This past Sunday, we celebrated 50 years of faith and love at Fern Creek Christian Church. It was a lot of fun! If you missed it, check our website, where we should have videos from that day. You can also check out these videos from two young men who grew up in our church, and are now studying and serving in ministry.

I also didn’t get a chance to share words of encouragement from some former ministers who served at Fern Creek during the past 50 years. So, let me step aside and let them speak in this week’s blog…

Rick Burdette (Senior Minister, 1999-2013)
Friendships aren’t made because people get together for ball games or meals, although I like both. Friendships are knit together in the fabric of life. The dark weavings of pain and struggles mingled with the bright cloth of celebrations and joy. It was the great privilege of the Burdettes to share in both through 14+ years of ministry. And the most beautiful part of God’s knitting of our friendship is the scarlet thread of Jesus Christ which holds it together for eternity. Congratulations on this 50th year of impacting the world for God’s glory.

Dale DeNeal (Associate Minister, 1982-1990)
Church Family, Happy 50th anniversary! You are a great church! Donna and I could not have asked to be part of a more loving and encouraging congregation for our first full-time ministry. Some of our most cherished experiences and memories happened when we were with you. We love you very much. May God continue to richly bless FCCC.

PJ Hardin (Worship Minister, 2007-2011)
Congratulations on celebrating 50 years of service in Christ. I’m so thankful to see God continuing to bless and grow this ministry. Fern Creek Christian is a church that truly continues to live out the Great Commission. For 50 years this church has has been a light in the darkness, and a city on hill for the people of Fern Creek, the Louisville area and all nations. For 50 years you have helped lost people find salvation and saved people to become disciples; from the very young, to the not so young.
Thank you for showing the love of Christ to me and my family. Thank you for helping my children start off in the right direction. Thank you for being a family to our family and sharing life with us. Fern Creek Christian Church will always feel like home to us no matter where the Lord leads.
Congratulations for reaching this milestone and may God continue to bless this church and its ministry.

Bill Stone (Senior Minister, 1983-1989)
Time seems to have flown by since I was your Senior Minister. Those days were full of victories, and challenges, as we strove to build the role of the congregation in the Fern Creek community. Mission growth and leadership development were highlights of that era of ministry.  The congregation took a leadership role in the growth of the Fern Creek – Highview United Ministries. We were also active in the work at White Mills Camp.
As you celebrate this important milestone in the history of the congregation, we pray for your continued faithful witness for Christ in all of your ministry efforts.

Steve Poston (Youth Minister, 1990-2007)
Greetings to our Fern Creek Family! It is with great joy that we remember and speak of our years of sharing life with you. We came to Fern Creek, barely adults, full of hope, enthusiasm, and a little uncertainty about what God would do. Together, we grew in number and spirit. You loved and nurtured our family through various seasons of life over our 17 years with you. We are privileged and blessed beyond words to have had the privilege to call you our family, as we still do today. Much has changed for us and for you since we followed God’s leading to “the mission field of Ohio”, but one thing has not – our love for you and and joy in remembering life shared with you. May you continue to be bold in loving greatly, living gracefully, and sharing the great hope of Jesus with the community there and as God leads you around the world. We look forward with great anticipation to the next time we can be with you and even more so to the day that we worship with you before the throne of our beloved Father in Heaven.

Mark Jones (Senior Minister, 1989-1995)
I am praising God today for the impact you have had in Fern Creek for five decades. God’s light has shined brightly and many people have come to know Jesus in a life-changing way. I pray that you will keep loving the Lord, loving your neighbors, loving the lost. In Acts 20:24, the Apostle Paul said, “I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me–the task of testifying to the gospel of God’s grace.” May each of our lives be a testimony to God’s amazing grace. Thanks for letting Gail and me be a part of your great legacy! We love you and pray for you regularly.