Gil Trusty

God is good and never gives up on us. He is forgiving. Even when we walk away knowingly or get mixed up in bad theology God will take us back and forgives us and more than that, he will continue to use us and give us the honor of serving him.

One such example of this grace can be seen in the life of Gil Trusty. Gil was well respected at Valley Forge Christian Collage and was a strong student leader. After his graduation he planted a church in New Jersey. Churches sought after him to speak at various places and events. His name became well know. God had given him a great gift. The problem was that Gil was doing everything in gift and he had not been building a strong relationship with God. Spiritual pride entered his life. He felt like the church was ineffective and he walked away from it.

He and a group of other people set up a farm where they taught bad theology. They prayed and worshiped because they felt like they had too and without love. Everything was falling apart because they could not do everything in their own power and sin kept creeping in. Gil realized that the harder he tried to get close to God in this way, the farther away he got and he cried out to God for help.

When Gil walked away from the farm that he lived at for three years he had nothing and worse, he was afraid that people from the church would recognize him and tear him apart. Instead he was received back into the church with open arms. God began to heal Gil and allowed him to serve in his church once again. God gifted Gil to be a pastor and that was still Gil’s passion after everything that had happened. God now allows Gil to run a youth ministry of several hundred junior higher kids. After what Gil did to God sheep God was still willing to let Gil lead his lambs. 

Community leader interview

I interviewed a family friend, April Gilligan, who currently runs a coffee shop and an online store for select items with her husbanded in Florida.

What do you think is the greatest thing about our community?

“The greatest thing about our community is the people. Everyone is so nice. We pull together is there is a crisis.”

What do you feel is the greatest challenge in our community?

“One of the biggest challenges in our community is city planning. There are not enough traffic lights and some of the intersections are dangerous. We have so much tourist traffic that they need to take a look at this.”

What is one thing that would make family life better in our community?

“One thing that would make our family life better not sure that is tough one. We love it here it is about the best place to live and raise a family. There is nothing like southern family life.”

Is there anything you see happening in the future that you are concerned about?

“There some politicians here that want to eliminate our beach as a spring break destination. I is one of our concerns here. For the most part spring breakers here are not bad. They spend a lot of money that the city would loose if they eliminated it.”

What is a new affordable service that would really help our community?

“We are also a large winter destination for older folks from up north. I think a good service to provide them with would be a mail forwarding service. It wouldn’t' take much to rent a building and for a fee they could use it as their address and you forward their mail where ever they may be traveling.”

What is a service that really needs to be improved?

“I think a service that could be improved is greater police presence during big events. This week is bike week and the bikers are showing up and I have not seen much security happing around the beach.”

Thoughts

People just want to feel safe and not just in that they know they wont get robbed but the what to feel safe economically as well. In a place that is dependent on tourists for income, laws that might not seem like that big of a deal can have a huge impact and turn a community upside down. 

Dan Miller

Dan Miller is the lead pastor at Back Mountain Harvest Assembly in Trucksville, Pa. It is there where Dan reaches out to the community in many different ways. Harvest Assembly is all about serving the community rather than providing services for it’s members. They provide athletic facilities for the community and continue to expand and improve what they have to offer to the community. They have also created the Hope Center, which is a place that people can receive free medical care, legal help, glasses, and pastoral care. People in the community see what is happening and more and more people want to get involved to offer their talents to people in need. The Hope Center also helps mothers to be through their pregnancies to give an option other than planed parent hood.

Another one of the things that Harvest Assembly does is send ministers into dyeing churches. They hope to revive other churches in the area regardless of the denomination. It is another great way to reach the community with hardly any cost them. These churches often already have their property paid for and are already set up but are struggling because they have no pastor. Harvest Assembly sends in a pastor, sometimes more and they can revive a church from just a few families to several hundred people. This is a great Example of all of God’s people working together. We need to work together as one church to reach the world rather than fight each other and get jealous because of someone else’s victory. 

Leading from your Strengths

I took the online evaluation “Leading from your Strengths”.  It gave me some insightful information that is helpful to better understand myself. While the people I shared the report with and I didn’t agree completely with, specifically two different parts of the report, we found it to be pretty accurate over all. The report is accurate enough that I feel it would be useful to add to a resume so that so that any potential employer could have more insight into who I am and how I would handle different situations.

One of the things that the report pointed out is that I am objective and realistic. I can look at the facts and show them with out getting too emotional involved. I think this is an important quality when helping to make decisions because it will allow me to be more honest to myself and those around me when I can keep any emotional bias out of the process. In a church this would be important because we need to seek out the truth and seek God’s will. If we cloud the truth for any reason it can become hard to see what God is trying to show us. It is important to be realistic. At the same time, it is important to optimistic because we are serving God and if wants something to happen it will whether or not it seems realistic. From this report and from some comments I got, I learned I might need to be a little more optimistic.

Another thing that this report pointed out is that I like clear detail. When working through a plan or given a task, I’ll work better if there is a clear procedure in place than if it is left open ended. Another place that this came in to play was when the report suggested that I find safety in following the established procedures and rules. Because of this, I am less likely to take risk. Because of the way this report is laid out though, it suggests that it wouldn’t be to difficult for me to pioneer into new territory and break away from the established order of doing things. Looking back on my life I have done both. Generally I stick to what I know will work but sometimes I have found it refreshing and even necessary to work out side of the box.

Overall I found this report to be helpful because it forced me to look at myself in a way that I typically wouldn’t. The parts that don’t seem all that accurate even force me to think about those qualities. When looking for ministry position to fill, I think this report will help me see if it fits my strengths. 

Gerry Stoltzfoos

Gerry Stoltzfoos grew up in an Amish church. When he was about 17 years old he started to ask questions about salvation. He wondered why, if it was so important to receive salvation, no one ever did. Gerry wanted to be in a church that focused on saving people so he left the Amish church and joined a Pentecostal church. Gerry severed there for 12 years and was looking to start a church in Philadelphia.

One day he received a call from a group of pastors who wanted him to start a church in Gettysburg. At first he was reluctant to serve in Gettysburg but God gave his wife a vision of them living there. He accepted that that was where God wanted him to be. Gerry said that they had done every church-planting thing wrong but it still came together because it was what God wanted. They started with about 40 people and now they are up 1200 and have to send people out to start new churches because they don’t have enough room.

Gerry reported that there is no better way to reach the lost than with a church plant. Other methods come and go but church planting always works. We live in a time when 83% of the country is un-churched well just a few generations ago over half the country attended church regularly. We need to reach out to the lost and church planting is the best way to do it.

            

Steve Trader

Well he had already been involved for quite some time in ministry at his church Steve Trader entered into pastoral ministry latter in life (after 23 years in the pharmaceutical industry). Steve explained to us some of the challenges that he faced working in management and living a Christian life style before he started a church plant. One of these challenges comes from the HR aspect of his career. He talked about how it can be difficult interacting with employees when they have to be let go or anything else that negatively effects them because Steve was unable to be completely up front with them.

When Steve felt the call to leave his Job and enter in to full time ministry things were going great for him at his job, which made it harder and harder to leave. Because he knew it was what God wanted him to do he took an opportunity to leave his company during a restructuring and began preparing to plant a church. Because of where Steve was coming from and his credibility he had a unique opportunity to plant a church in an upper income area where the people are often leery. Steve pointed out that everyone everywhere has problems whether it is in the inner city or nicer suburbs.

Steve’s church grew quickly. He said that it had a lot to do with hospitality.  When the church began they put a lot of their budget towards hospitality, which greatly helped to give a good impression. Twice a month they would have meals after church for members of the church to bring their friends to. Steve and his wife would also go out to dinner with visitor that came back to the church a second time. Now that the church is much bigger they are unable to do that as much but they still work hard to provide a pleasing experience to guests. 

David Kennard

David Kennard is the campus pastor of Mill site, which is the second location for River Side church in the Philadelphia area. The second site was set up in a mall which effect at drawing people in just to enjoy a few minutes of a sports game in the lounge or for a Sunday service. Well operating in a mall is expensive David pointed out that it was still a lot cheaper than building a multi million-dollar facility and it is in a great location. 

River side employs free market growth groups. They are structured in a way that many who attend them are not aware at first that the group is affiliated with a church. The leaders are trained to help those in the groups find their way towards Christ when God opens a door. These groups are effective at reaching out to the community and putting believers in contact with people who would be unlikely to get connected with a church in another.

River side is very focused on reaching out to those who do not yet know Christ. They try to shy away from using words that might carry a lot of whight with people that they are trying to minster too. For example they might say Christ follower rather than Christian. They make their services very visitor friendly by explaining what is going to happen before it happens and why they do what they do so that people new to the church don’t feel insecure or uncomfortable with what is going on around them. This is something that I think all churches should try to emulate. One of the biggest turn offs for someone visiting a new church can be a feeling that they don’t belong and that they don’t fit in. The church today needs to be as open to those who are familiar with the church as possible.

Steven Defrain

Steve Defrain felt the call of God at the age of eighteen but he wasn’t sure what God wanted him to do at the time. Steve grew up in the church and was somewhat put off by the politics that happen inside of some churches. It wasn’t until he went to college and had a chance to step back from the church that he really came to Christ. He got involved with another church and again really felt the call of God. He got a position their as a janitor. Eventually he took a position at a church in Oklahoma for 4 years as a children’s/ junior high pastor. He ran into the same problems there that where in the church he grew up in with people arguing about the way things looked rather than trying to serve Christ. His third year there he went to a life church and was really impressed. He Got a sense that they really new what they where doing and knew how important their message was and they weren’t hung up on unimportant things. Eventually he started his own church and he wanted to model it in a way after life Church. He cut out all the stuff that people where getting hung up on rather than serving God and preaches to those who do not yet know God. He often tells the new people in his congregation form the pulpit that if they are a church person they are not a win, as in the church is their to win people over to Christ and not to pull people from other churches. 

Lifechurch.tv

Lifechurch.tv began in 1996 in Oklahoma and was started by Craig Groeschel. Since than it has grown to13 different locations around the United States and offers people the chance to meet globally online.  Lifechurch.tv offers its viewer’s live worship music and a weekly message that has been pre recorded that are biblically based.

When I first say lifechurch.tv I was concerned that a church experience entirely based online would not fully meet what God had intended for his people. When I started to look into what they have to offer I discovered that they help people get involved in small groups in person no matter where they are. This helps people form much stronger relationships and have fellowship that I don’t think is possible from a completely online experience.

One of the major advantages of providing church this way is that it can fit into just about anyone’s schedule as long as they have internet. Also, those who can’t get out of their home at all for whatever reason are given a chance to experience church. With the online community, those people are also given a chance to communicate with other Christians.

Lifechurch.tv can be viewed from anywhere in the world which brings me to another one of its advantages. It’s targeting the world. Unlike most churches that put their services on line so that a potential visitor can check them out, lifechurch.tv is using the internet to reach out to people in places that Christians might have a hard to even getting to.

Over all I think that lifechurch.tv and pastor Craig have a good and successful concept but I don’t think that it should replace weekly attendance at a local church however there is no harm and there is a potential benefit to adding lifechurch.tv to your schedule at some point in the week. 

Daniel R. Schafer

Daniel R. Schafer has been in ministry for 47 years serving as a pastor and a Chaplin for various agencies. His ministry has been built around waiting for God to open doors in his life so that he can reach out to the hurting. He would not have been able to get anywhere that he has gone if it had not been for God. One of those places was New York City after the destruction of September 11, 2001. God allowed Daniel to coordinate the Chaplin efforts throughout the recovery process. He can with out a hesitation, that God was their with them.

            Another way that he is able to minister is through “red, white, and, blue services”. During these, his church invite in all of the paramedics, firemen, police force to come for a special service in which the honor them, feed them, and at the end they pray for them. His church also holds similar services for racecar drivers and bikers. People appreciate these services so much that one year the bikers brought their keys with them when they could not bring their bikes so that they could get prayer.

            Daniel put a great importance on a ministry of presence. When someone losses someone else sometimes the best thing to do is to be with them. Words don’t always help and sometimes the only thing that does is the presence of someone else.  

New Believer: John

Tell me about your journey to faith in Christ?

“I grew up in a home that was Christian by name but we didn’t really live it out. My family went to church most days when I was younger but stopped, as I got older. They didn’t seem that interested. I didn’t have many friends at that time but that changed when I got connected to a few kids from a youth group that I ended up going to.”

What helped you the most to step over the line and make the commitment? ·

“I went to an event hosted by two local churches that would get me out of school for a few hours. At that event was the first time I really heard anyone talk about the saving work of grace and I new than that it was true.”

        

What has been the best part of becoming a Christ follower for you?

“The best part of following Christ for me is the freedom and the hope. When you stop to think about it there isn’t much about this world that is worth living for but God is defiantly living for and I never had that feeling before I came to Christ. The hope that comes with faith in Christ is amazing because you just know there is so much more.”

What has been the most challenging part of following Christ? ·  

“There is so much to learn. It seems like ever one you look at in the church has it all down and has been like that since day one but here I am having to pick it up from scratch. To add to that I come from a Lutheran background so the Pentecostal church seems a little different.”

What do you think is helping you grow the most in your faith? · 

“The friends I have have really helped me. I’ve been to a few events that have really help my faith come alive. The fellowship that I was missing out before I came to God has really made a difference.

What advice do you have for me in helping others like you to grow in their faith?

“Discipleship. Not just the stuff out of a text book that you do with someone for a few weeks but true discipleship where two people can form a deep and lasting relationship. I think missing that person is the only real thing that I feel like I’m missing at all so far in my walk.”

Write a reaction paper on what you experienced and learned from your interview. Each report should be at least 300 words and should be posted on your blog. Do not include the full name of the person you interviewed.

Response:

I think that John’s point about discipleship is an important one. I too went through a few generic programs that only last for a few weeks or for a summer. I always felt like the focus was to much on the material and there was never much room for a relationship to grow. When it comes down to it that relationship is more important that whatever the martial could be. First, it is important to have a person we can really get to know and see the work of Christ in, to have someone we can share the revelations of our time with God with, and someone we know will be safe to talk to if we are really struggling with a problem that would be hard if not imposable to tell someone we had only known for a few weeks. Seconded, Having that relationship in our lives will teach us how to disciple someone else when we are ready too. The “how do I do this?” will be gone or at lease diminished because we will have already lived through it. True discipleship is something I think is lacking in our church today and it is something I hope to have in my ministry.          

I think that John’s salvation is a good testament to faithfulness in God. The program that he came to Christ through was mostly being used by those who attended, to get out of school and that is even what John thought he was doing as well. The leaders kept it going however and they were able to reach him when it seemed Christ had no other avenues at the time into his life. As far as I know that program has having little success other than this one instance.

The leaders of the one of the churches youth group’s did a great job help John make new friends quickly. It didn’t take John long to feel at home and fit in with at least a few of the other students. This is a very important part of ministry. I think fellowship is one of the most basic needs that is not being met in our society today in or outside of the church. People are so quite to close themselves up in the groups they are apart. The youth leader picked put a couple and pretty much limited them to hang out with John at first so that relationships could be built.

Unchurched survey with Sara

What are a few issues or topics that impact/interest you?

“Personally I try to stay out of politics and religion in the news because in my eyes everyone has their own Ideas and Beliefs. I can voice my opinions but I would rather not feel like I am pushing what I believe on others.”

Why do you think most people don’t attend church?

“I think people don't really go to church because most of them see religion as either a joke or just something to fall back on to cover up their mistakes and problems. Some see religion as nothing but an easy button and some people just go to church for something to do to waste time OR find out what everyone else is doing and as a way or getting information on other people... so being nosy in other words.

Then there are actually some who go to church for its actual reason. Personally myself, I Don't go to church that often because I see church as a way of talking to God and or Jesus through a 3rd person when I would rather talk to him one on one in an environment that I am comfy with instead of one that I am not. I believe God is everywhere not just a church.”

If you were to look for a church to attend, what kind of things would you look for?

“I look for environment and a friendly Atmosphere. I don’t want to walk into a place and feel uncomfortable in my own shoes.”

What advice can you give to pastors who really want to be helpful to people?

“One thing I have learned about pastors is that they like to sugar coat things and or hide the answer to the question being asked in a bible verse. If you are asked a direct question you should answer it directly instead of beating around the bush. Now if someone asked something with that verse as an example then sure by all means, but until then just answer honestly.”

Jason Lamer - Youth alive

            After working in youth ministry for several years Jason Lamer is now the Director of Youth Alive for the Pen Dell district. The idea behind Youth Alive is to bring assemblies to public schools. The assemblies can be described as having a festival feel and really engage with the students. Later on the same day as the assemblies the Youth Alive team will host another event at the same school in which the students are given a chance to accept Jesus. The events are very successful.

            One of the things that has really helped Jason grow in his ministry is that he grew up in a pastors home in which the church did not finically support his family. Because evangelism was a hobby and not a job in his home, Jason feels that he had an opportunity to experience it in a way that was always exciting and fun. He was given plenty of opportunities to preach and witness and at the age of thirteen he knew God had a calling on his life to evangelize. After that he gave everything to God and now he can recall many different situations in which God has provided for him because he was exactly where God wanted him to be. Jason said that God blessed him and his ministries because he always used what he had and didn’t wast time wishing for more resources. 

John Ratz

John Ratz has served at several churches for the purpose of setting a small group system. Originally he worked young married cupules and Audio visual aspects of the church services. Since than he has found a gifting for aiding churches that are struggling to run small group programs or trying to start them.

When he first started a small group program he spent a year preparing for it. When

He launched the program he invited anyone who was interested in small groups to attend a meeting. Initially they had 120 people (60% of the church) show up (without even knowing much about what the small groups were going to be all about). They held another meeting the next morning and most of the people came back.

John started off by doing modal small groups that lasted for 6 weeks. One of the biggest hurdles was going to get people to make a weekly commitment so they started of small. After they started no one New was allowed to join in those first groups so that the people in them could grow relationships. Everyone in each small group had a turn to lead their group. Even though many of the participants were nervous, everyone said that they had a good experience.

John found that having just one or two nights a week set aside by the church with no other ministries going on really helped with small groups. It also made it easier for each group to come to gather a few times a year to go over anything that they wanted too.

He Also he found that even with the same training, group leaders would take away different things from their training sessions and he had to continually help them grow and learn.

After 20 plus small groups, John said that he needed help “couches”, to train the small group leaders. He found his couches by putting the leaders into small groups and seeing which ones naturally lead their groups. By using them, a lot of pressure was taken of off John.

John said that one of the most important things is to understand the culture of the church that we are coming into. Also he said that everyone needs a small group, even the guy running the small groups. 

Christ Follower (Silas)

Living in Jerusalem I was present for the Lord’s crucifixion. What great sorrow it causes me to remember that day. The city was in chaos. Those who followed Christ had scattered and all seemed lost. He was to be hung on a cross so that he would be cursed by God. How could we not wonder if he was truly doing the work of God when he cried out “my God, my God, why have you forsaken me” but so it was written and had to be that we may all be forgiven. However all the more joy it brings to my heart to remember his resurrection. We did not know what to think about the news of his empty tomb but the word spread was quickly spreading that many had seen him after his death, the holes form his crucifixion still marked his as well as the cut form the spear. After this his teachings were more clear than ever. How could we deny the burning truth inside of us?

Out of the founders of the Christian church in Jerusalem I was among the first to accept Jesus as the coming Christ, so proclaimed and promised by the LORD in the ancient writings of our forefathers. I embraced his teachings and aided my brothers in spreading Jesus’ teachings so that all the world may hear of the good news even though many still opposed the teachings of Jesus in Jerusalem and sought to prosecute us, chief among them Soul who would eventually be unable to deny the truth. I was well respected among my brothers in the church at Jerusalem because they considered me a prophet. As the church grew and enemies rose up to cause our brothers to stumble I was elected to spread the decrees of the Jerusalem conical to our brothers in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia because in me was found an ability to mediate between the our brothers form Jewish and gentile decent.

For a time I traveled with Paul spreading the word until we reached Macedonia where I stayed as Paul went on. Later I rejoined Paul at Corinth and we preached the good news together for some time. I even aided Paul in the composition of several of his letters. Paul and I were cast into prison together in Philippi for our service to our LORD. Such were the times that we were in constant danger. As Jesus told us, those who hated him would hate us. However we did not fear men or any mortal danger because we knew that God was the ultimate authority and we would not be harmed unless it was our time to join him. We rejoiced because we say the spirit of the LORD take root in thousands of people. No mortal danger could discourage us as we continued our work.

Even in prison Paul and I praised God for his work in our lives. No bars, nor walls, or any other earthly thing can come between the LORD and us. During one such time of praise God began to shake the land and the door to our prison cell was opened. So impressed was our Jailer by God’s might that he wished to submit himself to Christ Jesus so that he and his family could receive salvation. From there we would continue to spread the word of God. Opposition followed us wherever we went. False teaching continually had to be put down. Many of brothers had a hard time letting go of the old laws and traditions. They felt that salvation came largely impart form following the mosaic law. Still others denied the divinity of Jesus saying that God come to be with him at his baptism and left before his death. If that were so than how could the word have truly been made flesh.

We had much encouragement form our bothers in many of the gentile churches that resisted these teachings and generously gave to cause of the LORD. Truly blessed are to live in such an age. 

Bob NovaK

            Pastor Bob Novak is the head Pastor of the church God lead him to plant, Life Christian fellowship in Springfield PA.

God gave Pastor Bob the Idea of planting a church in Philadelphia area first through dreams that he was having during a time of fasting. Before he and his wife ever spoke about the possibility of moving God let his two children know that they were moving. Pastor Bob knew that God was preparing his children. He and his wife felt that they would move on to a new church plant after they got the church up and running but are still their 18 years later.

            Catholic Church heavily influences the area where they are located. The Catholic high school graduates twice as many students as the public school. They had to adapt to the community and tried very hard to show the community that they were there to minister to families and serve the community. The other churches have had a hard time reaching the younger people in the community so Pastor Bob has focused on reaching that demographic. Life Christian Church has the youngest congregation in the area.

            On of the most beneficial things finically the church plant has had is the preschool that was taught in  the building they eventually bought. The couple who was running the school were about to sell the building when The wife had a vision of it being turned into a church and Pastor Bob Running it. She told Pastor Bob who than started the process of buying the building.

            When I asked Pastor Bob what the most exiting thing was about planting a church, he responded by telling us about some stories of people’s lives that were touched. He said that nothing else could compare to the stories of the peoples lives that were touched through the church plant. Starting out with such a small core group really gives you a chance to get to know each other and grow into a family.