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Bill was born in the States and reared in both Tennessee with his Dad’s family in the summers and his mom’s family in Delaware during the winters. He and his wife Nancy have been married almost 40 years, have three married children, and three grand-children all of whom make their home in St. Thomas and attend Faith. Bill says, “You can never have too many grandchildren!” Pastor Bill became a Christian while a student in the psychology program at the University of Delaware. Immediately he sensed God’s call to the pastorate and transferred to Philadelphia Biblical University where he graduated with a B.S. degree in Pastoral Studies. From there he completed his Masters of Religious Education and Doctor of Religious Education degrees with a Summa Cum Laude designation from Temple Baptist Theological Seminary, including a doctoral proficiency in New Testament Greek. Later, Bill completed most of the Masters of Science degree in Clinical Pastoral Counseling from Providence Seminary and is currently enrolled with his wife Nancy in the Crisis Intervention Program at Fanshawe College in St. Thomas. Formerly Bill has served as a university and seminary professor, youth pastor of a mega-church in the States, founding pastor of a church in the inner-city of Winnipeg, and has been at Faith since 1992, where Bill serves on the Network of Evangelical Pastors. Pastor Bill and Nancy live in Lake Margaret, where they are often seen riding their bikes with their family and Bill using his hobby of Art Photography. Bill said, “When people ask me what Faith is all about, my answer is we are all about wanting to know Jesus as our Saviour and becoming like Him. We don’t just want to study about Him or promote some religious institution, we want to touch our community in life-giving ways. This is why Faith has so many community projects that we sponsor. Recently we were honoured by the St. Thomas- Elgin General Hospital by having our church listed on a beautiful monument in the Atrium. We are also all about relationships and many of my sermons are about how to have the best relationships possible. We believe that Life Groups are a great way in a local church to develop the kind of care and intimacy that God wants for us, especially in a large church like Faith. I love to hear the stories of how God’s people are serving Christ by serving each other and their community, not only here in Elgin County, but around the world. Faith is also all about the quest for spirituality. We encourage spiritual seekers to come and check us out and investigate the claims of Jesus Christ for themselves.” |
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Nancy was born and reared in the U.S. in Delaware where she was the oldest of five children and the first in her family to give her heart to Christ. She and Bill met in high school and were married in 1967. Nancy studied Accounting at the University of Delaware, Christian Education at Philadelphia Biblical University and Tennessee Temple University, has completed most of Providence Seminary’s Pastoral Counseling program and is currently enrolled in the Crisis Intervention program at Fanshawe College in St. Thomas. Nancy and Bill have three married children and three grand-children all of whom live in St. Thomas and attend Faith. Nancy has served with Bill in many capacities over the years including serving as a school Principal for an inner-city Christian school in Winnipeg and as Manager of the Caring Cupboard Food Bank in St. Thomas for 8 years. Currently, Nancy is a member of the Pastoral Team at Faith serving as Pastoral Assistant and is responsible for the Care Ministry of our DNA and our Women’s Ministry. Nancy and Pastor Bill view themselves as a ministering couple and often do ministry together. When asked about her role at Faith, “I serve with the other pastors in helping as many hurting people as I can. I spend a lot of time on the phone encouraging people and praying for them. One of personal ministry passions is leading woman’s Bible study groups. Bill and I do most of our pastoral counseling and pastoral visitation as a team. Faith has a wonderful referral program for counseling, which I direct; with our professionally trained counselors plus with our lay helpers we are able to help many people. One of biggest joys is managing what we call the H.O.P.E Fund. This stands for “Helping Others Practically and Evangelistically.” We literally bless the community and several world projects with tens of thousands of dollars every year providing food, medical care, transportation, counseling, sponsorships, and housing. Recently, we were able to help a young single mother get an apartment set up by providing her new linens, pots and pans, kitchen equipment and so forth. Faith’s sign on Fairview Avenue says, ‘Faith – A Church and School for Our Community.’ It’s true we want to be “for” not only our own church community, but the greater world community as well.” |
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Steve Brown
Pastor, Team Development
Steve has been married to Ruth since 19 and along with their four children, Naomi, Hannah, Joshua, and Rebecca live in St. Thomas. His Irish brogue makes for an interesting discussion and many here at Faith ask for translations of his Irish-Canadian vocabulary.
Steve has been pastoring at Faith since 2001 and in his current role of Pastor, Team Development, he is responsible to develop, support, and equip the volunteer Adult ministry leadership teams as well as Pastoral care. |
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Jeremy Best
Youth Pastor
Bio Coming Soon! |
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Arthur Cairncross
Arthur Cairncross was originally from London, Ontario, but has lived in St. Thomas for many years. A pharmacist by profession, he owned and operated Burns Pharmacy, was Pharmacist Manager at the St. Thomas-Elgin General Hospital and worked part-time at Shoppers Drug Mart. Before beginning at the hospital, he took time for a few years to attend and graduate with honours from London Baptist Seminary with his Master of Divinity degree and was the Development Representative for London Baptist Bible College and Seminary. Arthur began his personal relationship with Jesus Christ at 19 years of age and has served God faithfully at Faith as deacon, elder, lay pastor and teacher. Now in his retirement, Arthur is volunteering much of his time as Pastor of Men’s Ministry. He and his wife, Beth, have been married 47 years and have four children and 11 grandchildren. They enjoy playing golf, and Arthur was thrilled to get his first hole in one in the fall of 2008.
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Mrs. Lisa McIntosh
Director of Children’s Ministry
Lisa joined the staff on September 5, 2006 as a parental leave. She is a graduate of Briercrest Bible College in Moosejaw Saskatchewan where she received her Two Year Diploma in Bible Theology. In 1987 Lisa attended The Regional School for Nursing and thus began her career as a nurse. Lisa’s 20 years of experience working with various children’s programs and her passion for children reaching their full potential for the Lord led her to this position. Lisa is married to a wonderful man, Mark and they have three beautiful children, Naomi 7, Hannah 5 and Benjamin 3. The time spent playing with her children is all the hobbies she needs.
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Angela Faris
Worship Coordinator/Instructor
Angela grew up on a farm outside St. Thomas and attended Faith from an early age. She has always loved music and participated in many musical forms, taking Royal Conservatory of Music examinations in piano, voice, theory, and harmony, as well as playing contemporary music. She also studied ballet, competed as a synchronized swimmer at the Ontario level, and enjoyed playing various sports. She loves the outdoors and grows a large garden each summer. Angela has been a regular soloist and worship leader at Faith, a soloist at weddings, and has sung for many years in the Faith choir and recently with the Fanshawe Singers. Angela teaches music and gives instruction in keyboard, drums, guitar, bass guitar and voice. She also holds the RAD RTS degree in ballet teaching studies and teaches classical ballet. Angela joined the staff on January 1, 2008. |
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Lynne Houghton
Office Administrator
Lynne and her husband, Bill, live on a farm west of Shedden. She grew up in a godly family between Belmont and Dorchester and as a result of her family’s and church’s teaching, became a Christian when she was 5 years of age.
Lynne was a nurse and held various positions at the STEGH until her children were born, then stayed home to raise them until September 2000 when she joined the staff at Faith full-time. Bill and Lynne have been married close to 30 years and have 3 children – Cheri who lives in Barrie, Julia and her husband Nathan live in Cambridge, and Mike is presently at home. |
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Martha Moore
Facilities Supervisor
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Cindy Graves
Director of Finance
Cindy became a part of the Administration team in September 2006. Her first day of work was a memorable one because the computer in her new office refused to cooperate and had to be replaced! Cindy is a graduate of the University of Western Ontario with a BSc in Mathematics and Statistics. She has 20 years of experience in the banking industry and 4 years working part-time as a bookkeeper. Cindy had volunteered at Faith for 3 years recording and receipting the donations when God opened the door for her as Administrator of Finance. She enjoys living in Aylmer with her husband Wendell and two teenage daughters, Andrea and Rebecca. On Monday nights you’ll find her playing her flute in the Aylmer Area Community Band where she is the Vice-President.
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