COVER STORY 17 September 2024 www.goodnewsfl.org Good News • South Florida edition a circuit riding preacher, which led to my grandfather, which led to me, which led to Todd, which led now to his son, Jefferson.” Jefferson and his wife Cassie both earned ministry degrees from Southeastern University at Christ Fellowship. Jefferson is working in the worship department and Cassie serves in the kids ministry. “So we come from a long line of ministry, which is a generational blessing,” said Coach Mullins, “and I’ve always told Todd, ‘Let’s not mess this up. Let’s keep passing this on. It comes down to you must operate with integrity of heart and keep improving your skills. When they talked about David in Proverbs, he led them with integrity of heart and skillful hands. He shepherded them and we want to do that.” How it all started So how did a young couple from Ohio give birth to one of the largest churches in the nation? Tom and Donna first met at a youth camp. But it was Rev. Brooks Lynn, who introduced them to South Florida, offering them a summer internship at a local church in Palm Beach Gardens. Donna had been college roommates with the pastor’s daughter. After finishing their degrees, Tom was offered a coaching position at Palm Beach Gardens High School in the 1970s. He led the team to an undefeated season, ranked number one in the state before Mullins left for a position as head coach at Georgetown College in Kentucky. He later returned to serve as Athletic Director of Palm Beach State College and coached at the Benjamin School before he felt the call into full time ministry. It was during their first trip to Israel in 1983 on the Via Dolorosa in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher that Coach Tom “had an awakening of Christ’s love and sacrifice for us.” He spoke to Donna after that encounter and said, “I don’t know what God is calling us to in this next stage of life, but I want us to be fully surrendered to what that is.” After much prayer and consideration, a year later they began the church in their home, grew to about 40 people then moved it to Grove Park Elementary School where they remained for seven years with little growth. Looking back, he now refers to the “schoolhouse years” as a wilderness experience when they felt God was testing to see if they could be trusted with little before He could trust them with more. Finally, in 1991, Christ Fellowship purchased a “horse barn” that was transformed into their first permanent sanctuary due to the sacrifice of the founding families, and moved into it in 1992, doubling in size. Place of Hope Just a year later, Tom and Donna were on a mission trip to Russia and Romania when they encountered a little girl who had been rescued from a state-run orphanage where kids were literally kept in cages. At the age of five she could not talk, could not walk and had not been potty trained; however, they witnessed her radical transformation after being placed in a loving home environment as the little girl jumped onto the lap of her house father. Shortly after they returned, Donna received what she calls a vision from God during a prayer service and began weeping while reading Isaiah 1:17, which says, “defend the cause of the fatherless.” She pointed to the verse and said, “Honey, we need to do something about the hurting children right here.” That night, Coach Tom announced, “We’re going to build a Children’s Home right here in Palm Beach County,” which became Place of Hope. Since then, Place of Hope has served more than 30,000 foster children and foster youth living in Neighborhood Family Cottages. They have served human trafficking survivors and partnered with Crime Stoppers to help bring justice and healing for victims. Place of Hope's maternity home has cared for more than 87 mothersto-be and helped families find forever families through adoption. Special needs In 2001, Christ Fellowship’s ministry to special needs families began to provide a place of belonging and accessibility for those with disabilities and their families. Children with disabilities are assigned a caring volunteer buddy to guide them through the kids’ environment on Sunday mornings, so their parents and caretakers can participate in Sunday service. There is also a special needs shadow ministry for adults with disabilities, a virtual special needs Bible camp and ASL interpretation for the deaf. The ministry even offers a therapeutic horseback riding program where riders of all ages who are physically, intellectually or developmentally disabled experience improvements in coordination, balance, self-confidence and social skills. And in complete alignment with their ministry to people with disabilities, Christ Fellowship recently partnered with Ability Tree, a faith-based nonprofit devoted to equipping communities to welcome, include and support families impacted by disability. Ability Tree has a consulting branch that helps churches make their physical locations and programs more accessible and trains church staff and volunteers to better welcome and care for families impacted by disabilities. “Ability Tree has provided training for our Connections staff, and we are working to equip our volunteer teams this fall,” said Pastor Todd. Learn more at abilitytree.org/consultingbranch. Developing leaders In addition to their heart for the most vulnerable, Christ Fellowship has a strong focus on developing leaders. They launched Christ Fellowship Leadership College in 2012 to equip spiritual leaders in both ministry and the marketplace. Leadership College is designed for believers who are currently leading others spiritually, actively serving in the church, and sense a calling to grow in their spiritual impact by using biblical leadership principles within their sphere of influence. It is a 10-month program that meets on evenings and weekends to accommodate those working fulltime who have a desire to grow. The also opened Southeastern University at Christ Fellowship in 2016, an accredited Christian college experience on-site in Palm Beach Gardens that now hosts about 110 undergraduate students and about a dozen graduate students in a mix of online and in person classes, combined with experiential hands-on learning and networking opportunities within the church. Areas of study include ministry, education, digital design and business. Ty McMillan, site director of SEU at Christ Fellowship said the decision to partner with the Lakeland, FL, based Christian university to establish a site at Christ Fellowship came out of an understanding that students raised in church who go away to college have an incredibly high rate of falling away from the faith. “If we can offer an affordable Christian higher education but keep them rooted and planted within the church, we can significantly decrease that number and continue to cultivate their faith.” What really sets Southeastern University at Christ Fellowship apart is our focus on experiential learning, said McMillan. “We’re giving them opportunities to put their degrees into practice through special serving opportunities at the church and there are unique leadership development opportunities to sit down with incredible leaders like Coach Mullins.” We asked Coach Mullins what leadership advice he offers to others just getting started in ministry, and here’s what he said. 1. Be faithful in the little things. Take what God has placed in your hands and multiply it, like the prayer of the talents, and don’t compare yourself to others. 2. Develop ministry partnerships. Don’t stay isolated in your own silo. My philosophy is if you help enough other people win, that’s always going to come back around and help you. He who refreshes others will be refreshed. That’s the principle. 3. Empower your people within. Sometimes we think we have to hire a great team when really you just need to build with the team you’ve got. Take your players, empower them, build them, pour into them and God will do great through that. 4. Always keep your focus outward. Don’t ever get inward focused. That’s the worst thing in the world because that stops church growth. “To me, the greatest test of your leadership is the legacy you leave, and how strong are the teams coming behind you?” said Coach Tom. I look behind us and they’re leading from stronger, broader positions and just doing a great job! Not just at Christ Fellowship, but the Church – ecclesia. We look at the darkness and spiritual warfare in our country, but there is a light that is shining so brightly in the Church. I believe we’re going to see a great spiritual awakening. So we just want to run hard until we cross the finish line.” To find a Christ Fellowship campus near you or to learn more, visit christfellowship.church Sunday service at Christ Fellowship, based in Palm Beach Gardens
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