About

Why the name, “Christocentric”?

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary defines “Christocentric” this way:

“\Chris”to*cen”tric\, a. [Christ + centric.] Making Christ the center, about whom all things are grouped, as in religion or history; tending toward Christ, as the central object of thought or emotion. –J. W. Chadwick.”

Scripture presents Jesus Christ as just that, and more; He is the central object of EVERYTHING.  He is the Creator and He is the only Savior. He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He should not be merely a facet of our lives – all of life should be lived for His glory. One major aspect of Christ’s supremacy is the truth that He is to supreme in the Church. He is the head of the Church. The Church is His body (Ephesians 1:22-23; 5:23) and His bride (Ephesians 5). He “loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless” (Ephesians 5:25b-27).

This is a blog by the pastors of Bethel Grace Baptist church, chronicalling our endeavors, by God’s grace, to be “Christocentric” - to live lives to the glory of Christ, and to shepherd a local body of Christians for the glory of Christ.  

Goals of this blog: 

To exalt Christ by:  

1. Edifying the people in our church, and other believers who come across our blog.

~ Much of what we write about will be primarily geared to the people God has given us the privilege of Shepherding. We hope for this blog to be a helpful, supplemental tool as we strive to ”present everyone perfect in Christ” (Colossians 1:28b). We hope other brothers and sisters may be built up by this blog as well. 

2. Representing Christ to those who don’t know Him.

~ Christ calls us to be His ambassadors to those who don’t know Him. As we blog about Him and about our efforts to keep Him central and exalted in our lives and our church, we hope to represent Him well. We are aware that many Christians have represented Christ poorly, and far too often His Church has been anything but the close-knit, unified, fervently loving family it is supposed to be. We hope you will get a glimpse of who Christ really is and what His Church should really be like from our blog. If you do not know Christ, we want you to know of what God did through Him. ”God made him who had no sin (Jesus Christ) to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21). Christ was punished as if He were a sinner, so that sinners could receive the reward for His perfectly holy life. We beg you: be reconciled to God through Jesus Christ! There is no other way to be made right with God. 

3. Letting people know about our church, and encouraging them to come and be a part of it!

~ Our church is certainly not perfect, but we believe it is a church that honors Christ by keeping His gospel central, by striving to function according to His Word, and by preaching and teaching His Word faithfully. God has seen us through some tough times, and He continues to bless. We believe He is working here! If you live nearby and you’re looking for a Church family where Christ is central, we want you to know we’re here! Our website is www.bethelgrace.org. 

What you can expect from this blog:

One post a week! Posts may be more frequent, but our goal is that they will not be less. Posts may be our own musings, or they may be links to blogs or sermons by others that we have found edifying in some way.

Who we are:

We are blessed to serve on ministry staff at Bethel Grace Baptist Church (www.bethelgrace.org) in Bellflower (near Long Beach), California.  

Jeff Saltzmann grew up in this area, and has served in numerous different roles since first coming on ministry staff in 1998. He has an MDiv from Talbot Theological Seminary, and has been the senior pastor of Bethel Grace since August 2006.

Joe Jacobson has been our worship pastor since October 2007. He has a Bachelor’s degree from Chapman University (Music) and a Masters’ degree from Talbot Theological Seminary (Biblical Studies and Theology). 

Donovan Drew grew up in Durban, South Africa (where, strangely enough, there are freeways, ATMs, and lots of other white people). He came to the U.S. to study at The Master’s College (BA in Biblical Studies). He served as youth pastor at Bethel Grace from January 2006 – July 2009.

Drew Lepis has a BA in Graphic Communication from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and an MDiv from The Master’s Seminary. He served as a pastoral intern at Bethel Grace from early 2008 until mid 2009.