What are your beliefs?
How is the church governed?
What is Jeff Rutland’s background?
What distinguishes Keypointe Church from other worship styles?
What is your view on tithes and offerings?
What style of leadership can the members expect from the Senior Pastor?
What are your expectations for members?

What are your beliefs?
We know that all Christians have God’s purposes in their souls, and that operating in one’s unique calling in the body of Christ brings God glory as well as filling the believer with satisfaction. Assembling in local churches is God’s plan to strengthen the believer and equip him for ministry.

The mission of Keypointe Church is to transform people into fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ.

The sole basis of our belief is the Bible, which is uniquely God-inspired, infallible, and the final authority on all life matters. As the Bible teaches, there is one God, eternally existing in three persons — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit — each possessing all the attributes of Deity.

God created humans to have fellowship with Him and to glorify Him, but they defied God by sinfully going their own way. As a result, we need God's saving grace to be reconciled unto Him. Salvation comes only through God's saving grace — not human effort — and must be received personally by repentance and faith in Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ, second Person of the Trinity, born of the virgin Mary, lived a sinless life on earth and voluntarily paid for our sin by dying on the cross as our substitute. His sacrifice accomplishes salvation for all who receive grace by trusting in Him alone. He rose from the dead and is the only mediator between a person and God. He will return to earth in power and glory.

By God’s grace, a believer is to walk free from a sinful lifestyle and live in holiness, without which no person can see God. Each believer can be filled with the Holy Spirit to empower them to better tell people about Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit draws sinners to Christ and equips believers for ministry and service to God’s purposes. The believer’s responsibility is to bring the good news of Jesus Christ to the world. At the end, everyone will experience bodily resurrection and the judgment. All people will exist eternally. Those who are reconciled to God through Jesus Christ will enjoy eternal life with God. Those who are not reconciled to God will suffer eternal separation from God in hell. Back to top

How is the church governed?
Keypointe is a pastor-led church in close association with a local Elder Board and a Board of Trustees. We also have a Board of Overseers whose task is to provide loving counsel and discipline to the Senior Pastor as necessary.

The Elder Board is comprised of fifteen members of the church, who meet Biblical qualifications, and are selected by the congregation. They are to covenant with the Senior Pastor for the development of the spiritual life of the congregation. The Elders encourage members to serve, assist, initiate or develop works which advance the kingdom of Jesus Christ.

We also have a Board of Trustees which has sole authority to purchase property, sign real estate leases, borrow money for facilities, make facilities payments and provide counsel to the Senior Pastor in all major financial decisions.

Every independent church is challenged in the area of disciplining the Senior Pastor. Keypointe’s Board of Overseers exercises discipline of the Senior Pastor as it becomes necessary. The overseers are five active Senior Pastors of churches. Their purpose is to provide counsel and disciplinary oversight of the Senior Pastor up to and including dismissal. Discipline can be activated by the Elder Board.

No family members of the Senior Pastor may serve on the Board of Trustees, nor the Board of Overseers. Back to top

What is Jeff Rutland’s background?
Jeff has been married to Rita Hamil Rutland since 1984. Jeff grew up in Jackson while Rita grew up in Madison. They have a son Zac born in 1991 and a daughter Reagan, born in 1999. He received a B.B.A. from Ole Miss, with his major being Business Management. He worked in Baton Rouge, LA in sales for Kraft Foods for five years. During his tenure with Kraft, Jeff received the call to full time ministry, whereupon he and Rita moved away from Louisiana. Jeff completed two years of ministerial training. After prayer with Rita, they decided to move to their hometown of Madison in 1991. Rita had lived in Madison from 1972-1984, and again with Jeff from 1991 until the present day.

Jeff is pursuing a Master’s Degree in Organizational Leadership from Regent University.

In 1992, Jeff and Rita founded Reaching Forth Int’l, an umbrella organization that pioneers missions works as well as providing leadership development and church consulting services. For ten years, Jeff has traveled full time ministering in numerous countries as well as many U.S. states. Among the missions works pioneered by Jeff are: Bible Teaching positions in Russia’s public schools in which Jeff sent missionaries to serve as Bible Teachers on staff in Russian schools. Ultimately, the Russian government removed all foreign Bible Teachers from their schools. During this period, Jeff and his team co-founded a church in Vladimir, Russia. A Russian pastor currently leads this church. Jeff also created Intensive Bible Schools for Interpreters in the former USSR, from which Jeff and his missionary Administrator, Jim Harper, founded International Christian Interpreters Association, a membership organization for continuing education and fellowship. Jeff ultimately appointed Jim as the top leader of the Interpreters Ministries. Under Jim’s leadership, it has grown to more than 300 members from many countries. In 1996, Reaching Forth Int’l began printing and smuggling Christian books in nations that are hostile to Christianity. Currently, our teams are working in China, Armenia, Iran and Turkey. To date, we have printed and smuggled nearly one million books.

Also, Jeff and Rita have created various seminars on Vision-Driven Living, Leadership, Time Management, Organizational Effectiveness, etc. Jeff has acted as a church consultant in the areas of Leadership, Innovation, Strategy, Vision Writing and Organizational Effectiveness. Back to top

What distinguishes Keypointe Church from other worship styles?
We enjoy vibrant upbeat music such as Hillsongs of Australia, WOW worship, Ron Kenoly, classic hymns as well as heartfelt worship of Jesus Christ. We are devoted to music that exalts God and is loyal to Scriptures. It is contemporary and spirit-filled. Loving one another, learning how God’s Word changes lives, passionate worship, and praying for the sick are important elements of worship. Water baptism and the Lord’s Supper are the two ordinances of the church. Typical Sunday morning services are one hour fifteen minutes. Back to top

What is your view on tithes and offerings?
We believe that the tithe (10% of all your income) is for the New Testament Christian. Additionally, offerings are expected to advance God’s kingdom through special projects. Giving your money, time and energy are all important to spreading the good news of Jesus Christ. The church also tithes to outreach projects. We do not use gimmicks nor pressure tactics to “gain compliance” in money matters. Back to top

What style of leadership can the members expect from the Senior Pastor?
The Senior Pastor is there to coach, equip and empower people in the work of the ministry. According to Ephesians 4:11-13, pastors exist to equip the saints for the work of the ministry. Each person has an important role in the success of the local church. Also, Jesus gave us the same example. Servant leadership, which is exemplified by Jesus’ washing the disciples' feet, is our model. We reject the modern trend of dictatorial, military-style leadership from the Senior Pastor. The believer is not added to the pastor’s ministry, rather in a healthy church, the pastor’s ministry is to help the believer’s ministry. We believe people have great ideas and are fully capable of creating and implementing good works of God’s kingdom.

This model maximizes saints for the work of the ministry, to plant churches, and to pioneer in unreached nations. Consequently, Keypointe’s leadership style is taking leadership initiative, fostering relationships, casting vision, collaboration, empowering teams, equipping sub-leaders and building trust throughout the church. Outrageous trust unleashes extraordinary cooperation among the people.

Since we plan to become a church which plants churches which also plant churches, we must focus on regularly developing new leaders. Therefore, mentoring is key to this phase. We’d like to see a steady stream of young people in their twenties take key leadership roles alongside the more seasoned veterans.

In order to grow a powerful, reproductive Christian disciple, we must equip the members to be ministers. This model multiplies ministries through the pioneering of innovative ministry, gifts, talents and skills of the members. We expect church members to participate in the ministries of the church. Our mission to transforming lives is best done with all the members helping. Therefore, we envision mobilizing church members to “do the work of the ministry.” Back to top

What are your expectations for members?
To grow as a disciple of Jesus Christ.
To mature your family in Jesus Christ.
To be active in service to Jesus Christ.
To support the church vision in prayer and finances.
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