What does your name say about you? - April 19th, 2008

I take pride in my first name because while it is not unique, it is uncommon. Whether in school or at work I have always been the only “Kent”. My dad’s initials are “KEF” and my parents wanted a name that would yield the same result, so I became Kent Edward and I have enjoyed being the only “Kent” I know.

When the time came for my wife and me to have our first child, the baby’s name was of critical importance. I labored over baby name books and searched online to learn the meaning of names and considered a wide array of possibilities. The challenge of selecting just the right name for our daughter was huge because I knew she would have to live with it for a long time.

Because I had always enjoyed my special name, I wanted her to inherit a similar name status. We went so far as to develop a “Baby Name Election” with our top 8 choices and had almost 100 of our family and friends vote for their favorite name to help us decide. In spite of that extensive research, when our daughter was born, we still struggled to select a final name, and so she remained “Baby Fillinger” for the first 3 days of her life until we had to complete the final hospital paperwork that forced us to select a name. After hours of thought and discussion, we finally named our daughter and have pleasantly never looked back.

Proverbs says, “A good name is more desirable than great riches; to be esteemed is better than silver or gold” (Proverbs 22:1). Names have power and names convey feelings, thoughts and perceptions.

In the Bible, we see the precedent of names being changed to reflect a new mission or purpose for someone’s life given to them by God. The name changes were intended to express a new direction and to identify to others that the person had a new vision for living.

In the Old Testament, Abram (”exalted father”) becomes Abraham (”father of many”) while his wife, Sarai (”my princess”) becomes Sarah (”princess of all”). We also see Jacob (”the ambitious deceiver”) become Israel (”the one who struggles with God and overcomes”).

In the New Testament, Simon becomes Peter (”rock”), Joseph becomes Barnabas (”Son of Encouragement”) and Saul becomes Paul.

Does your church name accurately reflect who you are and who you are becoming as a church? Has God changed or expanded your mission or purpose? What does your church name say about you?