I love this picture.
I don’t love it because I’m in it. In fact, quite to the contrary—I’d rather not be!
I love this picture because of what it says about the Gospel and its power. This picture contains four different races, three different denominational and ecclesiological perspectives, and yet, one glorious gospel uniting it all.
Let me introduce you to these brothers.
On the far left is PJ Tibayan. He’s the pastor of Bethany Baptist Church in Bellflower. This church is part of the Southern Baptist convention (SBC), is congregational, and practices a semi-closed communion.
Second from left is Bobby Scott. He went to the Master’s Seminary with me, and is the associate pastor at Community of Faith Bible Church in South Gate Los Angeles. He and I are more or less completely on the same page in terms of our theology.
The man next to me is Rudy Rubio. He is the pastor of Reformed Church of Los Angeles, a Presbyterian church in Lynwood. His church believes in infant baptism, holds to the Westminster Confession of Faith, and is part of the Acts 29 church planting network.
Now - I want to be clear. None of the four of us agree 100% on what we believe about the Bible. In fact, with the exception of Bobby, I would probably find it challenging to attend their churches for an extended amount of time, as they would find it challenging to attend ours.
However, we love one another as brothers in Christ, and pray for each others’ churches.
Why? Because the Gospel—the truth of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ for sinners, embraced by grace alone through faith alone is the heartbeat of each of these men’s ministries.
In fact, in the background you can see the T4G logo—Together for the Gospel. That’s what we are!
Heaven is very much like this—brothers and sisters of different backgrounds who lived their lives with various convictions about secondary and tertiary doctrines, but who were all radically committed to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and His glory alone!
The Gospel unites what the world, and even denominations, can divide.
I love this picture because it is a picture of heaven, and because heaven is about the glory of Jesus Christ!
