I am not a branding or marketing kind of gal.  When I created the ministry Promised Land Living, I knew I wanted two things:

1. I didn’t want my name center

2. I wanted the name to describe the abundance I was inviting people to experience through the ministry

The term Promised Land is recognizable by most believers even at the earliest stages of their faith journey.  This land is described as flowing with milk and honey.     

A fascinating realization hit me well into the 20 years of PLL, when my Director of Coach Presenters, Pam Mertz, noted that both milk and honey are not things we grow ourselves.  We only harvest: no planting, no growing.  Just… harvesting.

And this understanding gets even more divine when you consider how God designed our bodies.  Our bodies need three macro ingredients to survive: Protein, Fat, and in smaller amounts, Carbohydrates.  

Milk is considered a complete protein because it contains all 9 essential amino acids necessary for your body to perform optimally.  It also contains fat which the body needs to function optimally.  Honey is a carbohydrate with so many nutritional and medicinal benefits - scientists are still learning about them all.  The honey referred to in the Promised Land was probably related to Date honey.  As a beekeeper, I think about bee honey - I have been mesmerized, watching my bees create such deliciousness.

Protein and fat – amply available and honey, that which never spoils, instantly available to the Israelites as they entered the land.  They would only need to harvest.

Our God is a God of abundant provision!

Colossians 3:7 orients us to the seamless connection between the Old and New Testament.   The Old Testament is a shadow of things to come and which have already come through Jesus Christ our Messiah.  We move from physical provision in the Land of Canaan (Promised Land) to spiritual provision in our Promised Land rest in Christ (see Hebrews 3 and 4) - God tells us that He has given believers in Christ everything they need for life and godliness. Everything.  He holds nothing back.  He even goes so far to assure that if any of us lacks wisdom, we need only to ask and He will supply, lavishly.  The unquantifiable generosity of our Father is summarized in John 10:10 which tells us that the abundant life awaits in Christ Jesus.  Abundance – exceeding all possible expectations and that which is beyond measure.  

This then leads us to a discussion of the meaning of the logo.

Originally, we had a person in the logo.  A person who was worshiping, praising God as a depiction of our response to truly living in the Promised Land rest in Christ.  

But I wasn’t satisfied.   Something significant was missing. 

It was the daily, even moment by moment, decision we must make to not return to former ways, to continually allow the truth to cut through and help us live into the abundance that is immeasurable.  Promised Land Living is not focused on salvation, but on the perpetual surrender of that saved life.

After more conversations with our logo designer, Ellen Holding, she created this final logo.  Originally, the last blade was green, but navigating so many colors from a branding perspective was challenging, so we removed the green and stuck with the blues and yellow.

THE DOT

The dot on the left of the final logo represents you and I as we are born into the first Adam.  Into sin.  A helpless, pitiful state of spiritual disrepair and eternal severance from all that would heal through love, mercy and grace. 

THE FIRST BLUE BLADE

Like Adam, we instinctively form a “cover” for our hopeless state.  

We dress ourselves up in titles; we create a sense of purpose for ourselves in busyness; we numb ourselves from the pain of this soul trampling reality through addictions and/or we find ways that will temporarily make us feel alive in our dead state, but ultimately hurt ourselves and others.  There is a grave discomfort.  And the human solution is to cover.  This is demonstrated in the first “blade” which serves as the cover for us.  But notice that it is going backwards – it is not turning towards God.  Instead, it represents a retreat from Him Who is perfect and heals.

THE YELLOW BLADE

The yellow blade represents God’s Spirit and Truth cutting through!  The Son shines as bright as the noon day sun and suddenly we see clearly.  In an act of repentance, we turn from our cover, confessing our helpless state, receiving His mercy.  God then separates from the eternal consequence of our first Adam state as we are born into the new and second Adam of Jesus.

THE DEEP BLUE BLADE 

The final blade reflects energy and wonderful limitless growth.  It is Christ in me, the hope of glory at work!  It is still me, but with a new spiritual DNA indwelling through the Holy Spirit, the gift of the great exchange that took place in Jesus.  

This then is the salvation experience represented in the logo, but there is another still unfolding story told by the logo.  

Since PLL is ultimately about partnering with believers in their sanctification journey in Christ, we also view the logo from the perspective of continual renewal.  

The Living Word and Holy Spirit Guide (yellow blade) continues to train us in this righteous life of Christ that will yield abundance exceeding our greatest imagination.  The Truth that divides bone from marrow and exhorts, corrects, rebukes, encourages becomes our ongoing companion as temptation, testing and trial taunt and entice us back to a state of covering.   

Each time we say “no return!” to the enemy taunt of “take cover!” we experience more abundance.  Each time we declare the sufficiency of Christ’s blood covering all that ails, we walk in the blameless ways of our imperfect predecessors of faith.  

As depicted in the land flowing with milk and honey, God provides all we need beyond all we could ever consume in the provision of the Promised Land rest in Jesus.  

The logo is rich with meaning for us at PLL, reflecting both the one time salvation experience and the ongoing sanctification journey.  Our desire is to train believers in that process of remaining in the rest that is already ours in Christ.  Or as Kay Arthur has often said, truly owning our inheritance.  It is then that we experience the abundant life God has already given to us.  We simply need to learn how to live into it.  Promised Land Living helps believers learn how to do that.  

If you have yet to go on the journey with us, please check out the upcoming groups that will be starting soon.  Why wait even one more day to experience the seemingly impossible in Christ?

We would be honored to walk alongside you!

Cheryl Scanlan

Founder and Executive Director

Promised Land Living

Promised Land Living, P.O. Box 58786, Raleigh, North Carolina 27658, United States

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