May 5, 2024: NEW Name, SAME Promise!

There is power in a NAME. 

 The angel told Mary & Joseph they were to name their newborn son, Jesus, which means “the Lord saves, or the Lord is salvation.” There are also times in Scripture that God changes someone’s name. The Bible records many accounts of God conferring new names upon individuals who underwent life-changing spiritual transformations. The new name marked a distinct change in a person’s status, which would impact his or her lineage for generations to come. 

In Scripture, whenever God changed the name of a person, it was the initiation of a much greater plan. Here are some of the examples: Jacob (deceiver) becomes Israel (let God prevail), Simon (fishermen) became Peter (the Rock upon which Jesus would build His church, Saul (persecutor) becomes Paul (indicating His conversion to Christ), in which he would become the Apostle to the Gentiles. 

God spoke to Abram (his original name) in Genesis 12 & 13 when he was 75 years old and told him that his descendants would be numerous. However, Abram and Sarai continue to get older and find themselves threatened by the “natural” limitations surrounding childbearing. Abram, in Genesis 17, is now 99 years old, and they still do not have the son that God promised He & Sarai, but God tells Abram to walk blameless before Him so that he could experience the covenant of promise that He made with Him earlier… and then God changed his name from Abram to Abraham. What was the significance of God changing his name? Here is the MAIN reason:

His New Name anchored him to God’s promise & spoke faith to his future. 

Even though they were getting to the age that it was naturally impossible to produce children, God changed his name from Abram which means “exalted father” to Abraham which means “father of many nations,” to help him anchor to the reality of the promise that God was going to accomplish. This was significant! He was teaching Abraham how to fully trust God even when it seemed impossible. Think about it… When God changed his name, he & Sarai didn’t have one child & they were beyond childbearing years. It didn’t look good… Yet, every time someone called him by his new name, they were addressing him as “the father of many nations.” 

As he embraced the name “Abraham”, it was reprogramming his thinking; it was changing the way he saw himself (regardless of his age), and it was speaking faith to his future. T

It is interesting but God also changed Sarai’s name which means “princess,” to Sarah, which is basically, “princess (mother) of many nations.” As they embraced their new names, they were coming into AGREEMENT with what God was saying about them & stirring their faith for the delivery of the promise, their son, Isaac. 

-----> We are so grateful for the prophetic PROMISES that God has spoken over this house over the years. In fact, I am certain that when Arthur and Anna Berg left their assignment as missionaries in the Belgian Congo, to plant a church in 1930, they came with the backing of God’s PROMISE… that if they would sow their lives into planting a church, that God would bring the harvest of souls. In fact, in their building campaign of 1949, they built the church in the center of the city and proclaimed, “The Gospel in the Heart of Sioux Falls.” The Berg’s son-in-law, DV Hurst, was their youth/worship pastor before he went to North Central Bible College, the A/G National Office, then became the President of Northwest College. He sent a note to congratulate our church when moving to 41st Street (our current location) and he said this, “You folks are certainly to be congratulated on the great forward steps that you have taken.” He goes on to say, “I am confident that the church there will rapidly become the leading Evangelical church in the entire state of South Dakota and will certainly be a credit to the work of God there in Sioux Falls. I’ve always dreamed of that church being a tremendous lighthouse in that city.” What a prophetic promise! The other night I had the joy of talking with Pastor Traub about some of the significant things that he saw during his tenure and then we conversed about the miraculous things that God is doing here up to this moment. It was around 15-20 years ago that God gave a vision and spoke that this church would be a hospital and regional trauma center, where we would see hurting people experience the HEALER… and it is happening! We have been in a season of supernatural Holy Spirit inspired momentum. We see it in our Prayer with Pastors, on Wednesday nights in Next Gen, in our LC groups, and during our Sundays & yet I truly believe the greatest days are ahead of us. While there are so many stories of “life change,” there are many more stories of “life change” to come.

LifeChange Church:

This is exciting! New name… Same Promise… God stands by His promises & we stand on His promise! We believe God is changing our name to anchor us to His promises over this house & speak faith to our future. God hasn’t forgotten the promises He made over your life, family, or our church… and He wants us to continue to press into them. Let me share some practical “whys” for the NAME CHANGE:

• While this has been a long, prayerful process, we realize that our new name reflects the mission of this church since 1930 when the Berg’s planted The Gospel Tabernacle which became First Assembly of God, Sioux Falls First, and in May 2024, Life Change Church. New name, Same Promise! It has always been about spiritual transformation; reaching the lost & discipling believers to become like Christ. We believe this name captures the essence of the 94-year history and will also take us into the future. Joining with other Assemblies of God churches in our fellowship, we remain committed to do our part in seeing churches planted through LC 33 which for us is having 7 campuses by the year 2033. The goal is ONE MILLION churches planted globally for the A/G.  

• Our current name limits us to one community. We have had people ask, “What are we going to be called in Harrisburg?” The same thing we are going to be called here or wherever God leads us… While we are grateful for the impact of Sioux Falls First, we realize that God is calling us to EXPANSION… to extend our influence beyond Sioux Falls, which means that our current name confines us. That is why our new name, LifeChange Church, will enable us to “lead people into a life changing relationship with Jesus Christ,” in Sioux Falls, Harrisburg, and wherever the “Lord of the Harvest” leads us… LifeChange Church will UNIFY us whether we are at the Sioux Falls campus, Spanish Campus, Online, at our Harrisburg campus or in other locations to come. This will officially happen on May 5, 2024. In fact, on May 5 we are having a party! Everybody is invited! We will be addressing more details tonight & in the weeks to come… We are excited to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit into our bright & faith-filled future.