LEADERSHIP
LEADERSHIP
KEITH DOLLAR
LEAD PASTOR
Pastor Keith is from the DFW area. When he became a Christian as a teenager, Christ changed the entire trajectory of his life bringing him out of a lifestyle of drugs and putting a passion in him to reach people who don’t know Jesus. He is a graduate of Christ For the Nations and Criswell College, where he received his B.A. in Biblical Studies. He is currently working on his Master's degree at Grimké Seminary. For over 10 years Keith served as an Associate Pastor and Worship Leader at City Church International (CCI) before planting City Church Garland (sent from CCI) in 2016 and becoming the Lead Pastor. Keith enjoys staying physically active by jogging, biking, basketball, PICKLE BALL & and other sports.
Keith and his wife Kyndall of 13 years have 4 children; Carson, Karis, Abigail & Justus and live in Garland, Texas.
KEVIN DIAZ
WORSHIP LEADER
Born and raised in Brooklyn, NY to parents of Dominican descent, Kevin came to Christ at 18. Since then, he developed a passion for discipleship through teaching God’s word, engaging God and others through passionate worship and leading others in authentic community. He moved to Dallas in 2006 to attend Christ for the Nations Institute, where he received an Associate of Practical Theology and an Advanced Studies Diploma with a focus on Worship Leading. Kevin, his wife Lori of 16 years and his daughters Mikaylah and Mariah currently live in Richardson Texas. They are foster parents hoping to adopt one day soon.
Kevin enjoys sports, playing and listening to music, watching movies (especially Marvel movies) and playing PlayStation (if he gets downtime). He also loves listening to John Piper, Matt Chandler, Tim Keller and David Platt.
STEVE KESSLER
MINISTRY ASSISTANT
Steve loves to watch Brian Regan and Tim Hawkins because he thinks laughter is good medicine. Steve is married to his college sweetheart of 25 years. They have four adult children and are now proud grandparents of the cutest grandson in the world (seriously!)! Steve served as a college minister and missions pastor for 27 years and now works for Navigate Property Management. He helps the church in areas of helping people get connected, leadership development, local outreach, and global missions.
CINDY KESSLER
CHILDREN'S DIRECTOR & MINISTRY ADMIN
Cindy brings a wealth of experience in teaching and working with children, having served as both a Children’s Director and a teacher. She has also worked alongside Steve in various ministry roles, including as a Mission’s Pastor. Cindy will continue to lead the women’s Bible study on Wednesday nights, manage our volunteer schedule through the Planning Center, oversee the children’s ministry, and handle weekly email communications. She will be an integral part of our weekly staff meetings, contributing to planning and organization. Cindy will also be a central figure in coordinating various church activities and events.
CORE VALUES
In 2019, CCG taught these core values in a series called Family Values.
These teachings are linked under each value.
AUTHENTIC WORSHIP
Our worship of God is not merely external but internal from the heart. We not only aim to worship God accurately but affectionately. In our worship, we respond to God’s beauty, truth, and worth from the inside out. This involves thinking great thoughts about God, feeling affection for God, and doing simple acts to obey God.
(Sermon: A Life Of Authentic Worship - Psalm 34, Pastor Keith Dollar)
BIBLICAL INTEGRITY
We deeply value the truth of Scripture and how that truth is handled. So we make it our aim to understand and be clear about what the bible means through expository preaching and teaching. We aim to center our preaching and teaching on the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Sermon: Biblical Integrity - 2 Timothy 2:14-18, Pastor Mike Ward
RADICAL DISCIPLESHIP
We take seriously the command to follow Jesus in discipleship. And we aim to make Christ’s values our own while calling others to follow and imitate Him. God has given leaders to the Church to equip it’s members for this work of being and making disciples.
Sermon: Radical Discipleship - Luke 14:25-35, Pastor Mike Ward
FAITHFUL PRAYER
We are aware of our own limitations and God‘s willingness and ability to do the impossible. So we pray and continue to believe that God hears us and will answer our prayers in His timing. Prayer changes things. It is the means that God has ordained for His kingdom to come and His will to be done on earth as it is in Heaven. The early church was a prayerful community and as they prayed the Holy Spirit moved powerfully amongst them.
(Sermon: Be Faithful In Prayer - Luke 18:1-14, Pastor Keith Dollar)
MISSIONAL LIVING
We are a people on mission with God. God has invited us to join Him in reaching all peoples with the gospel message. So we live with a sense of mission aiming to speak about the good news of Christ.
(Sermon: Missional Living -2 Corinthians 5:1-21, Pastor Keith Dollar )
LOVING COMMUNITY
Our love for one another is the mark of following Jesus genuinely. We make it our aim to do life together, weeping with one another, rejoicing with one another, praying for one another, encouraging one another & living out all the “one anothers” of Scripture. One of the places this is walked out in our community groups that meet in homes on a regular basis.
(Sermon: Loving Community - 1 John 3:11-16, Kevin Diaz)
UNIFIED DIVERSITY
We embrace and honor diversity in our church. Heaven is and will be a place of diversity with people from every ethnic group. There are core truths of the gospel of Jesus Christ that unite us which we refuse to compromise. There are also secondary issues and preferences in which we give one another freedom to believe differently without judging or breaking fellowship.
(Sermon: Unified Diversity- Ephesians 4:1-16, Pastor Keith Dollar)
JOYFUL GENEROUSITY
God has been abundantly generous towards us and the impact of His generosity leads us to be joyfully generous towards others.
(Sermon: Joyful Generosity - Acts 20:32-35, Pastor Keith Dollar)
WHAT WE BELIEVE
GOD
We believe that there is only one living and true God, who exists in three distinct persons — God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. These three, the Trinity, are equal in essence and distinct in function.
(Deuteronomy 6:4, Matthew 28:19)
THE FATHER
The first person of the Trinity orders and directs all things according to His purpose and pleasure. He has created humanity to bring Him glory and honor, through His grace. While He is transcendent, He is also actively involved in His creation — offering an eternal relationship with us through His Son, Jesus Christ. (Matthew 6:9, John 5:19-24, Ephesians 1:3-6, 2 Corinthians 5:18-19)
THE SON
Jesus Christ is both the eternal Son of God and virgin-born Son of man. Fully God, fully man, He surrendered nothing of His deity during His earthly life. His sinless, sacrificial offering on the cross satisfied the Father’s justice, offering atonement for all of humanity’s sins, for all time. We believe in His bodily resurrection, His physical ascension, and His visible return back to earth to establish His earthly kingdom. (John 1:14-18, 1 Corinthians 15, Hebrews 1:3, Colossians 2:9, Revelations 20:11-15)
THE HOLY SPIRIT
The third person of the Trinity executes the will of God in this world through humanity, by leading, guiding, filling, teaching, and convicting. The Holy Spirit is not merely an impersonal force, but a person, displaying the qualities of personhood (intellect, emotions, and will). He equips believers upon conversion by giving the gifts to be used for the building up of the church, and by bearing fruit through their yielded lives. (Romans 8:13-16, 26-27, John 14:26-27, 16:13-15, 1 Corinthians 12, Ephesians 1:13, Galatians 5:16-25)
HUMANITY
We were created in the image of God, designed to enjoy an intimate relationship with God, fulfilling His will here on earth. But because of Adam and Eve’s willful sin in the garden, sin entered into the world, and has infected all of humanity. Therefore, because of our inherent sinful nature received from our father Adam, we are all separated from God, spiritually dead, and destined for physical death and an eternity removed from God. (Genesis 1-3, Romans 1: 18-32, Romans 3 & 5, Ephesians 2:1-3)
SALVATION
We believe that Jesus Christ died for our sins as the only sufficient sacrifice, offering the atonement of sins for all mankind through His death, burial, and resurrection. While salvation is offered to all, it is only experienced by those who receive His gracious gift by faith apart from works. Those who have received the gift of salvation have become children of God. They are given a new nature, placed into the universal body of Christ, and made eternally secure in Him. As a result of our new relationship with God through His Son Jesus, we are now called to a life of submission to the Holy Spirit, manifesting spiritual fruit, and walking in good works that God has prepared beforehand for us to do. (John 1:12, 14:6, John 3:16, Acts 4:12, Romans 3:21-26, Ephesians 1:7, 2:8-10, Hebrews 10:10-14, 1 John 5:11-13, Galatians 3:26)
THE SCRIPTURES
We believe that every word in the original writings is inspired by God and is without error. The Word of God reveals God’s nature and will for all of humanity, and, because of this, it is to be the foundation of faith and practice. We affirm that while the Scriptures are accurate in all matters, they were never given to be an end in and of themselves, but rather a means to a relationship with God. Because of this, the authority and teaching of Scriptures will have a preeminent place in our church. (II Timothy 3:16–17, II Peter 1:20–21, Hebrews 4:12, John 17:17)
THE CHURCH
For all who have placed their faith in God through His Son Jesus Christ, they are a part of the universal body of believers known as the church. This placement of the believer into the universal church requires an association of the believer with other followers of Christ in a local assembly. The purpose of the local church is to lead people to Christ and to bring them to maturity in Christ. The members of the local church are to live their lives in humble submission to other Spirit-led believers, and to the God-appointed leaders of the church. City Church Garland is an autonomous local assembly that is led by Jesus Christ, who gives direction as the head of this body through a body of appointed elders. (Hebrews 10:24–25, Acts 2:41–47, I Corinthians 12–14, Matthew 28:18– 20, Ephesians 2:19–22, 5:18-21)
THE FUTURE
We believe that the next great event in human history will be the return of Jesus Christ for His people. This is the blessed hope for all followers of Jesus Christ. While this event is a prophetic truth of Scripture, we acknowledge that the point of Christ’s return is not for the believer to passively await this event, but to labor with all of our might in the power of the Spirit to fulfill His will in our lives through godly living, evangelism, and discipleship. After the return of Christ, those who accepted God’s gracious gift of salvation will worship God forever in heaven. Those who did not will spend an eternity separated from Him in hell. (Matthew 24:36, I Thess. 4:15–17, John 14:1–3, Matthew 24–25, Revelation 21:1-8)
NON-ESSENTIALS
We affirm that the doctrines of the Trinity, the deity of Christ, the bodily resurrection, the atoning work of Christ on the cross, and salvation by grace through faith make up the essential, distinctive nature of Christianity. In regard to these essential doctrines, there should be no conflicting opinions among those who call themselves true followers of Christ.
However, we do acknowledge that there are peripheral or non-essential doctrines that are important, but not critical to the follower of Christ as it relates to our salvation. Some of these doctrines include the specific functions of women in ministry, the exact timing and nature of the rapture, the extent and use of certain spiritual gifts, the relationship between divine sovereignty and human responsibility, etc. While our church will be diligent to establish positions as it relates to these non-essentials, we will not allow these peripheral doctrines to cause division within the church. We will accept into our body those who have differing views on the non-essential doctrines but will not allow those of a different opinion to fracture the church. While we celebrate diversity along all lines (racial and theological), we will ultimately pursue the unity of the church.
City Church Garland is a church plant from City Church International (cci.church)
a church in Dallas that launched in 2016.