Our New Logo at COT

Good day to all COT Aficionados!

Many of you have commented to me by email how much you are enjoying our new logo for COT. Before I give a brief description of its contents, I want to personally thank Becca Ascol (the daughter of Dr. Tom Ascol, President of the Founder's Ministries and Pastor-Teacher at Grace Baptist Church) for her wonderful job in helping to design and assemble all the computer artwork to create this design. Anyone who can take my ideas and interpret them so beautifully, I have great respect for (I am not a very artsy person). She is very gifted with computers (Mac Computers) and we are honored and grateful that she chose to share her talents with us at COT.

I have been thinking about the contents of this new logo for quite sometime as to what to include to sum up the ministry that the Lord has given to do for His glory here at COT.

This logo is based upon Paul’s great words found in 2 Corinthians 4:5-7: “For we do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your bond-servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, “Light shall shine out of darkness,” is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves.”

Beginning in the upper left hand corner, here are what each of these symbols represent:

1. The Bible (and books behind it) represents our dedication to the authority, truth, inerrancy and infallibility of Scripture and to the study of sound doctrine and biblical theology.

2. The cross of our Lord Jesus Christ represents the totality of His sinless life given for us as a propitiation for our sins; as our vicarious substitute; and the ultimately, the good news of the gospel. He is not pictured on the cross (as the Romanists do) because He has risen from the grave bodily and now reigns at the right hand of the throne of God as King and Lord.

3. The hands washing the feet represents our commitment to His church--the body of Christ--in servanthood to each other and to our neighbors for His name sake. With Christ as our example who washed the disciples feet, He calls to serve one another as evidence of our love for Him.

4. The group of instruments represents our praise and worship to the Lord in song in response to His Word and that we serve Him within and by using “the arts”.

5. The Luthersrose is the centerpiece which binds all these other symbols together. It represents the utter despair of our sins; God’s love for His own that He chose in Christ before the world began; the new life we have through the gospel; our Lord's eternal Kingly reign; and our eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.

6. Lastly, circling all these rich symbols are the five Solas of the Reformation representing the proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ our Lord and our life lived in Him.

I hope that you will enjoy the rich meaning behind this logo for God and His glory. There were other meaningful symbols that could also be included here too--it is not exhaustive; but it does represent the ministry we have through this blog.

Grace and peace to you all,
Steve
Col. 1:9-14