One of the most unreached people groups in every community in America are those with family members who have special needs. Often, simply due to a lack of facilities and personnel to take care of these family members with special needs, so many of these families don’t feel like they can attend church and be connected to a local body of believers. We believe that Now Is The Time to change that at Vaughn Forest Church. Through our Special Offering, we will take space that has already been identified to be used for our Special Needs Ministry and outfit and  equip that space to be a first class experience for those individuals and families who will be reached through this Ministry. We will not need to build anything new, but by repurposing a few existing rooms we truly feel like we can be a blessing to these families and reach even more for the Kingdom of Jesus. Our Special Need Ministry, called VF Buddies, will launch February 5.

By far, the fastest growing area in our church is our Next Generation Ministry, specifically our Kids Ministry, and even more specifically our 4th/5th grade Life Groups. It has been incredible to see how God has grown these groups over the last 12 months and we believe that Now Is The Time to take some of the existing available space that we have in the church building and upgrade it to better facilitate the Life Group environment for these kids. Each week, our Group Leaders have meaningful and impactful conversations during their Group Time, but we are quickly approaching the point where the rooms that these groups meet in will become a bit too crowded to effectively have those conversations. By upgrading these environments to some areas with more space, we can provide a lot more room for our kids and adult leaders to discuss the issues they are facing today and help them shape their worldview to be one that is Biblical and Christ-honoring. 

Also, we have several other areas of our Next Generation Ministries that need upgrading, specifically our Preschool Rooms. Taking care of our little ones is so important to us, and we believe that Now Is The Time to improve these environments to make sure that our Preschoolers have the best possible rooms to learn and grow in the Lord. 

Practically speaking, almost everything that we do to reach our community, area, and ends of the earth starts on campus at Vaughn Forest Church. But by no means does it stay on our campus. Each week, we have hundreds and thousands who join us online for our worship services, both here locally, across the United States, and even in other countries. We know of several house churches in nations that are hostile to the Gospel of Jesus Christ that utilize our weekly worship gatherings as their weekly service. This is an incredible door that God has opened for us to serve other believers as well as reach the lost in parts of the world that only a few years ago would have not been possible! With that said, we know that there are some upgrades that need to be made and we believe that Now Is The Time for those upgrades. Very practically, there are a few technological pieces of equipment used for production and online streaming that will make our online presence and on campus presence significantly better. Our team has done an incredible job with what we have and the people of Vaughn Forest have been so generous whenever there is a need, and now we have the opportunity to take this ministry to a higher level.

One of the most exciting things happening in our community right now is the growth of new families moving into the Pike Road/East Montgomery area. According to state demographics, the city of Pike Road was the fastest growing community in all of Alabama in 2022. That is incredible! God has given us an amazing opportunity by bringing so many families within reach of our church. 

The people of Vaughn Forest have already been so faithful to serve our community with no strings attached with the simple goal of loving them as Jesus would have us. Service opportunities at all of the Pike Road Schools have allowed us to impact the next generation with the gospel of Jesus; while serving at community events, helping with needs, and praying for our neighbors has shown these families the love of Christ. 

With all that said, and with so much to be grateful for, there are still so many families we want to reach! We believe that Now Is The Time to provide the resources needed to continue to serve our community in East Montgomery and Pike Road and allow us to reach further still the new families who have moved into our area with the gospel. We want to accelerate and ramp up our ability to shine the light of Jesus in our community!

We have talked here at Vaughn Forest Church for years about the value of the sanctity of life. With the completely unexpected (but earnestly prayed for) overturning of Roe vs. Wade, the womb is now a much safer place today than it was a year ago. There have been so many believers who have fought for so many years for this to happen, and we believe that Now Is The Time for us as a church to seize this opportunity to promote life even more than before. We stand on the shoulders of so many who have gone before us and paved the way for us to have this opportunity, and we are so grateful to those individuals and the Lord for it. But now…it’s our move. Now Is The Time for us to act. There will be so many children born over the next years and we as God’s people have the open door chance to be the hands and feet of Jesus for them. We will partner with local and national organizations to promote life wherever possible, host trainings for foster care, and challenge our church family to pray about adopting children who otherwise would not have a family here on this earth. We know this requires sacrifice, but we believe that Now Is The Time to answer this call!