Ministry Updates – Summer 2011

Want a quick snapshot of what’s happened in our ministries over the course of this summer and the past fiscal year?  Take a look at the ministry updates published as part of our annual report.  We hope these updates will 1) encourage you to praise God for what He is doing in our midst, and 2) motivate you to continue praying for our efforts to reach our community for Christ.

Faith Bible Seminary Update

Faith Bible Seminary’s year has been marked by several developmental milestones.  In August of 2010, we accepted our second class of Master of Divinity (M.Div.) students.  Currently, we are training eighteen men to serve as pastors.  The Master of Arts in Biblical Counseling (MABC) program is continuing to develop as well.  In that program, we have 55 students enrolled.  This fall, we will hold our first graduation ceremony for 11 MABC students.

In the past twelve months, Faith Bible Seminary has achieved “applicant status” for accreditation through the Association of Biblical Higher Education.  This status enables our seminary to work toward accreditation.  As a part of the accreditation process, we are required to conduct an annual audit, and our first was completed this year.  The audit resulted in a “clean opinion” for Faith Bible Seminary.

Finally, seminary alumni from the M.Div. class of 2010 are beginning to make their mark in ministry.  Brad Franklin was called to be the senior pastor of St. Giles Christian Mission in London, England.  Also, Joshua Knipp will launch a church plant through Harvest Bible Chapel in Bloomington, IN this September.  We look forward to seeing the ways in which God will use these men and their families to impact their communities for Christ.

For more information on Faith Bible Seminary, please visit faithlafayette.org/seminary.

Faith Biblical Counseling

The Lord has blessed us with another incredible year.  This year, a number of counselees have confessed faith in Christ, including several very recently.  By God’s grace, our ministry has helped and encouraged scores of struggling individuals and families.

On the training front, this year has been absolutely amazing.  The Biblical Counseling Training Conference was very well attended, our Monday classes have been full or close to full, and our regional conference commitments have increased.

At the beginning of this year, we had questions about the future of our regional training ministry; but God has graciously allowed us to form partnerships with three wonderful churches in San Francisco, Minneapolis, and Seattle.  These partnerships will provide opportunities to train individuals, from different regions of the country, in the principles of biblical counseling.

It is honestly difficult to assess how much has been done through the counseling ministry for the Lord.  Thank you for your continued support,  both financially and in prayer.  The Lord is using that support to bless individuals and families, both in our church and in churches across the nation.

For more information on Faith Biblical Counseling Ministries, please visit faithlafayette.org/counseling.

Faith Christian School

Faith Christian School completed its 14th year by graduating 41 seniors.  We are extremely proud of our students and their families, and we look forward to seeing their progress as they enter the next stage of their lives.

The senior class finished the year by participating in a week-long senior trip to the WILDS Christian Camp in North Carolina.  This trip was a wonderful way for these students to conclude their high school careers.  It has been a blessing to see many of our seniors grow into young adults who truly love the Lord and want to be a blessing to others.

This past school year met with many encouraging accomplishments by our students and faculty.  We added several more advanced placement options to the slate of our high school courses.  We offered an additional dual-credit course in association with Ivy Tech Community College.  We also began an exciting program called J-Term that allowed high school students to participate in special classes, trips, and internships.  We are very thankful for the academic and spiritual opportunities that will continue to be made available to the students of Faith Christian School.

We are also thankful for the faithful service of our faculty.  We awarded several teachers five-year and ten-year service certificates.  Among these were:  Connie Thomas, Nicole Hume, and Kevin Johns.  Over the course of our school’s fourteen-year history, we have enjoyed tremendous stability amongst our staff.

Unfortunately, we had to say good-bye to several staff and faculty members.  The following individuals left Faith Christian School due to family moves, budgetary restrictions, or changes in life situations:  Jenn Huston, Deanna Burks, Camden Mullis, and DeEtte Starr.  We are truly grateful for the contributions and faithfulness of these individuals, and we wish them the very best in their future service.

We were also faced with the prospect of filling several teaching positions for the 2011–2012 school year.  We welcome the following teachers to the Faith Christian School family:  Nathan Jones (elementary music); Bridget McNamara (3rd grade); Justin Brownfield (5th grade); Megan Miller (Spanish); and Kory Pruner (history).  We are truly blessed to have such qualified and dedicated individuals as part of our staff.

We look forward to Faith Christian School’s 15th year of providing Christ-centered education to the families of our community. We are thankful for the ways in which the Lord has demonstrated his faithfulness to us.  We are currently enrolling students for the fall and preparing for teacher in-service.  Our student enrollment goal is 660 students in Preschool – 12th grades.  Please pray that we would reach our target and that the Lord would provide us with students and families that desire a Christian education.

For more information on Faith Christian School, please visit www.fcslafayette.org.

Faith Community Ministries

In the past year, God has demonstrated His goodness to us in so many ways.  Our neighbors continue to use the Faith Community Center, and by His grace, we have been able to tangibly demonstrate His love to them.

During the past quarter, we have hosted a variety of groups and events, including blood drives, summer Adventure Camp, athletic leagues, graduation celebrations, and wedding receptions.  We continue to offer programs for parents such as swimming lessons and sports leagues; and the more the word spreads, the more it seems that people want to spend time at the Faith Community Center. The pool’s usage has increased, and we have enjoyed building relationships with the many people who have used our facilities to cool off during an extremely hot summer.

Our Food Pantry and Clothing Closet continue to serve people in need within our community, and we are thankful for the opportunity we have to share with them a cup of cold water in Jesus’ name.  In addition, the Job Loss Support Group and the Business Professionals Association are using our center to help those in need of employment.

Our Fun & Fitness memberships continue to steadily grow, providing a stable income stream that supports the various programs and ministries we offer.  The warm weather has brought hundreds of people to our outdoors recreation facilities.  Many have enjoyed the use of our ball fields, skate park, disc golf course, community park, fishing pond, and gazebo.  The Faith Community Center continues to become a more integral thread in the fabric of our community, providing a welcoming environment for people to meet, study, connect, celebrate, learn, and grow.

For more information on Faith Community Ministries or Faith Community Center, please visit www.OurCommunityCenter.org.

Faith Community Picnic

This was a great year for the Faith Community Picnic. Shoup’s Catering did a fantastic job of providing quality food and service to over 1,500 people. We introduced several new elements to the picnic along with some of the traditional favorites. Among the new additions were laser tag, cookie-decorating, cardboard-boat racing, Frisbee games, and a scavenger hunt. (see the photo gallery)

Despite the fact that we significantly reduced the number of mailed invitations sent to the community, our picnic attendance rose.  While there is always room for improvement, we believe we offered an enjoyable event which facilitated interaction between our church family and neighbors.  To God be the glory!

Faith Global Ministries

  1. Missionary Reports
    • Over the course of the last quarter, we had the privilege of receiving personal reports in our ABF classes from KL. (Initials only because of the sensitive nature and location of his ministry.) You can follow our missionaries at faithlafayette.org/missions.
    • Our church leadership established a policy for disaster relief funding.  As a result, we received over $18,000 to assist the church in Japan.  More information on this new fund can be found at faithlafayette.org/relief.
  2. Mission Trips
  3. Special Events
    • We taught two more 6-week sessions of the Expanding Your Horizons short term missions class—one as a Wednesday night FCI class and the other on Sunday mornings at 8 a.m.
    • Watch for more information on upcoming classes at faithlafayette.org/missions and on the monitor in our church foyer.
  4. Literature Publishing
    • We now have 3 of the counseling observation DVDs with Portuguese subtitles. They are being used this summer in Brazil! We still need:
      • Volunteers to transcribe the dialogues on several DVDs
      • Volunteer translators whose first language is Spanish, Romanian, French or Portuguese
      • Volunteers to proofread translation work in Spanish, Romanian, French or Portuguese
      • $18,000 to cover the cost of producing the entire set of 12 counseling observation DVDs with subtitles in these languages.
    • For more information contact Dwayne Hoskins or Ned Sutherland.
  5. New Missionaries
    • God has blessed us to be able to increase support for several of our missionaries.
    • These increases provide much needed assistance in this time of a weakening dollar.
  6. Special Missionary Assistance
    • God’s blessing through your generosity enabled us to help Bill and Naty Tully with some medical expenses.
    • We were also able to provide funds that would allow a Brazilian pastor to attend the ABCB conference in Brazil.
  7. Upcoming Events
    • July 28 to August 6 – Brazil ABCB Conference (Aucoin, Selvey, Viars, Wickert)
    • August 14 – David Stilwell report in Proclaimers and Estudio Bíblico ABFs
    • September 25 – Sam Hornbrook reports to Faith

Faith Legacy Foundation

The Faith Legacy Foundation exists to assist people who desire to wisely give of their bounty to increase the reach and ability of the ministries of Faith.  The foundation is a 501c3 umbrella organization that allows for greater ability in providing local, regional and national stewardship opportunities.  A stand-alone foundation further reduces potential risk to Faith’s long-term savings and endowments.  Faith Legacy Foundation has a broad array of fund options, allowing donors to invest in the ministry that they desire.  Therefore, the foundation’s staff will be able to assist those who have a heart for the diverse ministries in the Faith family.

The Foundation works with the donor and the donor’s financial advisors, assisting them in the selection of the best giving methods and asset donations. The Foundation assists the donor in identifying an existing fund that will best accomplish the donor’s objectives, or the donor may request that the Foundation establish a new fund.  Faith Legacy Foundation provides a wide variety of charitable giving options for individuals, families, businesses, corporations and foundations to make outright gifts or creative, planned gifts for purposes that accomplish their giving objectives.

By the grace of God, the 2010-11 fiscal year saw the foundation’s assets increase in each of our managed accounts. These funds provide direct assistance to our diverse ministries and their outreach programs.

If you desire more information regarding the Faith Legacy Foundation, visit faithlafayette.org/legacy or contact Arvid Olson at (765) 448-1986 or online.

Lafayette Community Skate Park

This summer has provided great opportunities for building relationships at the skate park.  The atmosphere of the park has been gradually changing so that the emphasis of our interaction with the skaters has been less on enforcing rules and more on planting seeds of love.  A few of our skaters have had a turbulent summer, and we are praying that the Lord would help them to see their need for Christ. Recently, we hosted a small “Learn to Skate” event in which eight kids were taught the basics of skating; and four of our regular skaters were enlisted to provide assistance.  In the upcoming days, we will be conducting some needed maintenance on the skate park in an attempt to sharpen its appearance. For more information on the ministry of the skate park, please contact Nate Hornbrook.

Vacation Bible School

This year, our Vacation Bible School theme was Revved Up: Full Throttle For God.  While the storms and power outages we experienced throughout the week would have made Noah’s Ark an appropriate theme, Revved Up served as a great vehicle for exposing children to the gospel. (View the photo gallery)

Teaching biblical truth, answering basic and critical questions about life, and training kids to study God’s Word was the focus of our outreach.  The lessons illustrated how various individuals from the Old and New Testaments demonstrated faith in God; and we challenged the children to follow the example of these individuals by placing their faith in Christ.

The games, crafts, and activities creatively encouraged kids to grow in their understanding of God while having fun with other children. We had an average attendance of 490 children with approximately 175 adult volunteers per night and dozens of first-time visitors to our church.

During the week, several children made professions of faith in Christ and several others expressed an interest in learning more about establishing a relationship with Him. We rejoice in seeing how God used our efforts to draw boys and girls to Him.

We hosted our closing program and reception on Friday evening.  The program was energetic and well-received with over 600 in attendance.  The reception that followed allowed us to deepen our connections with the children and their families.  Our hope and prayer is that our VBS guests will continue to connect to Christ and our church family for God’s honor and glory.

We want to thank all of those who sacrificed their time and talents to help make this year’s ministry an effective outreach to our community.

Vision of Hope

In the past year, Vision of Hope received 450 phone calls from girls or families interested in knowing whether Vision of Hope would be able to serve them.  We provided 43 tours for interested applicants.  We received 73 new applications and interviewed 41 individuals for residency.  As of June 30, 2011, a total of 91 individuals have been served as residents.  At present, we have had 19 young ladies graduate from the program.

Our staff continues to work with women who are seeking to overcome life-dominating problems.  In many cases, the girls who are being helped come from backgrounds filled with extreme trauma, psychiatric problems, and repeated intensive inpatient programs.

The staff at Vision of Hope has had the pleasure of working with 23 staff interns during the ministry’s existence.  Many of the interns have gone on to full-time ministry positions around the United States.  Our current interns are receiving training that would prepare them to participate in Bible-based counseling and treatment centers in other areas of the country.

In July of 2010, Vision of Hope hosted the first Hope for the Hurting Conference.  This conference was especially targeted at reaching and educating the parents, friends, and family members of current or potential Vision of Hope residents.  Approximately 60 guests attended and were equipped to handle life’s challenges using the resources of God’s Word.

In October of 2010, Vision of Hope hosted the Tribute to Hope Fundraising Banquet, where approximately $20,000  was raised to help offset programming costs.  The program for the banquet included testimonies from the Vision of Hope residents and parents, musical specials, and a delicious meal.  In December, an end-of-year fundraising letter was sent to supporters, and approximately $10,000 was raised.  A new joint fundraising venture with Faith Bible Seminary and Vision of Hope called Race for Hope was planned for July 2011.

Vision of Hope is able to provide its services to its residents at no cost because of the generosity of our community and church family in the form of ongoing donations, event-based giving, and volunteer service.  Staff and volunteers continue to explore income-generating projects that could be developed to provide both workforce training for our residents as well as regular streams of funding for our ministry.

Vision of Hope continues to seek partners who will come alongside our ministry to recognize the sanctity of human life by ministering to the needs of young women, children, and families in a Christ-centered environment through prayer, financial support, and service.  We continue to build funding partnerships as we work toward fiscal self-sufficiency over the next 7 years.

For more information about Vision of Hope, or if you would like to apply for a volunteer position, please visit www.vohlafayette.org.

Trey Garner
Trey Garner is the Pastor of Children's Ministries at Faith Church. He has been married to his wife Deb since 2001. They have two children named Noah and Lauren. Originally from Texas, Trey appreciates barnwood, armadillos, and Blue Bell Ice Cream.