Jun3 Written by:Stephen Sams
6/3/2008 10:07 AM
Startup companies can spend weeks or years determining the name of their company or of a new product line because they understand the principles of making a name memorable, simple and meaningful. According to Business week online (July 2007), google founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin dumped their working name “backrub” for something shorter and simpler. “We spent a lot of time on the name…because we figured that it would be important for people to be able to remember it” (Designing Interactions, MIT Press, 2006).
Expecting parents spend months looking through baby name books to pick the name that their child will receive at birth because they know that this child will find much of their identity in their name. They want the name to be special and meaningful.
In the Bible, names of people carried significant meaning which usually expressed a personal characteristic, or some incident connected with birth or some hope or wish of the parents. Isaiah was born to Abraham and Sarah in their old age. His name meant “laughter” because Sarah laughed when God promised the birth. The name Esau meant “hairy” which described his physical appearance. Some of the names in the bible were changed by God to indicate what God was going to do through that person. Abram’s name (“exalted father”) was changed to Abraham (“father of many”) because of God’s promise to make him the father of many nations. In the New Testament, Mary and Joseph were told that the Messiah would be called Immanuel which means “God with us.”
Recently, our church voted to change our name from Lakota Christian Church to Center Pointe Christian Church. The name Lakota came about when our two area township school systems joined together to form one school system called Lakota which is an Indian term meaning “coming together.” We thought, rather than being named for the area school system, we need to be named something that truly reflects who we are. Center Pointe connects well to our win of “centering lives on Christ” and to our model, the wheel. It also is more reflective of our demographic since we reach people well beyond the Lakota school district. We are a regional church reaching people from Mason, Trenton, Fairfield, Monroe and beyond. On September 7, we will be “kicking off” this new name to the community by celebrating our past and looking forward to our future together. If you want to read more on the name change check out this link to our frequently asked questions.
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