How does Fairfax ‘Show Jesus’?

Fairfax’s Deaf Congregation averages about 40 people each Sunday morning. Mark Lowenstein is the full-time deaf minister. Church elder David Hinckley, who is active in the ministry along with his wife, Becky, said the deaf represent a tremendous mission opportunity. “This is an area with one of the highest concentrations of deaf in the country or the world simply because of Gallaudet University,” Hinckley said. “They come here for the education and they quite often stay because the job opportunities are greater for them than elsewhere in the world.”

SERVING ABROAD

Teens and adults from Fairfax travel to the Dominican Republiceach summer on short-term mission trips.

“It started out withour teens going down there, and then we started taking adult trips down thereevery summer,” Fairfaxelder Bill McKelvey said.

In recent months, Fairfax also has committed to support missionary JohnVaught, a former Fairfax young adult ministerwho will go to a suburb of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 2007, and missionary Graham Kervin,who interned with Fairfax this summer and willjoin a team to the Czech Republic in late 2006.

BABY BOOMERS

Fairfax experienced a baby boom of sorts in the last year, welcoming 26 newborns to the congregation.
That’s just one sign of the church’s flourishing children’s ministry.Another is that more than 60 teachers and 30 “prayer circle” leadershelp with Sunday school each week, children’s minister Lisa Bosley said.
Bosley said she often takes young mothers to lunch after they placemembership. She asks them what drew them to Fairfax. “What they say themost is, ‘Everybody likes each other. You all are family. You standaround and talk.'”

POWER OF YOUTH

Teenagers are a major focus of the Fairfax church, and theyouth program is one of the key reasons families choose the congregation, elderJohn Holton said.

“Then we began thechildren’s ministry, which is also a focal point,” Holton said. “I wouldventure to say that half this congregation settled here because of one of thosetwo ministries.”

Fairfax’s “PowerHouse 2005” youth rally last month involved morethan 400 teens, 100 chaperones and 130 volunteers from more than 30mid-Atlantic congregations.

WIRED FOR CHRIST

Fairax County is one of the most wired communities in America: About80 percent of households have Internet access. Perhaps it’s no surprise thatthe Fairfaxchurch has embraced high-tech techniques, from podcasted sermons to PowerPointsong lyrics to e-mail alerts of services canceled because of snow.

MemberBill Teague, who oversees the church Web site at http://www.fxcc.org, said it receivesmore than 1,000 page views per day by members and visitors. He updates the sitefrequently with news, minister columns and photos. “If you go to a site thatnever changes, why come back?” Teague said.