What does the Logo mean?

I’m so glad you asked….assuming you did when you read the title… because there is a providential story that I’ve been longing to blog about. My daughter Hannah Swanson is my graphic designer and guru of all things web-related. She has been gracious to make time to help me in building strong churches with her creativity and assistance. Recently, I asked Hannah to help me again with a new logo for Grace Covenant Reformed Baptist Church. We were brainstorming ideas and icons that would convey the rich reformed theology from which this church plant derives it name. What represents well Covenant Theology and the Covenant of Grace? We began to scour other church websites seeking common expressions that others have used. This always makes me nervous because those influences can take away from a unique and significant icon and just be a cheap knock-off. To be honest, the process was frustrating as I was not seeing anything that I found a deep connection with.

So where did this image come from? Well, before moving to Arkansas, Kristen and I were attempting to revitalize a waning congregation called Seed Church in Lynnwood Washington. At that time we were rebranding the church logo and we had Hannah do the design work for us. To boost moral in the church we brought the three design concepts to the church and had them vote on the icon that they felt best represented them. This was one of those three concepts. It was a favorite of Kristen and I, mostly because of the image of the cross which is an icon of the church born from the suffering of her Savior and the atonement it purchased . Unfortunately, this design was not chosen by the church, but it was still a favorite of mine so I asked Hannah to include the icon in her work up. I was thinking it would look good as my user icon on my computer.

Well in my searching I kept clicking on my user Icon to log onto my computer until it caught my eye (sometimes things you become familiar with become invisible to you).

I was staring at the cross and the seeds that made up its arms, head and foot when I knew that this was the perfect icon to represent our church plant. It had occured to me that the Covenant of Grace (as we Baptist understand it) is a series of promises beginning in Gen 3:15 and building throughout the Old Testament until those promises find fulfillment in the cross - a new covenant made in His blood. Those promises were like seeds that God’s people waited with faith in those promises to spring up and bear the fruit of salvation for the elect. This image of a cross made of seeds within drops of blood, points to the perfect plan of God and the Covenant of Redemption made between the Father and the Son before time began.

The covenant of Grace are all the promises of God The covenant of Grace is a developing and building series of covenantal revelation bringing clarity to the plan and anticipation of its consummation. All these promises find their perfection and completion in the sealing of the New Covenant. Jesus arriving, living perfectly, dying and rising is the only solution possible. It is what we needed and what God has provided.

Thanks for letting me tell this story of providence. Before I even considered church planting, God had prepared this symbol to represent what he would accomplish in Northwest Arkansas.