Gerry Stoltzfoos

Gerry is the Pastor of Freedom Valley Worship center http://www.freedomvalley.org/. This church wants to reach lost people and specifically people who have been burnt by the church. The ministries that they have are rebuilder's marriage ministry, youth ministry, men's ministry, Gettysburgh Master's Commission, and a therapeutic riding ministry. He was also on abc news for comparitive study during speaking in tongues.

They also have a counseling ministry and a cowboy church every fourth Sunday brings in numerous visitors (This past sunday was 89 visitors). His church holds a concert event called Bombshelter. Local garage bands come in and draw in local people from the area. There are normally 3 Christian bands and 1 heathen band (haha). Freedom Valley Worship Center also started a coffee house on thursday and Friday night.

I think that this is an intense and very out-of-the-box type ministry. What Gerry seems to do is make rules for the church rather than having a desire to do something and not doing it because church says you can't. He considers his ministry part of the church that makes the rules.

One of the cutting edge things that Gerry's church has done was to buy a tattoo parlor in order to reach teenagers. He said that the few times that he went to the parlor it was packed out and he couldn't even see the speaker because of the 40 or 50 teenages in the place.

Several pastors discouraged Gerry in his attempts to plant the church that he wanted to reach people in his area. His first week of the church being open, 42 people were there, the next week there were 19, then 17, then 12. Church was in the ballroom of a Holiday Inn, then it moved to the YWCA (pro-abortion clinic), then a cafeteria, and finally they went to an old drug-dealer's house.

Gerry came from an Amish background and felt comfortable in the Pentecostal square only when two people took a couple hours to ask him about his life. He largely focuses his ministry on loving others because of the example of love he saw.

Jason Lamers

Jason grew up in a Christian home, made a decision to follow Christ when he was 7 years old, felt the call of an evangelist in his life at the age of 13 which was also when he was baptised in the Holy Spirit.

Jason went to North Central Bible College after meeting Dr. Meyer who was then the president at the college. He majored in Pastoral Ministry and is now largely involved in youth ministry. He graduated and didn't have a job yet but preached and applied at different churches until he got a job a couple months later.

Jason's philosophy and style for youth ministry seems to be innovative and relevant but his main focus seems to be on relationship. This was the way that they were capable of discipling the youth on a one to one basis (in small groups, at their home, and etc.)

I thought it was interesting that one of the open doors to the high school was a death of a teenager in the area (not a person in the youth group), and then another student died and Jason left a message to let them know he was praying for them. He then helped with grief counseling for the students in the high school that needed counseling. Jason was able to speak at another student's funeral and became a grief counselor for the school that he was near until he left that area.

I like that the Youth Alive strategy is not to make sure that they can get into the school and that's the only way the school can be influenced. I really enjoy the fact that Youth Alive empowers students on their high school campuses in order for those students to be missionaries and have a ministry to reach others. Also, I like that Jason said they still believe in prayer (it's hard to find a Christian that still believes in prayer nowadays ...)

There is a 50% salvation rate to seven project - Jason knows that not each person starts going to church but the campus missionaries are prepared to do follow-up ministry with each student. Seven project is to come alongside the local church to give them teenagers to disciple.

Jason seems to be excited about the ministry he's involved with. He also seems to Major in the majors and enjoy what he's doing.

Brian Bolt

Started testimony in military (took military as an option instead of jail time). Jumped people across the border and then started transporting drugs across the border. Brian got shot point-blank in the head with a 22. In the hospital for 75 days without being able to eat speak or swallow.
Brian got saved and discipled through Victory Outreach, a men's home. After 13 months there, Brian went to Gettysburgh Master's Commision for 3 years. Joined with Bob Costello and worked with him for some time.
Soon after, Brian was brought on staff by Pastor Jeff Leake of Allison Park Church. *I like when Brian said that he was tired of the office and needed to get out of there.* The program at Pittsburgh City Outreach is six months and then for six months they stay at the home and pay rent.
People they minister to suck the life out of them - Brian said that we have to set up boundaries with the people that he ministers to. They need to find time to get away because people on the streets consider them to be the pastors.
His ministry is largely supported by Allison Park Church's Network of Hope. They train others, provide for church plants, counseling, food banks, and money issues.

Unchurched Friend

This is an interview with a friend that I lead to the Lord this past summer who hasn't yet committed to going to church because of work schedules. I enjoyed her openness and especially the answer to number six. I think I agree with unchurched people sometimes more than the churched ones :-).

1. What do you think is the greatest need in your area?
More open-mindedness
2. Are you actively attending any church?
Not at the moment, but hopefully soon.
3. What are a few issues or topics that impact/interest you?
Global warming/the end of the world (whenever that may be)
4. Why do you think most people don’t attend church?
I think today most people have the mindset that they don't need to go to church in order to practice their religion or religion just isn't as important to people now than it was years ago.
5. If you were to look for a church to attend, what kind of things would you look for?
I would look for a welcoming atmosphere. A place that would except me for the way i look, the mistakes i've made, and the way I act without judging me. A place that when I walk in I don't have the feeling that people are just staring me down.
6. What advice can you give to pastors who really want to be helpful to people?
Listen. Don't jump to conclusions right away rather try and understand where the person is coming from.
7. What is your longterm goal for your life?
Raise my daughter (possibly other children down the road) the best that I can. I'm not just saying this because this seems to be a survey on churches/ religion, but I really do want to bring my children up around God just because my parents didn't and at this point in my life I wish they had because I see how important it is.

New believer #1

The person who was interviewed is a new convert and is from a different country. They spoke in broken English mostly but I was encouraged by how quickly whole-hearted devotion seem to come to him. He is sold out for the Lord.

1.Tell me about your journey to faith in Christ?In my life I always knew that there was someone in the sky that looked down at us. I believed that there was a God but I never lived for Him. I used to be addicted to drugs such as marijuana and I used them constantly. Alcohol was normal and on occasion I would even do ecstasy. I met some Christians through the organization Christ is the Answer mission organization. They started to tell me about Jesus and I came to accept him as my savior. When I did this I cried for a week straight because of the joy that I had from being saved.
2. What helped you the most to step over the line and make the commitment?For me the Holy Spirit really touched me as I sought God in my own prayer time. I also experienced this when I had Christians praying for me.
3. What has been the best part of becoming a Christ follower for you?Since coming to Christ I have been set free from drugs and alcohol. I have such a huge amount of joy in my life. Before I became a Christians I did bad things and really dangerous things. But once I came to know Jesus I had no more fear and felt completelysecure, it was truly amazing.
4. What has been the most challenging part of following Christ?Having issues with temptation for girls and smoking marijuana.
5. What do you think is helping you grow the most in your faith?Seeing the examples of the Christians around me was the most important thing to help my faith grow.
6. What advice do you have for me in helping others like you to grow in their faith?Put in their mind, God's love and show them the brotherly love as Christians. Also pray ourselves for them and tell them to pray for themselves. They have to understand when they follow God they will be saved in this life but especially in the next life.
7. What's your deepest desire when it comes to your relationship with Jesus? I found out that my mother had a tumor two weeks before I got saved. She is still going through treatment now but my deepest desire is to see her fully healed. So far her treatment is going perfect and this is a great blessing to me.

YAY

YAY!