COVENANT DEFENSE
The name has several layers of meaning, the most important being that we feel our primary purpose is to represent and defend what Covenant relationship with God is truly intended to be. Simply put, we believe that God created mankind for relationship with Himself.
The Covenant relationship that God desires to have with us is the highest calling of mankind and is the only place we will truly find salvation, fullfillment, and proper identity. Unfortunately, the simplicity of the Covenant relationship intended for mankind has been misunderstood and abandoned by many individuals and groups including so-called religious institutions. As an organization, we desire to passionately pursue an intimate Covenant relationship with God and allow that relationship to define and direct what we do.
The other aspect of the name deals with our focus on defensive training. Though it may seem odd to some how defensive training fits in with relationship with God, we feel compelled to be protectors of life. We train not because we are fascinated by violence, but because we are deeply bothered by good people be harmed. Throughout history, we have seen that the stronger prevail over the weaker. Whether that is a nation, a religion, or an individual, the principle holds true. There is a quote that states "All it takes for evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing." We are desiring to be a proactive group of individuals focused on training ourselves and others to be protectors of the precious gift of life that we have been given.
Krav Maga, which literally is translated as “contact combat,” is one of the most effective techniques for hand to hand combat in the world today. When it comes to this system of tactical defense, you will find that every single technique focuses on maximum efficiency in conditions that are real to life. Before you can fully understand the principles and techniques that are used in Krav Maga, it is important that you first understand the rich history behind this tactical protection system.
You can learn more about the subject matter by navigating to our History of Krav Maga page.
We always emphasize training of the human spirit and soul first and foremost. If we don’t constantly come back to the right motivation and mindset we run the risk of losing focus on why we do what we do. That being said all training and teaching centers around our best understanding of our Covenant relationship with God. With that being the focus we offer on many types of training and resources pertaining to the following:
We believe that God has some pretty good ideas of how we are to live out this precious gift of life that we have been given. There has been a strategic effort by the enemy to affect our culture in a way that leads people into habits that will sabotage their lives. The food we eat, the pace at which we live, the manipulation of truth through media sources, and the things we serve besides God would be just a few examples.
With the Covenant Defense Cooperative Network (CDCN), we are desiring to create a community and a culture that would support passionately pursuing Covenant relationship with God in all aspects of life. The CDCN is a source of information, encouragement, guidance, fellowship, networking, teaching, and nurturing. Participants receive video blogs, articles, references, tips, encouragements, and teaching on a weekly basis. Examples of topics would include defensive training, homesteading, current events, group buying opportunities, devotional thoughts, and announcements of upcoming events.
The CDCN also serves as a cooperative in the sense that group buying opportinities are made available to the participants. Relationships are set up with providers of goods and services to give discounts to CDCN participants. The list willcontinue to grow as the network grows, and includes suppliers of goods and services that would be of interest to our participants. Additionally, for CDCN participants, there are discounts on all Covenant Defense-sponsored events and seminars.
The CDCN supports community interaction with a participant only forum. The idea behind this is to create a more private internet community where people can interact with other like-minded individuals. Covenant Defense will not ever have a presence in public social media due to the nature of what we discuss and represent. Contained within the CDCN forum will be a library of the videos and written trainings we produce. There will also be specific forum topics such as fitness, home remedies, gear, survival training, theological discussions, cyber-security, current events, and gear reviews. These topics will be headed up by individuals who are experienced in these respective areas who make themselves available for questions from participants.
The CDCN differs from most other forums and social networking in a few significant ways. Social networking and forums make their money by creating traffic and then selling advertising just as other media sources. We are sustainable by charging members a monthly fee and we feel this does a couple things. For one, it somewhat regulates who will get involved and therefore ensures that participants will be trusted contributors to the community. Public social media carries with it some inherent risks due to the totally public nature and accessibility. Our system would be accessible to participants only. Secondly, most social media and forums provide users with the framework for members and then they sell advertising. With the CDCN, we are providing more training and resources to our participants along with the framework for interaction and community. For those that train with us through seminars or weekly classes these teachings will be a great addendum and review of their skills. For those that are not able to train with us, this will give them opportunities to be learning in a manner that fits into their lives wherever and whenever they choose.
Since we are not funded by advertisers, our sustainability comes from participants investing into the CDCN. A contribution of thirty dollars ($30) a month opens up the benefits of the CDCN to participants. For participants that truly intend to utilize the full potential of the CDCN, they have the potential to get their monthly investment back - and then some - in discounts and referrals.
We desire to grow our network by providing incentive to participants who share the CDCN opportunity with others. Every time a current participant refers someone new to the CDCN, they will have their monthly contribution waived.
We are actively engaged in a Covenant relationship with God and just as we receive Love from the one we are in relationship with we wish to share it with others. We see life as a precious gift and we desire to be protectors and to teach others to be protectors of life and liberty as well. We recognize that it is challenging to balance all the responsibilities and activities of life while maintaining beneficial lifestyle habits. We want to help people improve their relationship to their Creator, their health, their personal safety and the safety and well being of their families and community.
The laws in this country state that non-profit organizations (NPOs) are not supposed to make political statements or endorsements. We feel that speaking the truth about political agendas and candidates is absolutely necessary to help people wade through the deceit and support the right causes and individuals. If we were an NPO, we would potentially be reprimanded if we dispersed politically oriented information.
NPOs receive a different level of scrutiny from the IRS. We really don’t fit into any of the “normal and recognizable” categories that NPOs usually occupy due to the training and information we provide. Organizing as an NPO would have attracted more problems than we would like to deal with.
The only real benefit that we would have as an NPO would be that people could contribute money and write if off on their taxes as a donation. We have chosen to provide a service in exchange for contributions.
The question can be posed, “What is the difference between a ministry and a business?” I suppose it is the primary motivation behind why they exist. As stated previously, our primary focus is on supporting relationship with God. Like any other organization, we need to bring in more money than we spend if we are to continue to exist. Therefore profit is a necessity for our survival, but not treated as the primary reason this organization was formed.
We see ourselves as a para-church organization. We desire to build and empower a community of like-minded believers that are coming from all different churches. We are not trying to replace the local community church, but to be a support to church communities as we provide our unique perspective and training opportunities to build up the Body of Christ.
The short answer is no.
The long answer is also no, but is accompanied by the following explanation. The “marketing” of Christianity in America has at times become more patterned off modern sales technique than an invitation from a Loving Creator. We don’t believe that any individual should be debated, manipulated, or pressured into following God. Instead, we follow the ideal that our focus should be pursuing God. As we undergo the authentic transformation that occurs in true Covenant relationship, we should become a beacon of life that shares the message of Covenant relationship through our actions.
All that being said, we absolutely believe that the most important decision a person makes in their lifetime on earth is whether or not they accept Christ and pursue the Covenant relationship they were destined for. Coming to this place needs to be the true will of the individual without any pressure or strings attached. We are delighted to make ourselves available to talk with individuals, but not interested in pushing someone into something that is more our agenda than theirs.
We are quite unashamed about our faith being the driving force behind what we do and regularly involve prayer in our functions. If individuals find that intolerable, we will not be making alterations simply to make them feel better. We also expect folks to conduct themselves in a manner that is not confrontational to our faith-based perspective. If individuals are not Christians, but are not bothered by the fact that we are, they should have no problems being involved with us.