A.T. Stewart Ministries
  A.T. Stewart Ministries 

                      A.T. Stewart's Coat of Arms

Coat of Arms

The coat of arms is a means of signifying a family’s core values and identity through images. The coat of arms serves as a permanent record for future generations of those beliefs and values that make their family unique.

 

Meaning of the Colors

The coat of arms contains four main colors which are gold, scarlet, blue, and green. Gold is a royal color and signifies the sovereignty of God. The scarlet represents the blood of Christ and His crucifixion. Blue signifies faith  and proclaims God’s faithfulness. The last color is green which stands for the grace of God.

Meaning of the Banner

Overarching the coat of arms is a banner with the words Soli Deo Gloria. These Latin words mean God’s glory alone. This phrase first shows our utmost desire is to glorify God in everything. Our guiding principle is to do all for God’s glory. Second, this phrase shows the connection of our faith to that of the Protestant Reformation whose banner was Soli Deo Gloria.

Meaning of the Helmet

The helmet shows our royal commission as knights in the service of the King of kings. We have been called to wage spiritual warfare on behalf of our King. The red feathers on the top of the helmet signify the blood of Christ through which He purchased us to be His soldiers.

Meaning of the Shield

The shield is the heart of the coat of arms and represents our four core values.

The top right quadrant represents our commitment to the Lordship of Jesus which is symbolized by the cross and the crown. It is our belief that Jesus is to have preeminence in everything. Christ alone is everything in the Christian life. He alone is our righteousness, our justification, our sanctification, our wisdom, our salvation, and He alone is our life. The verse that grounds this core value in the Scriptures is Colossians 3:11, a renewal in which there is no distinction between Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and freeman, but Christ is all, and in all.

The lower right quadrant represents the core value of commitment to family. We believe our commitment to each other as a family is second only to our commitment to our Lord Jesus Himself. This section contains the ancient Stewart family crest which symbolizes our historical connection to the Stewart clan of ancient Scotland. This crest pictures a pelican feeding her young. On the crest are the words Virescit-Vulnere-Virtus. Roughly translated they mean courage comes at the place of the wound. These words embody our belief that God uses hardships and difficulties to perfect us in our faith.  The Scripture for this section displays our commitment as a family to serve Christ. Joshua 24:15 . . . but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

The lower left quadrant represents the core value of Christian ministry and service. The symbol is the logo of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. This logo was chosen because I received my training and preparation for ministry at this seminary. We believe God has called each of us to serve Him in some capacity and we have the deep conviction that our ministry and service are completely dependent on God’s grace at work in us. We believe that everything we are and everything we do depends on God’s grace alone. The Scripture for this section is 1 Corinthians 15:10. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain; but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me.

The upper left quadrant represents our fourth core value, commitment to the authority of the Bible in our lives. The picture portrays the Bible as a torch to light our path and a sword to aid us in our spiritual warfare. Another belief of the Protestant Reformers was Sola Scriptura, the Bible alone. We join the Protestant Reformers in their belief that the Bible is the inerrant and inspired Word of God and as such it is the final authority in all matters.  We seek to govern our lives by its teachings.  The verse that governs this core value is 2 Timothy 3:16, All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness.

Meaning of the Grapevine and the Clusters

The fruitful grapevine represents Teri. This imagery is taken from Ps 128:3 Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine within your house. . . Our six children and their families are represented by the six grape clusters. Moving clockwise, the first cluster in the top right represents Tiffany and her family, the next Lindsay and her family, then Blair and her family, Brittany and her family, Jesse and his family, and finally Joshua and his family at the top left. The grapevine and grape clusters are surrounding the shield symbolic of our family’s embracing the core values shown in the shield.

 

 

 

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