Justin Bailey
Below is an interview with Justin Bailey. Justin is a Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary student and member at Imago Dei Church in Raleigh, North Carolina.
Tell me about a little about yourself and your church, Imago Dei Church (IDC)?
Well I am a Louisiana College Alum with a degree in Biblical Studies with a concentration in Biblical Languages. I am currently working full time in Raleigh, NC at a call center and attending Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary part-time. I am looking at getting a Master of Arts in Old Testament for the purpose of going on to get a PhD and someday teach in an academic setting. I am also in our internship at Imago Dei which has been most benifical as far as learning this past year. As for Imago Dei we are, well we are in our infancy. We launched on September 11, 2011 and as our elders say, we’ve been building the plane as we fly it. Our building is located in North Raleigh and our local church body is dispersed throughout the RDU area. We are still a fairly monolithic group, though over the past few months this has been changing. We consist of mostly students and young professionals with some others thrown in there. Our hope as a church is to see lives changed by the gospel both in Raleigh and abroad. Everything we do from corporate worship to growth groups to justice ministry to orphan care to missions revolves around the central truth of the gospel. We hang everything on the fact that it alone will save and bring about true change.
How long have you been with IDC and how did you get connected?
I’ve been part of the church pretty much from the very beginning. I moved to Raleigh on June 1, 2011 and attended the second core team meeting on June 18. I got connected with IDC initially through Tony (Merida). He had announced his plans on planting in Raleigh in February of 2011 at a conference held at his former church Temple Baptist in Hattiesburg. I got the opportunity to speak to him for a bit about IDC & the RDU area. I felt very at peace with the idea of moving up there for the primary purpose of being part of IDC in any capacity. I didn’t have any real contact with any one until I moved to Raleigh, but was able to use the website & twitter to keep up with information. Once I got to Raleigh I was able to meet with Nate Akin, one of our elders, and just talk with him about myself, the church, Raleigh, etc. After that meeting I attended my first core group meeting and it just went from there.
What has God been recently teaching you through your involvement with IDC?
There have been a ton of things that the Lord has really brought to the forefront of my attention through IDC. Primarily, the importance of the local church. It can become real easy as a college student or seminarian or really anyone for that matter to neglect the local church. Our elders at IDC do everything they can to help you not make that deadly mistake. We always talk about how God has saved us into community and that we really live out the “one another’s” through the context of a local church body. This may not seem like a crazy idea, but it is foreign to most people. For most people they do not see the local church as a family or a body that either benefits or is harmed by their decisions. This is why at IDC we have what we feel is meaningful covenant membership, and this is for the benefit of the member and the body as a whole. Neither your gifts or sins go unnoticed when living life with others.
How is God using IDC for his glory and his Kingdom? (I realize IDC just turned one and have already sent out at least 1 missionary)
Well I am sure there are a ton of behind the scene things that I will not truly know until heaven, but currently we do have some really good things going on in Raleigh and abroad. In particular we are partnering with a couple who moved about 9 months ago to live in S.E. Asia to be the first missionaries to an unreached people group. We are really excited about what the Lord is doing through this family to reach this people group. The other night we had a Saturday night prayer meeting for them from 6:30 that lasted till about 10. We had just over 30 people there! This is about a 1/3 of our members meeting to pray for a couple and their two sons half way across the world on a Saturday night. It was an incredible time. Another focus currently is our Community Justice Assesment. This is a group of about 15 people going through a training process offered by the International Justice Misson to help equip local churches to serves both victims & survivors of injustice in their surrounding area. These two areas of focus are put forth by our Elders, but there are numerous things that are going on through our covenant members in the RDU area.
What are some future goals or plans of IDC for Kingdom impact?
Well I think first and foremost we want to see lives changed by the gospel in the RDU area and around the world. This works out through our support of missionaries via sending both people and money. We also want to be a church planting church. We currently have 9 interns who all have an interest in planting or revitalizing. On top of this number we have about 40 others who are looking to plant or be sent to an international context for missions. So between our group of interns and other covenant members we have about 50 or so people looking to be sent out. This is about half of our current membership. Some specific areas that we would like to reach would be Chapel Hill and Boston, along with any other area people are wanting to go.
Is there a podcast or media page for IDC?
Absolutely, the website is www.idcraleigh.com We have all our sermons titled under Worship then under Current Series. Everything is archived to the series it was a part of, and if it wasn’t for a series it is under a stand alone archive. We also have our bi-laws, core beliefs, blogs, our PEACE plan, etc. The sermon audio is usually up by the Sunday afternoon it was preached or Monday at the latest. If it’s not up, you can blame me for that. I would also recommend some of the individual videos which are directed at certain questions about what IDC believes on certain issues pertaining the local church.
