FAITH celebrates fifth anniversary at Daytona meeting

First Baptist Church of Daytona Beach, which originated the FAITH Sunday School Evangelism Strategy, will help FAITH kick off its five-year anniversary in 2003 by hosting a National FAITH Institute Jan. 27-30.

The four-day institute will consist of training, sharing and learning for congregations already active in FAITH. The institute also will introduce churches to FAITH.

Featured speakers will be Bobby Welch, co-pastor of First Baptist Church in Daytona Beach, and Gene Mims, president of LifeWay Church Resources.

Break-out sessions will focus on topics and issues that will help churches' FAITH strategies expand and mature, such as Student FAITH, Developing Leadership, Maintaining Balance, and Teaching Evangelistically.

There will be time to network with other pastors, directors and volunteers during dialogue sessions designed to provide insight on relevant FAITH issues.

The FAITH veterans track is for persons who have attended a FAITH training clinic or have completed at least their first semester of FAITH. It will offer skills development workshops to help participants improve their FAITH ministry and testimonies of successes experienced through FAITH.

The FAITH basic track is for new FAITH learners and will qualify them to begin FAITH training in their churches. Basic track participants will have opportunities to interact with churches currently using FAITH.

The POR FE track, presented in Spanish, will be offered to persons who are interested in "Un viaje POR FE," a new line of FAITH resources designed for Spanish-speaking congregations and churches that are ministering in a Spanish-language community. With the same structure as the FAITH basic track, this option offers culturally appropriate training.

For more information, call Jeff Hessinger, FAITH consultant for the Florida Baptist Convention, at 1-800-226-8584, ext. 8214. (FBC)