Compassion By Design Survey  

Valley Forge Christian College celebrates the leadership and services that make our community  

great and also identifies the areas where we need to work together to continue to build a strong  

and vibrant place to live, work and play. This survey is being conducted in the Phoenixville area,  

and is a Valley Forge Christian College class project.  

1. Please enter your zip code: ___19460_____  

2. Nominate one organization in each of  the f ollowing categories:  

(Nominate those that represent the BEST of our community during the last year)  

Education Provider  

(School, college, day care, af ter school, educational service or business):  

Charlestown Elementary School 

Health Care Provider  

(Hospital, clinic, doctor’s off ice, medical service or business):

The Clinic - offers free services, w/ donation preferred   

Recreation  

(Park, f ields, f acility, organization, league):  

Reeves Park

Business That Gives Back  

(Contributes to the community with funds or other support):  

Chic-Fil-a 

Restaurant or Coffee Shop:  

Artisan's 

Nonprofit & Charitable  

(Local foundations, nonprof its, charities and benefit drives):  

VFCC Blood Drive 

Public Service  

(Any local service operated by government—library, police, fire department):  

The Phoenix - Local newspaper 

Culture,  Arts and Historic Enrichment  

(Museums, etc):

Colonial Theatre

3. The greatest thing about our community is:  

Family friendly 

4. If  there is one area in which our community needs to improve it is:  

More middle school/high school activities 

5. In our community, I think the f ollowing areas pose the greatest challenge:  

(Pick up to 5 of the following):  

__X_ Financial Pressure  ___ Marriage & Relationships  

___ Substance Abuse  ___ Job Security  

___ Affordable Housing  ___ Time Pressure  

___ Crime/Violence  ___ Single Parent Resources  

___ Sense of  Permanence  ___ Childcare  

___ Stress  ___ Loneliness  

___ Education  _X__ Public Transportation  

_X__ Cultural Tolerance  ___ Gangs  

___ Jobs  ___ Resources for low­income families  

___ Traff ic  _X__ Cost of Living  

___ Discrimination  ___ Negative Media  

___ Professional Development  ___ Health Care  

__X_ Teen Resources  ___ Sense of  Community  

___ Immigration  ___ Support f or Charity  

___ Lack of  Public Services  ___ Other:__________________  

6. The one thing that would make f amily life better in our community is:  

More activities for families - picnic areas, etc. 

7. I am concerned about what is going to happen in the future with:

  The land around the college

8. A new affordable service that would really help us is:  

Neighborhood Recycling 

9. A service that really needs to be improved is:  

Public transportation services

10. Comments on any of the above:  

Developed by David Mills, Compassion by Design, dmills@compassionbydesign.org

Courtney Lien 

Courtney is on staff as the senior high pastor at Glad Tidings Assembly of God in Reading, Pa. She attended school at VFCC and graduated in 2006. When she was hired full time, she was hired as the youth secretary. She could have been angry about it, but instead was glad for the chance to have her foot in the door. She did worry, however, that taking the position of secretary would somehow lock her in to that position. She originally wanted to have the "program director" position, but there was no opening for that position. The lead youth pastor allowed her to take on more pastoral roles and then she finally spoke to the senior pastor about her passion for ministry. After some months of waiting, the leadership informed her that they had decided to make her a youth pastor. 

Currently, she is involved in changing the typical Wednesday night services into making that service happen on Sunday morning. This in turn frees up Wednesday night for more discipleship opportunities. Wednesday night service typically has worship, a message, and small groups. The small groups are groups of about 15-20 students that stay together from sixth grade until twelfth grade. The students have one small group leader from sixth to eighth grade, and then a new leader from 9th - 12th grades. 

It was great hearing Courtney speak to us. It was exciting to see a passionate young woman who is in ministry. I think she is a good example for other women who are looking forward to being in the ministry. 

Pastor Todd Bube

Pastor Todd actually grew up at Glad Tidings, where he currently serves as children's pastor. For a period of about four years, he worked in the building and grounds, children's ministry, and youth pastored. When the time came for him to switch from youth to children's ministry, others assumed he did something wrong! Interestingly, a huge percentage of churches grow because of a great kid's program. There are even adults who come into the services without particularly enjoying the services, but will continue to come for their children. 

Children's ministry and youth ministry obviously are very different. Every weekend, he needs around 100 people to make sure everything goes according to plan. One big thing he is trying to do within the kid's ministry is to bring parents alongside their kids to grow spiritually. Pastor Todd wants to partner with the parents to help the children to grow spiritually. 

Every week, the children get a "God-time" card. With every God time card, the kids have to come spend time with their parents and go over a verse in the Bible. This ensures that children are learning from God's word at home, and at the same time spend time with their parents. 

One of the big things we talked about was VBS. VBS is huge at Glad Tidings, so a lot of work goes into it. There were creative themes, such as PS3, Video games, DDR, etc. I really enjoyed this part of the class because we got to discuss how a large church like Glad Tidings does VBS. It was really neat to hear how they do it and then try to learn from that and incorporate that into our own churches. Also, it reminded me that my church VBS is coming up in THREE months and I'm SOOO excited=D=D=D

Bob Kapp 

After Bible college, Pr. Bob went back to his home church and worked for 3.5 years as the youth leader. Though he had opportunities to be involved in other ministries, but he felt a calling to work in central PA. When he first started working with that youth group, there was a group of about 10 students. 3.5 years later, when he left, the youth group was running around 170 students! 

When asked, "how do you know what the will of God is?" Pastor Bob responded that he seeks the peace of God. He also said, pay attention to those red flags that come up! That is the Holy Spirit directing us to go in another direction. 

When it was time for him to leave that youth group, and he was thinking about direction about where to go. He knew that his time at that youth group was over, and felt such a peace about going from Lebanon to Christian Life Assembly. At the time he went over to the new church, that church was dealing with a split and the youth group had shrunk down a LOT. 

He was at Christian Life for about five years as a youth pastor. After that, he was asked to be an executive pastor. As the executive pastor, he is the right-hand man for the senior pastor. The senior pastor and the executive pastor must work together very well! The two must be knit together in heart, and do ministry as a team. 

They were at Christian Life for quite a while, then went out to California to work with a church out there. After being there in California for a while, he realized God wanted them back in PA. 

One of his main callings is to be a spiritual coach. In the last 20 years, he has mentored many many people. He described it like this: 

I look at where people are, then think about 

where they COULD be, then figure out how to

 get them there.  

There are so many facets that go into mentorship. It was really cool hearing from him about HOW to mentor someone - it is clear that his method is all about exponential growth. I think this would be a really cool thing to do for any future leader to prepare for positions of leadership or to mentor someone. 

New Believer #2

Tell me about your journey to faith in Christ?

I was a person that had everything together – good education, good job, financially secure, everything. As I got older though, I realized that my life seemed pointless. I talked to various friends and family about it, and got all sorts of answers, ranging from “You need a hobby” to meditation. A co-worker always talked to me about God and how He could change my life. we talked and talked, and the more I talked to him, the more it made sense. After several months of discussing different options, back and forth, I dedicated my life to Him. Life has not been easy since then, by far. I have many questions and doubts, but God always comes through for me. I believe He is taking my skeptical heart and changing it into something else!

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

I was always searching for answers – I had a few Christian friends over the years, but no one very close. I had this idea that Christians were boring and sucked the fun out of everything. As I got older, I realized I was running out of options. Giving Jesus a try seemed like a good idea – and now I can’t imagine life without Him.

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

Honestly, the best part is knowing that there IS a God who cares and loves ME personally. He speaks to me and wants the best for me. He offers me everything I could ever want and more. What more could I ask for?!

What has been the most challenging part of following God?

In the very beginning, there were things I did not understand that most Christians do understand. “Christianese” and church culture were foreign to me, so I fumbled quite a bit before I learned what these things meant. Phrases like, ‘did you do your devotions?’ confused me quite a bit, because I had no idea what that person was talking about! It is fine now, but at first, it was as if I was learning a foreign language or something.

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

For me, reading my Bible helps me grow so much. I have a study Bible and it was so amazing to think about how deep the Bible went – I realized the truth in it, and it made me realize that if I could live my life based on this, I would be satisfied. I also learned about the life and character of Jesus, the man I was now modeling my life after. This was a guideline for me as to how to live my life. 

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

The biggest thing would be to not be so critical. Wanting to change your life is a challenging enough task without someone criticizing you and saying what you should and should not be doing. At the same time, don’t leave a new Christian alone in their walk with God! There should be balance between helping them grow in their relationship with God, but also not knocking them down every time they make a mistake.

My friend that I asked these questions to is a very different type of person. He is very smart and analytical, so his search for God was a decision he made through logic and thinking. He did say that it was so difficult for him to simply believe that God was there. After he decided to take the plunge, God became so much more real to him than before. It was amazing for him to see and realize that God does care for him. He says that even now, almost a year after he has been saved, he still is sometimes overwhelmed with the knowledge that there is a God who cares and is in charge.

It was really cool talking to someone who had to figure out his own salvation, and really search for it. I grew up in a Christian home so I cannot relate to this, but it must be amazing to find God on your own. His story reminds me of the lost coin – when she found it, she was so thrilled! In the same way, he found the answer he was looking for and is overwhelmed now! It is amazing how God works=)

For me, I grew up in a Christian home, so all this “church stuff” is totally normal to me. I do not bat an eye when I hear that someone is “laying down their life to Him” or “slain in the Spirit” or that someone was “washed in the Blood.” All these statements are fine, but it is all “Christianese.” If I was a non-believer and I heard people talking like this, I’d be like…uhm, you’re all crazy. I think this is something that we could keep in mind for the non-believers or new believers among us and watch what we say and make sure we’re not just blabbing! 

Bill Ellis

Way back in 1988, Bill Ellis started with a church plant. The church started running 20-25 people a week. The way they got the church to grow was to knock on people’s doors and invited them to church. According to him, that did not work really well, and he does not recommend that method. The first year that they were there, they averaged 30 people a week. The second year, they averaged 31 people per week, and that was discouraging to him. The church started growing a bit more when they moved from a Masonic lodge to an actual church building that they shared with another congregation.  During his talk, Pr. Bill asked some interesting questions that made me think quite a bit. Some of those questions are: 

-        - To take a Christian from another church is not the worst thing out there – but it is not really growing the kingdom, is it?

-       Can a person be a Christ follower and not be a Christian?

-       Is building the kingdom really all about attracting people to our churches?

Pastor Bill continued to talk about views that people have of the church. He discussed the functionalist view and the incarnational view. The functional view of church says that the church is God’s place in the world where you go to do God things. The incarnational views says that the church is not only a place that performs functions, but it is a place where God dwells. It is a people in whom God lives. He then linked these two views by saying that “our challenge is to help people who merely “go to church” to see themselves “as the church” and help them find the part they are to play putting God on display to the world”

This statement is so powerful because if people had the idea to take God with them wherever they go, instead of just expecting people to come to church. If we bring God to people instead of the other way around, I think that many more people would come to know Him as a friend, rather than a intimidating divine being.

Compassion By Design Survey  

Valley Forge Christian College celebrates the leadership and services that make our community  

great and also identifies the areas where we need to work together to continue to build a strong  

and vibrant place to live, work and play. This survey is being conducted in the Phoenixville area,  

and is a Valley Forge Christian College class project.  

1. Please enter your zip code: 

19460 

2. Nominate one organization in each of  the f ollowing categories:  

(Nominate those that represent the BEST of our community during the last year)  

Education Provider  

(School, college, day care, after school, educational service or business): 

Renaissance Charter School 

 

Health Care Provider  

(Hospital, clinic, doctor’s office, medical service or business): 

Paoli Hospital 

 

Recreation  

(Park, fields, facility, organization, league):  

Valley Forge National Park 

Business That Gives Back  

(Contributes to the community with funds or other support): 

Petrucci's Water Ice 

Restaurant or Coffee Shop:  

Artisan's Cafe 

Nonprofit & Charitable  

(Local foundations, nonprof its, charities and benefit drives):  

5K Run for Dana Marie

Public Service  

(Any local service operated by government—library, police, fire department):  

Police Department 

Culture,  Arts and Historic Enrichment  

(Museums, etc):

Steel City Cafe 

3. The greatest thing about our community is:  

It is clean, and in most cases family friendly. It does not have a country feel, but it is not quite city either, so there is good balance. 

4. If  there is one area in which our community needs to improve it is:  

There are too many bars in this area. 

5. In our community, I think the following areas pose the greatest challenge:  

(Pick up to 5 of the following):  

___ Financial Pressure  ___ Marriage & Relationships  

___ Substance Abuse  ___ Job Security  

___ Affordable Housing  ___ Time Pressure  

___ Crime/Violence  ___ Single Parent Resources  

___ Sense of  Permanence  ___ Childcare  

  X   Stress  ___ Loneliness  

___ Education    X   Public Transportation  

___ Cultural Tolerance  ___ Gangs  

  X  Jobs  ___ Resources for low­income families  

___ Traffic    X   Cost of Living  

  X   Discrimination  ___ Negative Media  

___ Professional Development  ___ Health Care  

___ Teen Resources  ___ Sense of  Community  

___ Immigration  ___ Support for Charity  

___ Lack of  Public Services  ___ Other:__________________  

6. The one thing that would make family life better in our community is:  

To have more activities for families. Better play areas, picnic areas, etc. 

7. I am concerned about what is going to happen in the future with: 

Racism in the area. It is becoming increasingly diverse, and not everyone is accepting of that. 

8. A new affordable service that would really help us is:  

n/a 

9. A service that really needs to be improved is:  

Public Transportation - it is available, but very limited. 

10. Comments on any of the above:  

Developed by David Mills, Compassion by Design, dmills@compassionbydesign.org