A church movement walking on Supernatural Waters of Renewal with Jesus!
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What We Believe and What We Do
Our Vision and Purpose
Our Vision and Purpose
Our Vision and Purpose
VISION
To host the supernatural glory of God in the name of Jesus, so that people can meet God personally and through His intimate love, be transformed into the likeness of Jesus, all the while becoming supernatural glory influencers themselves.
PURPOSE (formed around cracker barrel vision and funnel model)
Our purpose as described below, is
VISION
To host the supernatural glory of God in the name of Jesus, so that people can meet God personally and through His intimate love, be transformed into the likeness of Jesus, all the while becoming supernatural glory influencers themselves.
PURPOSE (formed around cracker barrel vision and funnel model)
Our purpose as described below, is continuously bathed in prayer and immersed in the supernatural Glory of God by our faith walk and intimacy with the Lord and our anticipation of regular real life supernatural transformative encounters with Him in us and through us.
In 2004 the Lord gave pastor Marlene a vision (you can read the story here) which has since become known as the “cracker barrel vision”.
In 2022, the Lord gave pastor Marlene a funnel model for a church He wanted her to launch called Walking On Water.
He subsequently showed her how the “cracker barrel vision” and the “funnel model” complemented each other and how the miraculous which is depicted by the “walking on water” theme, fitted into it all.
Below is our purpose based on the “cracker barrel vision” and the “funnel model” and the miraculous.
We have stepped out of the boat onto the water with Jesus, trusting Him to fulfill His purpose through us, as we obediently “walk on water” trusting Him.
We are just launching this, so most everything depicted below is part of a prophetic declaration waiting to be born as God provides and leads.
Our purpose consists of the following:
1. The restaurant in the vision, puts billboards on major exits
a. They place their bill boards strategically where travelers on interstates can see them easily and follow their directions to the restaurant.
b. All travelers are welcome; no distinctions are made.
c. This concept fits into the top of our funnel model, which is loaded with ways to catch the attention of people from all walks of life and funnel them into community in an authentic loving way.
d. This means we go where the people are hence:
i. Life groups doing life together with people in same neighborhoods, places of employment, schools, parks, sports, etc. witnessing through love and service.
ii. Life groups are Jesus’ living billboards in places where people from all walks of life intersect.
iii. Their purpose is to demonstrate an alternative refreshing way of doing life as individuals and whole families by being authentic doers of Jesus love.
iv. It’s all about building relationships organically with the people in our influence circles through authentic acts of love and service and testimony and eventually leading some to become Jesus followers themselves.
v. These life groups not only reach individuals but whole families.
vi. The how/method is left to the leading of Holy Spirit and is unique to every individual/life group.
vii. Ultimately, some people are attracted to Walking on Water’s corporate events through these interactions.
2. The parking lot of the restaurant
a. The parking lot imagery depicts the first encounters with the bigger more structured elements of Walking On Water Church on a corporate level.
b. The parking lot depicts a place of safety where a weary traveler can stop, get out and stretch their legs for a bit.
c. It requires very little commitment except to adhere to basic social rules, so everyone else feels safe too.
d. This encounter would best fit into our corporate Healing Service which is the next level down inside the top of our funnel, below the life groups.
e. Most people traveling through life, have emotional, spiritual and physical wounds, heart aches, sicknesses, diseases, etc.
f. In our healing service (which is open to all ages and ethnic groups) we love on broken people, initiating a process of healing and deliverance through worship, words of knowledge, the prophetic, prayer, testimony, short Scriptural devotions, etc. per the leading of Holy Spirit.
g. Testimonies of healing and deliverance are also a big part of this event.
h. Jesus still heals today and people need to experience, hear and see the results.
3. The front porch of the restaurant.
a. The front porch depicts our ice breaker ministries that happen before actual events start.
b. It involves hospitality teams greeting people and directing them, making sure everybody’s needs are met and people are comfortable inside and outside the building.
c. These hospitality teams consist of single individuals as well as whole families (parents and children serving together). We are a family and we aim to raise family awareness.
d. It also involves people connecting and forming small pockets of conversation while waiting for an event to start.
e. It could also involve spontaneous prayer for people who need prayer and encouragement.
f. Could involve snacks and drinks as well.
g. We want to do everything we can to help people connect and start the wonderful experience of community/family in an atmosphere of love and acceptance.
4. Entering into the Restaurant
a. The initial impression when you enter this particular restaurant, is that there is something there for everybody. It creates childlike awe and wonder with all the paraphernalia.
b. This would depict our corporate Family Services which is a little deeper into the top of the funnel, under the healing service.
c. Every level down, even though still in the top of the funnel, is a step deeper into Jesus and His lifestyle.
d. This level consists of separate services for adults, teenagers and children so that every age group can have the opportunity to be exposed to Scripture, Worship, practical applications of their faith, etc. at their level of understanding.
e. The purpose is to awaken awe and wonder for the only living God and Creator of the Universe in creative Word based worshipful ways, with the help of Holy Spirit.
f. These events in conjunction with the life groups and the ice breaker teams, zoom in on how to do family the Jesus way and how to be a witness as a family to other families of all walks of life.
g. Testimonies play a big role on this level too since God is always doing a work in His children.
h. At this level, people are expected to be more committed to church and serving each other.
5. Actual eating/restaurant area
a. This is where the meat is served and represents the throat of the funnel.
b. Besides our healing services and family services, we also have a corporate Bible Study service as well as accountability enrollment and discipleship training.
c. At these events we dig deep into the Word, asking God for greater revelation and depth in our understanding of Scripture and our walk with Him as well as a committing to accountability and training.
d. This is usually divided into two services, one for children and one for the rest.
e. At this level, people are gently held accountable to deny themselves, pick up their crosses daily and follow Jesus (Luke 9:23,24 – “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it”
f. The purpose of this level is to help people mature in the Lord and become living fully yielded vessels for Holy Spirit to flow through, so that they become influencers for Jesus in their own circles.
g. Therefore, this is also the level where people are encouraged to become fully accountable family members and to commit to our discipleship training which makes “following Jesus” as “His family” come alive.
h. Once a month we offer an “accountability class” where people on this level can sign up for accountability and discipleship training. In these trainings people are challenged into a mature walk with Christ by mature believers/mentors/spiritual parents, then they are trained to become mentors/spiritual parents themselves, therefore becoming Jesus’ influencers in their own right.
i. As we go down the funnel, involvement and servanthood and accountability become more intense.
6. Restroom/Cleansing area of Restaurant
a. Some people are bound by strong holds and demonic influences, and some are even filled with demonic spirits. All of this causes tremendous challenges and trauma in peoples’ lives and relationships.
b. Some people are carrying heavy loads of grief and depression and traumatic memories.
c. Some people are reeling under the heavy burden of acute or chronic illness.
d. Walking On Water raises up pastoral care and deliverance teams who come alongside such ones to help set them free and lead them into a life of healing and wholeness in Christ, giving them a place of love and acceptance to belong.
e. Walking On Water is a family serving family.
7. The payment area of Restaurant
a. Tithe and offerings are received and dispersed based on Malachi 3 and 2 Corinthians 9.
b. Walking On Water itself currently sows 20% of all tithes and offerings received into the poor and local, national and international outreach. The goal is to eventually sow 30%. We also give above that as the Lord leads.
c. Our seed currently goes to the following:
i. The Least of These Ministry (ministry to the poor/homeless in Roanoke VA)
ii. Oxbow Ministry (for local, national and international outreach)
iii. Local pastoral care (as Holy Spirit leads)
iv. Salaries
Illustration of top and throat of funnel:
8. Kitchen area of restaurant
a. This represents the neck of the funnel.
b. Once people are introduced to Jesus and become familiar with His ways and start following Him, the goal is to train “followers of Jesus” to become “fully yielded disciples of Jesus” who can be deployed as living serving demonstrations of his Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven.
c. The neck of the funnel is all about training and deployment for local, national and international outreach and ministry.
d. The entire neck is filled with ministry teams geared for service inside the church and outside in the community.
e. This is the backbone of the entire body called Walking On Water and consists of leaders and leaders-in-training from all walks of life and influence circles.
9. Leaving the restaurant to resume journey and come back repeatedly bringing new friends.
a. We aim to raise up, support and deploy mature loving humble Jesus’ influencers who love God and His Word with their whole heart, mind, soul and strength and practice His Kingdom on this earth as it is in heaven on local, national and international level.
b. Hence our vision: To host the supernatural glory of God so that people can meet God personally and through His intimate love, be transformed into the likeness of Jesus all the while becoming supernatural glory influencers themselves.
c. The result is a vibrant growing Jesus movement with deep roots in the heart of the city and its inhabitants, bringing Kingdom to Roanoke as it is in heaven, and seeing Roanoke transformed into the Righteousness of God.
10. Music
a. The particular restaurant in the vision always has music playing inside and outside, giving it a special atmosphere and ambiance.
b. Walking On Water is always bathed and immersed in intercessory prayer, worship and meditation on the living Word of God.
c. Every event and every outreach (whether corporate or individual) has its own distinct sound which continually reverberates in the heavens and shifts atmospheres and moves people, because of the God we serve.
d. We believe that as we lift up our voices in continuous intercessory prayer, worship and meditation, His promise in Isaiah 49:22 manifests in us and through us, “Behold, I will lift up My hand to the nations and set up My standard to the peoples; and they will bring your sons in their bosom, and your daughters will be carried on their shoulders. Kings will be your guardians, and their princesses your nurses”.
11. Corporate leaders
a. Walking On Water takes leadership very seriously.
b. It is our goal to raise up and nurture apostles, prophets, teachers, pastors, evangelists, elders, deacons, small group leaders, ministry leaders and deployment leaders of the highest integrity in Jesus.
c. These people are to serve our movement and the Roanoke community and beyond with love and humbleness and have a visible committed walk with Jesus.
d. All leaders are required to be accountable to each other and to God.
e. This group is intentionally depicted at the bottom of the neck as they are the foundation of the movement and Jesus is the cornerstone.
f. The neck is always serving and undergirding each other and the rest of the funnel all the way up.
Illustration of throat and neck of funnel
It is worth repeating:
Our purpose as described above, is continuously bathed in prayer and immersed in the supernatural Glory of God by our faith walk and intimacy with the Lord, and our anticipation of regular real life supernatural transformative encounters with Him, in us and through us.
Statement of Faith
Our Vision and Purpose
Our Vision and Purpose
GOD
We believe there is only One true God who has no beginning and no end. He is eternal - one being in three persons called the Trinity: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. He is Creator, Ruler and Redeemer of all creation.
HUMANS
We believe that God lovingly created humans in the image of God specifically as a man and a
GOD
We believe there is only One true God who has no beginning and no end. He is eternal - one being in three persons called the Trinity: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. He is Creator, Ruler and Redeemer of all creation.
HUMANS
We believe that God lovingly created humans in the image of God specifically as a man and a woman to have deep enjoyable rewarding relationships with Him. However, humans willfully rejected His Lordship putting them in a state of rebellion and outside of His glory. This introduced sin, judgment, death and sickness into the world which has had profound consequences on creation.
BIBLE
We believe that the Bible was written by individuals who were inspired by the Spirit of the One true God. It is the only infallible and authoritative Word of God.
SPIRITUAL REALM OF DARKNESS
We believe there is a spiritual realm of dark forces that influences our realm on earth. It is led by lucifer, also called satan, who rebelled against God as an angel. He and a group of rebellious angels were exiled from heaven and spend their time on earth trying to dissuade humans from following God. We believe that Adam and Eve gave satan authority on earth through their own rebellious sin of disobedience.
JESUS OUR REDEEMER
Jesus is the second person of the Trinity. We believe that Jesus did a complete victorious redemptive work on the cross, removing all authority from satan and his forces of darkness and restoring that authority to His followers.
In our faith, as followers of Jesus Christ, we place our trust in Him, acknowledging Him as the exclusive Son of God. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of a virgin called Mary without human conception.
God the Father specifically chose Him and endowed Him with divine authority to establish God's kingdom on earth. He took the sins and sicknesses and diseases of mankind upon himself by obediently allowing Himself to be beaten and killed on a cross and buried in a grave. By His stripes we are healed in body, soul and spirit.
He experienced real death. However, the grave could not hold Him because on the third day He was resurrected and after appearing to many eyewitnesses, ascended to heaven. Presently, Jesus is alive in the presence of God the Father and lives inside of every believer through His Spirit. He is both "true God" and "true man."
SAVED BY GRACE
According to the Bible, “sin” separated humans from God, leaving creation in a falling state of hopelessness and despair and the human soul in a state of eternal judgment and damnation. Hence, Jesus Christ came to be our Savior.
We believe that we are saved by God’s grace, through our faith in Jesus and the redemptive work He did on the cross taking on the full weight and judgment for our sins and sicknesses and diseases. Anyone can be saved and restored to eternal friendship with God by repenting, believing and receiving Jesus as their Savior and Lord.
HOLY SPIRIT
Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity. The Holy Spirit enters in and takes up residence in our hearts at the moment of salvation. He is the one who convicts, regenerates, justifies, sanctifies, and adopts us into the heart of God making us sons and daughters of the one true God. So now we have the wonderful heavenly assignment of bringing His kingdom to earth as it is in heaven.
We believe in the ongoing, sanctifying power of Holy Spirit as He lives inside of every person who has accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior. Holy Spirit inside of us enables every Christian to live a holy life and minister super-naturally. We also believe in the baptism of the Holy Spirit, according to Acts 1:4-8 and 2:4, which is additionally poured out on believers so that they might move in God’s supernatural power and gifts and be His bold witnesses.
CHURCH/EKKLESIA
The biblical Greek term for church is ekklesia and it describes a movement of people, known as the bride and family of Christ, who have put their faith in Jesus Christ and who have been commissioned to be His witnesses in all of their influence circles. As a family, we celebrate the ordinances of Baptism and Communion.
This movement of God is to continue the ministry of Jesus Christ, undoing the works of the enemy, preaching and living and sharing His heart and mind with the world, establishing His kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. We do this by teaching, baptizing and discipling people about the love of God and His Kingdom and restoring them into a right relationship with God so that they in turn can do likewise.
SECOND COMING
We believe that Jesus will visibly and physically return to judge the just and the unjust and rule and reign with his bride, the church/ekklesia, giving God all the glory.
HEAVEN AND HELL
We believe that heaven and hell are real places and that when Jesus comes again, all people who have passed away, will be resurrected from the dead to be judged with the living. Some will go to everlasting death and others to everlasting life.
Core Values
Our Vision and Purpose
Core Values
1. FATHER GOD IS ALWAYS GOOD
· Our faith in Father God and His redemptive Love never waivers irrespective of circumstances.
· God’s goodness is not an excuse to sin though. God will lovingly confront us if and when we sin.
2. WE WANT TO HOST THE GLORY OF GOD
· We are hungry for God’s manifest presence and power in the church and in our in
1. FATHER GOD IS ALWAYS GOOD
· Our faith in Father God and His redemptive Love never waivers irrespective of circumstances.
· God’s goodness is not an excuse to sin though. God will lovingly confront us if and when we sin.
2. WE WANT TO HOST THE GLORY OF GOD
· We are hungry for God’s manifest presence and power in the church and in our influence circles outside of the church.
· We desire an ever-deepening friendship with Him and a conscious awareness of Him wherever we go.
· We want to take others into His glory so that they too can be transformed and become glory hosts themselves.
3. GOD GIVES US “WALKING ON WATER” FAITH
· We believe nothing is impossible with God and therefore we believe in His supernatural manifestations in and through us.
This does not give us permission though to try and manipulate God for self gain. We are nothing without Him and His agenda is front and foremost.
4. JESUS PAID IT ALL ON THE CROSS
· Sin, iniquities, sickness, diseases, everything was paid for on the cross. Jesus blood is more than enough.
· We are still a work in progress though, which means we take responsibility for our sins and mistakes and are quick to repent and reconcile with those affected.
5. HOLY SPIRIT EMPOWERS SUPERNATURAL MINISTRY IN JESUS NAME
· We aim to always do the things that Jesus did when He walked this earth and greater things, because He said we would.
· Therefore, we partner with Holy Spirit so that we can demonstrate His Kingdom, His heart, His mind, to the people in our influence circles and point them to Him.
· We know that not every supernatural manifestation is from God though and so we rely on Holy Spirit to help us discern.
6. GOD’S WORD TRANSFORMS AND RENEWS LIVES
· As we read the Word (Bible) and commune with the Living Word (Jesus), we are constantly supernaturally transformed by the power of Holy Spirit, through the renewing of our minds, into the likeness of Christ. We believe in personal transformation and that we have a new identity in Christ.
We use the Word to teach and disciple people how to grow up in Christ.
· We understand that satan can use the Word to deceive a Christian and therefore we always judge and evaluate interpretation of Scripture together with Holy Spirit.
· The Word should always be read in an intimate relationship with the Author of the Word.
7. EVERY PERSON IS WORTHY OF HONOR AND LOVE
· We aim to always create a culture of honor where every individual is loved well with the love of Christ irrespective of their belief system because every person is made in the image of God.
· None of us are perfect which means we are all still a work in progress; however we are also never content with sin remaining in our lives and we constantly submit our desires to the will of God as God too is worthy of our honor and love.
· Honor lovingly confronts, limits and disciplines when necessary without controlling.
· We can agree to disagree with people and still celebrate the best in them.
· Honor begs respect.
8. WE ARE FAMILY
· God has adopted us as His family and so we create and nurture family and community wherever we go.
· We submit to one another and serve each other in love.
· We challenge each other to live out our new identity in Christ.
· We are in covenant with each other and therefore we are loyal to each other even when people fail. We do not abandon those who fail, in stead we are committed to restoring them.
· With that said, it is possible for somebody to willfully behave their way out of the family if their presence and willful behavior proves to be a threat to the health of the greater family.
9. WE ARE GENEROUS
· God is a good Father who blesses His children extravagantly with good gifts. We want to be like Him.
· God generously provides all our needs so that we always have everything we need and plenty left over to share with others.
· We are generous with our money, time, affection and talents in order to advance the Kingdom and give God the glory.
· Generosity changes the way we think about provision, because we are confident that God will constantly multiply our resources as we give.
· As we give, it will be given to us pressed down, shaken together and running over which translates into joy and joy is contagious.
· Generosity attracts the favor of God and transforms communities as it is a form of honor that we extend to both the poor and the wealthy and to God.
· We don’t serve money, money serves us as a powerful tool and we carefully follow Holy Spirit’s guidance so that we don’t give or spend impulsively but only as the Father tells us to.
10. WE WANT TO LEAVE A LEGACY FOR GENERATIONS TO COME
· We don’t know when Christ will return and so what we build today, we want to be able to hand over to the next generation and they to the next just like previous generations handed the work of their hands over to us. We want to see God’s work in us and through us, go from glory to glory to glory to generation to generation to generation.
· Jesus told us to make disciples of all nations, so we want to see individuals, but also entire nations, transformed by the love of Christ as we reach out and do the work of Christ.
· We believe that even in the face of resistance and conflict, the church will successfully fulfill Gods great commission and we are part of the church.
· We will succeed and leave a legacy for generations to come, because we are fulfilling Gods dreams on this earth as it is in heaven.