Love City Fellowship is a non-denominational church located in Gloversville, NY. Recently, I had a chance to sit down with Pastor Tim Cox Jr. to talk about his ministry, the church, and the book he has recently completed entitled The Blueprint: Living by the Architects Design.
Compass: What is your take on teaching?
Pastor Tim: I believe that every church’s main teaching should always be Jesus Christ. He is the way the truth and the life, so that’s the cornerstone of everything I teach at our church. I’m really big on teaching. I wouldn’t say that I am a deep, theological teacher. I think I’m very much a practical application, day-to-day life teacher. That’s one reason why we’ve seen some growth in our church.
We have so many people in our communities that know very little about the [the bible] that they get lost in a message that can be too deep for where they’re at. So I really try to focus my ministry and teaching at Love City on bringing out the truth’s of God’s word that never change, but doing it in a way where we can make an immediate application to our lives today, so that we can become more Christlike and become more effective disciples.
Compass: When did you first hear your call to ministry and what did you do with it?
Pastor Tim: I first knew that I had a call to the ministry when I was around twelve, thirteen years old. Actually, my mom still has a letter that I wrote to my parents. They had just punished me for doing something wrong, er, just kept me from doing what I wanted to do. They sent me to my room and I had already felt [God’s] pull from a young age. I remember going to my room and I was crying, I was upset, and I did some praying, and I really felt… in that moment God really solidified that call to ministry, even at that young age. I wrote my parents a letter, apologizing for the way I had acted and confessed to them and told them I really felt that God had called me into the ministry.
In my senior year of high school, into my early twenties and even after I was married, I had a time of rebelling. I ran away from that call until the age of about twenty-four, which is when I really hit a rock bottom place in my life and surrendered to God’s calling, and within a few months I was leading a youth ministry in a church in Cincinnati and then things progressed from there as God has led.
Compass: What makes Love City different from others in the area?
Pastor Tim: I believe what sets our church apart… is that we are very mainstream in regards to technology. We believe we are paving the way for the next generation of churches. God’s word never changes, but I do believe the methods and the way we minister to people vary, as generations change.
We have someone on staff whose only job is just handling media. We film from multiple angles, every service, so we can continue to upload teachings online and build our church online as well. So he’s in charge of all our social media updating, and making sure we have our media presence online.
A recent number came out, it’s pretty staggering, but the average time a person between the age of 16 to 35 spends on social media is anywhere between six to eight hours a day. If you consider that generational trend, it is a scary one. But that’s where the people are. So…it’s a great tool to use the word of God to minster to the people. About seventy-five percent of the people who walk into the doors of our church, when asked how they found out about Love City, most of them said Facebook or some form of social media.
I feel that we are trying to be a culturally relevant church, as far as this generation, but that doesn’t mean that we are watering down the word. That’s what’s misunderstood about our church, that because Love City is growing we must be watering down the word, and that’s not the case.
Compass: Tell me about your book, the subject and how I can get hold of it.
Pastor Tim: The title is The Blueprint: Living by the Architects Design. I started writing the book about twelve months ago. The reason I started to write the book was [because] we have so many new believers and non-believers walking through the doors of Love City. I felt like even though they could plug into a small group Bible study (which we’re big on), we were still putting these new believers in a place where they were having to piecemeal different portions of teachings from different books of the Bible, or different series, trying to establish foundational truths on their own. I wanted to be able to give our people a tool to disciple new believers, to structure them in some core, fundamental building blocks [for] a full and complete faith. At the end of the day, if you don’t have the basics of God’s word, you are going to struggle with your faith. You need to be able to implement those and live out those building blocks in everyday life. The book walks you through nine building blocks which I feel are critical.
Pastor Tim described some of the building blocks chapters, starting with God’s authority over his creation, his authoritative word, to one on sin and the plan of salvation, which he described as providing “the big picture” about the fall of man and why Jesus came, to one on the Holy Spirit and his role in the lives of a believer.
Pastor Tim: You can get the book at Fisherman’s Supply in Johnstown, NY, or you can get it on Amazon, or iTunes or you can purchase it by going to the book’s website which has a lot of resources and videos which is at www.theblueprint.tv.
Compass: What plans do you have for the future of the church?
Pastor Tim: Well, I don’t want to sound like a cliché, but I want what God wants for us. I do believe that a healthy church is a growing church, and we plan to continue to grow together. We believe God’s word teaches that as we grow spiritually and take on the image of Christ, we become great vessels which he can use in our everyday life, to share the gospel message and the love of Christ with others. And when that happens the way that God intended, then your church grows.
So, we are planning on doing some building projects. Currently we are out of space on Sundays so we are looking to add on to the building and free up some space. This year [we hope to get] involved in some athletic activities at our church. So we are planning to put up a basketball court and running some summer leagues…and getting involved in our community in that way. I’m a big basketball fan and player so that is something I’d like to offer to our community.
I thanked Pastor Tim gratefully for his time.
