Want a quick snapshot of what’s happened in our ministries this year? Take a look at the ministry updates published as part of our third (fiscal) quarter 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
One of the most frequently asked questions about Faith Bible Seminary is: “What is the status of your accreditation?” There is good news to report. Faith Bible Seminary is one step closer to becoming an accredited institution. In March, our application was accepted by ABHE (The Association for Biblical Higher Education).
In April, ABHE sent a representative to discuss the steps Faith Bible Seminary needs to take in order to earn accreditation. The accreditation process will take about 3 to 6 years. So, from now on, our seminary will be busily working on addressing the comments and suggestions made by ABHE.
For more information on Faith Bible Seminary, please visit www.fbslafayette.org.
Faith Biblical Counseling Ministries
Praise the Lord! God gave us a wonderful week of ministry at the 2011 BCTC. He gave us the opportunity to teach the biblical counseling to 1,630 guests from around the country. It was another great conference. Our spring semester of the Basic Training course was full again allowing us to serve about 75 people this fiscal year.
Even though we did not have a spring regional conference (OTR), the Lord is giving us the opportunity to explore serious possibilities in New York, Seattle, and Minneapolis. We will see what the Lord does with these.
Just this month we hosted the 3rd Starting a Counseling Ministry conference where 132 people from churches around the country came to observe how we put this ministry together. It was an encouraging and exciting time with pastors and key leaders.
Our major prayer requests are: (1) wisdom for which regional conferences to schedule (2) a strong summer class (3) good registration numbers for Nehemiah and (4) the continued work of the Lord in our counseling.
For more information on Faith Biblical Counseling Ministries, please visit www.fbcmlafayette.org.
Faith Christian School Update
The third quarter of the school year has come to a close. Teachers are involved now in their 2nd semester and we are moving ahead in planning for next school year—with re-enrollment and new enrollment right around the corner. We currently have an enrollment of 675 students in the preschool and school combined. The Lord has blessed us with many wonderful students and families to serve.
Some of the highlights of the third quarter included:
- Initial J Term Program.
- An amazing Spiritual Emphasis Week that saw students come to know Christ as their Savior and rededicate their lives to the Lord.
- A very successful Friendship Banquet.
- Several open house activities that generated interest in our preschool and elementary school.
- An enjoyable school play. The Important of Being Earnest was directed by alumnus Christopher Thomas.
- Wonderful spring concerts and fine arts competitions under the direction of Joe Wright, Camden Mullis, and Beth Hill.
As we move into the fourth quarter, much of our focus becomes on enrollment for next school year. One of our largest events of the school year culminated on Friday, May 13th—Eagle Fair! May was also marked by the graduation of our K5 and 12th grade students. Our senior class graduated 41 students—that represents the 14th graduating class from Faith Christian School. Please pray for the future of our seniors as they firm up college plans and begin moving into their next stage of their lives.Please pray for Faith Christian School! Pray for our teachers, our students, our families. Pray that we will focus on partnering with our parents to help raise students to live effectively in God’s World. Pray for strong finances and wise decisions during these challenging economic times. Pray also that God will be glorified through the planning and efforts of all of the programs here at Faith Christian School.
For more information on Faith Christian School, please visit www.fcslafayette.org.
Faith Community Ministries
The Faith Community Center continues to serve the community as a central gathering place for our neighborhood. The third quarter began with our New Year’s Day Fun Day and ended with the launch of baseball season. Basketball was a major focus for our athletics programs. HUSTL Home School, the Community Men’s Basketball League, youth leagues, Lafayette Spinners wheelchair basketball, and Faith Christian School all played their season home games here. Faith Christian School played a number of public schools, which generated large crowds and much excitement. Special theme nights and homecomings made for a fun-filled February.
Faith Ministries continues to use the facility for Sunday Adult Bible Fellowships, funeral meals, Men of Faith, Church Family Nights, seminary training, Vision of Hope exercise programs, and more. The Faith Community Institute spring semester offered several classes, including another cycle of Financial Peace University.
The Community Center continued to host the Job Loss Support Group, Point Man Groups, Girl Scouts, MOPS (Mothers of Pre-Schoolers), Caleb’s Kin fellowships, and Discover After-School Care. The center played host to the Faith Biblical Counseling Ministries’ Biblical Counseling Training Conference for over 1600 guests during a snowy week in February. Our Master of Arts Biblical Counseling program also held modular training here.
It takes a small army of dedicated volunteers to keep the Community Center staffed, cleaned, and Operating and we are so thankful for everyone who serves and enjoys the community center.
For more information on Faith Community Ministries or Faith Community Center, please visit www.ourcommunitycenter.org.
Faith Global Ministries
Social Media Updates
- Thanks to God, we launched the initiative for electronic social media for our missions ministry. You can follow Faith Global Ministries on Twitter, Facebook, and through our website blog by going to www.facebook.com/faithglobal; www.twitter.com/fgmlafayette; globalmin.blogspot.com, or www.fgmlafayette.org.
- We launched an electronic newsletter for Faith Global Ministries this quarter. Subscribe at www.facebook.com/faithglobal by clicking on the e-mail sign-up link. Click on the “Like” button while you are there and add us to your Facebook newsfeed.
Missionary Reports
- Over the course of the last quarter, God allowed us to hear personal reports in our ABF classes from Bill and Naty Tully, Paul Kintner, Dana Gottfried, Roger Cryan, Mark Worrell and Al Yoder. Follow all our missionaries at www.fgmlafayette.org.
Mission Trips
- God provided for Scott Meinema and David Selvey taught two conferences on marriage and pre-marriatal counseling in Moldova in March. See the full report at globalmin.blogspot.com.
- David Selvey and Andy Woodall went to Cape Town, South Africa and taught Theological Basis for Biblical Counseling in the Grace School of Ministry and visited the Blackwells. See the full story at globalmin.blogspot.com.
Special Events
- Our annual FGM supper event was sold out with 90+ participants! God graciously brought in over $1,600.00 to help with the translation and subtitling of our counseling observation DVDs. Learn more at globalmin.blogspot.com.
- A new 6-week session of the Expanding Your Horizons short term missions class was taught. More information on upcoming classes will be available at www.fgmlafayette.org and at www.facebook.com/faithglobal.
Literature Publishing
- God allowed us to produce one of the counseling observation DVDs with Portuguese subtitles to be used this summer in Brazil. We hope to have two more completed by the end of June. We are still seeking …
- English speaking volunteers to transcribe more DVD dialogues
- 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 counselor observation DVDs subtitled in 5 languages.
- For more information, contact Dwayne Hoskins at dochoskins@live.com.
Special Missionary Assistance
- January 23, 2011 veteran missionary Ellen Hornbrook went home to be with the Lord. Because of the generosity of our church family, we were able to arrange for the family members to come to Lafayette for a memorial service in her honor. More of the story at globalmin.blogspot.com.
- The caring and concern of our church family really showed when we received special offerings of $10,000.00 to help Ken and Sharon Davis replace their old worn out van. See the Davises’ prayer letter at www.FGMLafayette.org.
Upcoming Events
- July 28-August 6: Brazil ABCB conference (Viars, Aucoin, Wickert, Selvey)
Lafayette Community Skate Park
The Good News continues to be proclaimed at the skate park. Relationships are being built and we are excited to take the next step and invest more into the skaters that are seeking truth. Currently, we are especially targeting four of our regular skaters for prayer and discipleship.
This skating season will see some changes that have already begun to improve ministry at the skate park. The interns have been incorporated in an hourly check on the skate park in addition to the supervision by volunteers. While the helmet rule was once a barrier to positive relationship building, our constant presence at the park seems to be multiplying ministry opportunities by allowing us to go beyond rule enforcement to sharing the love of God.
This skate season has only just begun and we are looking forward to a year of proclaiming the Good News. Later this summer, we look forward to introducing a “Learn to Skate Day” where people of all ages can come and learn how to skate from the skate park regulars.
For more information on skate park ministry, contact Nate Hornbrook.
The Lafayette Passion Play
On April 21, 22, and 23, our church shared the message of the gospel with our community through the presentation of The Lafayette Passion Play downtown at The Long Center for the Performing Arts. This was 22nd consecutive presentation.
Because of the hard work and sacrifice of over 300 church members, we took significant steps of growth toward improving the impact of this outreach. These steps made a tremendous impression upon the spiritual condition of many of our guests.
Over the course of the four presentations, we ministered to almost 3,200 souls. Based on the response cards received, twenty-three individuals made decisions to place their faith in Christ. Of those who filled out response cards, over one-third indicated that this was their first time to attend the Passion Play. And we continue to hear reports from church members of relatives, neighbors, co-workers, and friends who have trusted Christ as a result of the ministry.
We want to thank all those who sacrificed their time and talents to help make this year’s ministry an effective outreach to our community.
Vision of Hope Update
We praise God for the wonderful way He seeks out the hearts of the girls in the Vision of Hope program. Lives are being transformed through the teaching of the gospel and the replacement of sinful choices with godly habits.
We continue to seek partners who will come alongside the ministry and assist in efforts to recognize the worth and sanctity of human life by ministering to the needs of young women, children, and families in a Christ-centered environment through prayer support, financial support, volunteering, and long-term partnerships. We continue to build funding partnerships to work toward for fiscal self-sufficiency over the next six years.
For more information about Vision of Hope, or if you would like to apply for a volunteer position, please visit www.vohlafayette.org.