About Living Sacrifice
Meet the pastors and learn what we believe

Leadership

Our Team of Pastors

Pastor Brandon Nichols is a Chesapeake native with a heart for his hometown. He has served in ministry for over a decade in various capacities. He has served two previous churches as senior pastor. He currently serves as Pastor of Magnolia Methodist in Suffolk in addition to co-pastoring Living Sacrifice. He is an ordained Elder in the Global Methodist Church and was educated at Virginia Wesleyan College and Duke University Divinity School. Brandon is married to Bethany. They have one young, rambunctious toddler named Jack-Jack. Brandon’s passion is awakening a desire for the Living God within the sleepers in our churches and our world.

Pastor Matt Meisenhelter is an ordained elder in the Global Methodist Church and has been in ministry for over 20 years.  He attended Wesley Seminary, Lock Haven University, and Regent University for his six degrees and credentials in a variety of fields.  He’s married to Sarah and they have two teenage boys. They came to Virginia Beach after a decade of church planting in Northern Virginia.

Pastor Mary Sullivan-Trent

Global Methodist Church

Just like our pastors, we will seek to affiliate with the Global Methodist Church as soon as logistically possible. Here is a word from them: “Through our ministries, we desire to share the whole counsel of God with all peoples and to advance the presence and fulfillment of the Kingdom of God in every part of the world and at all levels of societies and cultures. The Global Methodist Church is committed to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, the inspiration and authority of the Scriptures, and the work of the Holy Spirit in conveying God’s truth and grace to all people.” Click the link below to learn more about this new denomination. 

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What We Believe

He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it.

Titus 1:9

We are firmly committed to Orthodox Christianity. While God is a Mystery we will never
fathom, we absolutely believe that you cannot Love God as you should, unless you know Him as
He has revealed Himself in Holy Scripture and the Universal teachings of the Church throughout
the ages under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

The Trinity

  • We believe that God is before all things and is the One in whom all things have their being. God is Almighty, All-knowing, All-present, and All-loving. God is Trinity. One God eternally existing as 3 Persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The 3 Persons of the Trinity are one in power, substance, and eternity.
  • God the Father has been calling us back to Himself through all the long centuries of human history. Through patriarchs, prophets, kings, apostles, teachers, and ultimately through Jesus the Messiah, the relentless love of the Father pursues us. He wants to bring His children home.
  • 2,000 years ago, the 2nd Person of the Trinity (The Son) became incarnated as the man Jesus of Nazareth. He lived and proclaimed the Kingdom of God which was being revealed in Himself. He was crucified on Cavalry’s Cross. His blood was shed to save a world of sinners. He took the sins of the world upon Himself, so that when He died, sin died with Him. On the Third day He rose again becoming the first fruits of a New Creation. He promises that all those who believe on His name will have a Resurrection like his and will become new creatures!
  • The Holy Spirit is God dwelling within the believer. He is our counselor and
    brings us the blessed assurance that we are saved in Christ. The Holy Spirit works within us to bring about our sanctification, so that we take on the character of Christ by becoming more Holy day by day.

As Believers

  • We believe that the Holy Bible is God’s Word – God Breathed and God inspired. Everything necessary to salvation and Holy Living is revealed in it. We cannot divide God’s Word based on our preferences. God’s Word stands in judgment over us. We do not stand in judgment over it.
  • We believe that humanity is fallen and that the human heart, apart from God’s grace, is totally depraved. “Its thoughts are only evil all the time” (Gen. 6: 5 paraphrased). It’s desires are curved in upon itself.
  • As Christians in the Wesleyan stream of the faith, we believe that God’s
    preventing (or prevenient) grace prevents the total affects of the fall and begins to heal the human heart so that it can look outward toward God and others. Justifying grace puts us in right alignment with God again through the acceptance of Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord. Sanctifying grace works within us to make us Holy actually. We recognize that it is not enough to be saved from the penalty of our sins, we must be saved from the reality of sin in our bodies. For we “walk [no longer] according to the flesh but according to the Spirit” (Romans 8: 4 ESV).
  • We believe in Entire Sanctification or the Doctrine of Christian Perfection. In
    unity with Wesleyan Christians throughout the world, we embrace the reality that God’s grace is so much greater than humanity’s sin that we can, by the work of the Holy Spirit and Grace, be made “perfect in love” in this life.
  • We believe we are called to be “Living Sacrifices” who surrender all to Jesus
    Christ. We believe that we must “take up our crosses” and follow Him by laying down our self-interest and looking to the needs of our neighbor before ourselves.

Sources

These beliefs are taken from the below
foundational documents of our faith which are binding upon us:

  • The Holy Bible
  • The Nicene Creed
  • The Apostle’s Creed
  • The Athanasian Creed
  • The Chalcedonian Definition
  • The Articles of Religion of the Methodist Church
  • The Confession of Faith of the Evangelical United Brethren

 

Please see the Global Methodist Church page for more details.

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