✝️ Call of Duty
A Primer on Radical Warfare
“Push back against the age as hard as it pushes against you.”—Flannery O’Connor
Each year, our church rallies around a theme. It helps us to align our preaching, programming, and practices around a central idea that coincides with our overall mission.
Our theme for 2026 is Radical Warfare.
Radical Warfare is the language we use to describe the tension between the kingdom of God and the kingdoms of this age.
The first series in the year of Radical Warfare, Call of Duty, is a three-week vision series designed to recruit, ready, and rally the people of Kingdom South around the mission God has given us to combat this tension: To work the words of Jesus together in Columbia.
Consider this month’s article a primer for the weeks ahead as we respond to this Call of Duty.
Every collective has values, spoken or unspoken.
But in moments of conflict, values stop being theoretical.
In war, what a country is willing or unwilling to do tells you exactly what it values. Strategies change. Tactics adapt. But values remain the compass. They determine how power is used, where sacrifice is made, and what is ultimately protected.
The same is true of a church.
At Kingdom South, our values are not decorative. They are not aspirational slogans or branding language. They are formative commitments. They are meant to live in us, not merely hang around us.
Back in November, I trained our leadership team around a single, clarifying mission:
To ensure we become a church that values our values.
When my tenure as Pastor comes to an end, hopefully two decades from now, that is all that will matter to me.
The most important question won’t be, “Did we win?”
It will be, “Did we win without violating our values?”
If we have to violate our values to win, I don’t want that prize.
By now, especially if you don’t go to Kingdom South, you’re probably wondering what our values are. 🤔
I’m glad you asked.
Spiritual Formation—We Become Like Jesus
Jesus is more than our Savior; He’s our example. We don’t just want the benefits of His sacrifice; we seek His rule over our lives. So we surrender to the slow, refining work of sanctification, trusting it as God’s will for us to become more like Jesus.
Authentic Community—We Live As Family
Following Jesus isn’t a solo journey but one taken in step with others. We resist hyperindividualism and choose community, building relationships marked by honesty and accountability. Church isn’t just a place we go to; it’s the people we grow with.
Missional Living—We Serve Others
We're working out what it means to fulfill the Great Commission while living the Great Commandment in a post-Christian society. As a people sent by Jesus, we believe our greatest gift to others isn't our church; it’s our lives lived in service, as Jesus did.
What do our values have to do with Radical Warfare? 🤔
I’m glad you asked.
Each week during the Call of Duty series, we will frame one of our core values as a form of resistance to prevailing cultural ideologies.
Here’s a week-by-week preview.
Week One (Sunday January 11th) | Spiritual Formation vs Cultural Formation
Every day, our desires, assumptions, and reflexes are being shaped (Cultural Formation), often without our awareness or consent. Spiritual Formation is our counterstrike. It is the intentional, lifelong practice of becoming like Jesus rather than being shaped by the urgency, distraction, and consumption of our age.
Week Two (Sunday January 18th) | Authentic Community vs Privatized Faith
Privatized Faith reduces discipleship to a personal experience, detached from shared life and mutual responsibility. Authentic Community is our counterstrike. It resists the myth of self-sufficiency. From the beginning, the way of Jesus has been communal, formed in shared life, mutual responsibility, and honest relationships.
Week Three (January 25th) | Missional Living vs Cultural Retreat
Cultural Retreat is the instinct to withdraw from the world in fear to protect purity, comfort, or identity by pulling back from engagement. Missional Living is our counterstrike. To follow Jesus is not a call to retreat, but a call toward presence, embodying the kingdom of God in our neighborhoods, our city, and our everyday lives.
Call of Duty officially kicks off at Kingdom South on Sunday, January 11th.
Consider this your invitation to join us.
Oh, one more thing.
Alongside each series this year, I’ve created a Bible Reading Plan that aligns with its theme. While our Call of Duty series is just beginning, the Bible Reading Plan began on January 1. However, it’s not too late to join us.