Faith’s 100 is a ministry of Faith Baptist Church (FBC). In 1995, God called Pastor Nathan Osborne and his family to Winter Haven, FL to become the Senior Pastor of FBC. Several years into his ministry, Pastor Osborne began to share a vision for Missions that was quite unique. He said “What if FBC were able to send out 100 missionaries supported 100% financially by FBC?” This simple question planted the initial seeds for Faith’s 100.
As you can imagine, this question stretched the minds of the members of FBC! Pastor Osborne patiently waited and continued to pray and preach and minister to the congregation. As he continued sharing his vision, he described a Missions program that sought to:
- know its missionaries intimately
- train & equip its missionaries in the ministries in which they will serve overseas
- through its thorough knowledge of its missionaries – hold those missionaries accountable
- support each of its missionaries 100% financially
This initial vision grew into Faith’s 100. From a financial perspective, Faith’s 100 began very small. Pastor Osborne recognized the importance of FBC being completely debt-free. So, he led FBC to pay off over $300,000 in 14 months. Paying off this debt freed up substantial resources and allowed Faith’s 100 to flourish. Being debt free, FBC was able to begin setting aside significant resources for Faith’s 100.
Faith’s 100 continues to this day. It has trained men and women for ministry. Some have gone into Pastoral ministry. Some have worked in our local community with at-risk kids. Some have gone into Camp Ministry. Others have gone to Africa and Brazil. There is no ‘mold’ for Faith’s 100. Everyone who travels through the evaluation process is different and so the process is different each time.
In recent years, it became apparent that Faith’s 100 needed to incorporate as a separate but auxiliary entity of FBC. Doing so would allow Faith’s 100 to hire its missionaries directly. This reduced the need and the cost of sending its missionaries through an outside mission agency. In effect, this incorporation established Faith’s 100 as a mission agency. Here is where the terms get cloudy. There is Faith’s 100, Inc. – the Mission Agency. There is also Faith’s 100 – the ministry of FBC that identifies, trains, and sends out missionaries. For clarification purposes, Faith’s 100, Inc. is planning to change its name to Faith Baptist Mission.
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