You will learn the basics of faith in Jesus, the power and necessity of baptism, and what it means to be filled with the Spirit.

  • You will be given practical tools for going deeper in your relationship with God the Father in Christ through the Spirit.

INTERACT: Is there anyone here that is ready to make the decision to follow Jesus? If so, please let us know so we can celebrate you! Then, we will pause as you sign up below for First Steps.

OUR BELIEFS

Here’s a quick summary of what we believe. If you want more detail, including scripture references for your convenience, check out our Statement of Faith on our website.

  • We believe in one God who exists eternally as Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

  • We believe that Jesus is the Son of God and the Savior of the world. Jesus, through the Holy Spirit, is the only true revelation of God the Father.

  • We believe that the Holy Spirit is the supernatural presence, power and person of God indwelling believers throughout the world.

  • We believe that Jesus is the Word of God and that Holy Scripture is the infallible “God-breathed” testimony of his life and ministry. We believe the Bible is a faithful witness of Christ, and thus it is the guide for our life and practice.   

  • We believe in the baptism of the Holy Spirit as a distinct and ongoing experience following salvation, and that all the gifts of the Spirit described in the New Testament remain available and essential to the church until the resurrection when Christ comes again.

  • We believe that God still saves, delivers and heals—miraculously and supernaturally.

  • We believe that we are saved by grace alone through faith alone.

  • We believe that the church of Jesus is “the ekklesia,” the local and global gathering—the kingdom assembly—of believers everywhere throughout the world.

  • We believe that the kingdom of God comes through the transformation caused by God’s love among all people in every nation under heaven with significant and manifest victory over evil powers prior to the Second Coming.

  • We believe that the family—the covenant household—is a key element in the advance of Christ’s kingdom through generational momentum, and that the cornerstone of family renewal in the earth is the preservation of marriage as exclusively for life between a biological male and a biological female.

  • We believe that sex is a beautiful, powerful expression of the divine image in humans given by God to unite mysteriously two souls into one, and that sex, like fire, is profoundly beneficial in its place—within a lifelong, covenant marriage between a biological male and a biological female.

Again, you can find more detail on our website, including Our Values statement.

OUR STRUCTURE

Believers who invest their hearts, time, families, and finances in the building of a local church deserve to have confidence in church leadership. People are looking for leaders who conduct themselves with integrity and respect when making decisions that affect their lives.

Therefore, Freedom Life Church is led by the following:

  1. Apostolic Oversight Board — The Apostolic Oversight Board is comprised of experienced ministry leaders who provide oversight and accountability for the Lead Pastors (Steve and Jeana Pixler) and the Board of Directors.

  2. Board of Directors — The Board of Directors manages the financial oversight for Freedom Life Church and holds the Pastors Team and Lead Team financially accountable. Freedom Life Church subjects itself to strict financial controls and reviews, including self-imposed audits.

  3. Pastors Team — The Pastors Team is:

    1. Steve & Jeana Pixler | Lead Pastors

    2. Reuben & Marietta Najera | Executive Pastors

    3. Jeremy & Rachael Doucet | Connections Pastors

  4. Lead Team — The Lead Team is comprised of the Team Leads from each of our volunteer teams.

Membership

We do not require formal “membership” to belong at Freedom Life Church. Certainly, there are many who commit deeply to Freedom Life and make it their spiritual home. Many of us have walked together so long that we have truly become family to each other. But we are careful not to impose artificial, religious requirements for relationship such as membership. You already belong to us because you belong to Christ!

At Freedom Life Church, there are three levels of involvement:

  1. Attendee

  2. Volunteer

  3. Leader

INTERACT: Anyone have any further questions about Freedom Life Church?

LIVE FREE: A STRATEGY FOR TRANSFORMATION

Now that you’ve learned more about Freedom Life Church, let’s dive a little deeper into how we help you grow into your eternal purpose.

Let’s start by looking at Jesus’ strategic plan for advancing his kingdom in the world and bringing salvation to the nations. Jesus’ plan is the church (ekklesia):

Matthew 16:18–19 (NRSV): 18 And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”

Jesus established his church (ekklesia) as the vehicle that carries people into their kingdom purpose. Jesus established the church to function on three levels. At Freedom Life, we call these three “dimensions” of church function the “3D Ekklesia.”

Take a closer look.

3D Ekklesia

At Freedom Life, we believe passionately that your purpose is directly tied to God’s eternal purpose.

Ephesians 1:11–12 (NRSV): 11 In Christ we have also obtained an inheritance, having been destined according to the purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to his counsel and will, 12 so that we, who were the first to set our hope on Christ, might live for the praise of his glory.

To put it simply, it is impossible to live out your purpose in the earth apart from the 3D Ekklesia Jesus founded. The 3D Ekklesia is the means by which Christ Jesus ushers you into your eternal destiny.

Here are the three dimensions of essential ministry that Christ introduced and his apostles implemented:

1. MINISTRY TO THE MULTITUDE

Jesus trained his disciples to minister to the multitude (crowds) that followed him. He preached the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) and fed the five-thousand (Matthew 14:13). Here’s how Jesus ministered to the multitude:

Matthew 9:36-38 (NRSV): When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”

The early church followed Jesus’ example. All through the Book of Acts we see examples of ministry to the multitude, starting with the Day of Pentecost. (Acts 2)

At Freedom Life Church, we recognize that Sunday morning is the best opportunity within our current cultural setting to attract crowds of people on a regular basis. Thus, we see Sunday morning as MINISTRY TO THE MULTITUDE.

Through a warm welcome, powerful worship, authentic fellowship, practical teaching and safe, fun ministry to children, we invite people to experience the presence of God and be drawn deeper into his love. It is the love of God that draws people to follow Jesus!

This is why we invite you to join the SERVE TEAM. (Learn more in Serve 201.)

2. MINISTRY OF THE FIVEFOLD

Many times, after Jesus had ministered to the multitude, he would gather his disciples in a private setting and take them deeper into the themes he introduced to the crowds. The apostles kept this habit going after the Day of Pentecost. They gathered believers in the temple at a place called “Solomon’s Portico.” This is where they trained newly baptized believers how to live out their ministry in the world.

Later, in Acts 19-20, in “the school of Tyrannus,” Paul developed this sort of “apostolic equipping” into what we now traditionally call “the fivefold ministry.” The phrase “fivefold ministry” is used to describe the multifaceted ministry grace Paul spoke about in Ephesians 4:

Ephesians 4:7 (NRSV): 7 But each of us was given grace according to the measure of Christ’s gift.

Ephesians 4:11–13 (NRSV): The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some [shepherds] and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ.

Paul teaches us in Ephesians 4 that Christ distributed multifaceted grace to believers so that believers would be empowered and equipped to multiply their ministry in the world. This is how the body of Christ grows in every nation!

Believers cannot enter into the fullness of their ministry without the distribution of grace through the fivefold ministry. As Paul emphasized, this is precisely why Christ gave apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds and teachers: to equip the saints for the work of their ministry. The “fivefold ministry” is like a coaching team in the NFL. They train believers to “play the game” of ministry beyond Sunday.

Your purpose is linked with the fivefold ministry.

This is why we invite you to join “BASIC TRAINING.” (Learn more in Vision 301.)

3. MINISTRY OF THE SAINTS

Jesus not only recruited and trained his disciples, he also deployed them into the cities to minister from house-to-house. (Luke 10:1-12)

The apostles continued this practice in Acts 2 and beyond. After they did MINISTRY TO THE MULTITUDE and MINISTRY OF THE FIVEFOLD, they deployed believers to do MINISTRY OF THE SAINTS from house-to-house. (Acts 2:46; 5:42; 20:20)

The ministry of the saints is described in Acts 2:42.

Acts 2:42 (NRSV): They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.

The first century believers understood that Jesus had called them to be a “royal priesthood” (1 Peter 2:5, 9), and that the fivefold ministry was given by Christ to train believers how to perform “the ministry of the saints” (1 Corinthians 16:15) from “house-to-house” (Acts 2:46).

Get this: Every believer is called to be a priest. Since the time of the Protestant Reformation (1500s), this biblical idea has been described as “the priesthood of all believers.” To become a disciple of Jesus is to accept the mission of replicating the ministry of the saints—the priesthood of all believers—in every home, neighborhood, city and nation.

At Freedom Life, we do the ministry of the saints in GROUPS. As we gather in GROUPS, here’s how we fulfill Acts 2:42:

  1. Discuss the Bible (1 Timothy 4:13)

  2. Minister to one another (koinonia; 1 Corinthians 12-14)

  3. Eat together (communion; 1 Corinthians 11)

  4. Pray together (1 Timothy 2:1)

Your eternal purpose as the image of God is directly tied to your ministry in your metron. We cannot find fulfillment in our divine destiny apart from the MINISTRY OF THE SAINTS.

This is why we invite you to join GROUPS. (Learn more in Vision 301.)

INTERACT:

1. What is the “ekklesia”?

2. What are the three dimensions of ekklesia?

3. What are the three “areas of involvement” at Freedom Life that align with the three dimensions?

NEXT STEPS

The 3D Ekklesia (church) model above attracts, equips and sends people into their ministry and mission in the world. Every believer has “an assigned area of influence” (our metron; 2 Corinthians 10:13-18), and we are called to serve within that sphere.

The 3D Ekklesia functions somewhat like an army:

  1. Recruit (ministry to the multitude: Serve Team)

  2. Train (ministry of the fivefold: Basic Training)

  3. Deploy (ministry of the saints: Groups)

Believers who never go beyond Sunday are like soldiers who never get past the recruiting center.

Are you ready to take your NEXT STEP?

If so, you can sign up below for Serve 201, which is a class designed to explore your gifts and callings and explain the many ways you can serve at Freedom Life Church.

WAYS TO SERVE

Some of our Serve Team opportunities include:

Connect Team

People matter to God, therefore, people matter to us. It’s the heart of Freedom Life Connect Team to demonstrate this love by serving from street to seat every guest God sends our way.

Freedom Life Kids

Freedom Life Kids leads children into a real relationship with Jesus through Bible stories, worship, prayer, hands-on activities, and personal interactions.

Freedom Life Students

Ignite Students is for 6th-12th grade students where they can encounter God, connect with others, and hear life-transforming messages. The high-energy, student-led atmosphere embraces young people with the love of God.

Freedom Life Worship

Freedom Life Worship leads us every Sunday into the presence of God. The Worship Team includes both those who lead from the stage and the AV booth.

Freedom Life Prayer Force

Freedom Life Prayer Force is our Prayer Team. The Prayer Force serves every Sunday in pre-service prayer and following the message down front during ministry time. The Prayer Force also hosts regular prayer campaigns throughout the year.

SIGN UP

Ready to get involved? If so, then let’s get you signed up for Serve 201!

 

GIVE

One more thing before we go.

New friends who join us for Discover 101 usually want to know how they can give to Freedom Life Church. We have learned that, when people align their heart with a home church, they eagerly invest their time, talent and treasure. As Jesus said, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:21). As we often say, your heart goes wherever you give.

Giving is worship. As Paul said, “The gifts you sent [are] a fragrant offering, a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God” (Philippians 4:18). Then, he added, “And my God will fully satisfy every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19). Giving draws on God’s generous promise of provision.

2 Corinthians 9:11 (NRSV): You will be enriched in every way for your great generosity, which will produce thanksgiving to God through us.”

At Freedom Life Church, we understand that legalistic, Mosaic tithing is no longer required for those in the New Covenant. However, we also understand that the tenth given by Abram before the Law of Moses provides a “grace-standard” of giving, a threshold of kingdom-centered, covenant-based giving. Those who understand the “critical mass” threshold of giving latent within the tithe—and the divine-human partnership the tithe embodies—give a Spirit-led tenth freely by grace under no compulsion.

Want to know more about how to give at Freedom Life Church? Visit myfreedomlife.com/give.

Thank you for joining us in Discover 101!