The Timothy Foundation Board is pleased to announce that beginning June 1, 2021 Theron Huff will be joining our staff.

We are committed to a relational investment into the lives of the Fellows in the program. As we continue to grow it has become clear that one person (Bob) could not adequately invest in every guy.  We began looking for someone who had a successful track record of leading and working with young leaders, who could also meet them in the "deep end of the pool," and shared our vision.

Theron was an easy choice. He has run an extremely powerful college ministry at University of Pennsylvania for the last five years and has already referred many excellent candidates to the Fellows program.  He has a Masters degree in counseling and a thriving private practice.( https://theronhuff.com ) He is married with two children and lives in the city of Philadelphia.

He will join us in a part time role and his major responsibility will be investing in one of the Fellows classes. He will be with us for each of the training weekends and work individually with the Fellows.

We are really thrilled to have him on the team, and look forward to what the Lord will do through his work with our Fellows.

We begin with cocktails and dinner on Friday, October 22nd. On Saturday, October 23rd we will have two sessions during the day: "Acts and Paul," and "Participatory Leadership." These are part of the curriculum for the Fellows, and you are invited to join them for these content rich times.  

On Saturday evening you are invited to our first Graduation ceremony for the first class of Fellows. This will be a special evening that you don't want to miss.  Our graduates will be finishing up their time with us, and we have invited Dr. Bryan Chapell to speak to us for this momentous occasion.

Dr. Chapell is the author of several books, including the best selling, "Christ Centered Preaching," is the former President of Covenant Seminary and now serves as the Moderator for the PCA. We could not be more excited to have him join us.

The venue is first class, the food and wine are fabulous, the content will be fantastic and the time with other men who are also excited about investing in the next generation of Christian leaders will be impactful.

Registration and more details will follow, but mark the dates in your calendar and make plans to join us for a great weekend.

It was another amazing weekend with the Timothy Foundation Fellows. Of all the many ways in which we see God doing this work, perhaps the most powerful is the guys themselves. When I look around the room, or at the picture below I am awestruck by the great group of young men the Lord has gathered for this Fellows program. A friend once told me that "Eagles don't flock," but with the Timothy Foundation, the Eagles are flocking and growing in what it means to be God's leaders.

Our April, 2021 weekend was focused on two subjects; the Old Testament and Economics and Finance. Perhaps no other weekend encompasses what our goal is for the Fellows program. We are bringing together the theological and the business worlds to impact leaders who can navigate in both. We want ministry leaders who have some understanding of business, and business leaders who have some depth of theology. It was an exciting time to see our Fellows grapple with both as they stretch themselves to become God's leaders.

We began our weekend on Thursday evening with a group of friends who gathered at the Chase Hotel to hear more about our vision and to meet the Fellows. A few of the St. Louis mentors and some guests joined us for dinner and the Fellows were able to interact and engage with adults in the community who care about the lives of our future leaders.  It was a wonderful time of connecting with old friends and sharing with them the great ways in which the Lord is working through us. We also shared the various ways they - and you - can become involved in this work as future mentors, donors, praying for this work, or referring future potential candidates to us. 

We are changing the timing of our yearly Conference and the date. This year's Conference will be held October 21-24 in Philadelphia. This is a change from our previous email. We will be meeting at the Union League Liberty Hill.  More details to follow, but block the new dates now for a fabulous weekend of great speakers and a chance to engage with our Fellows.

Message From Executive Director

In the midst of a global pandemic the Lord has continued to do a mighty work with The Timothy Foundation. There is so much to report that it is a bit overwhelming! We have pictures and bios of the new class on our website. We have a new Board member, new mentors, a new coaching option, new videos of some of the guys giving messages and we have a new date for our Conference. 

With so many new things happening, one thing remains consistent. Our passion for impacting the next generation of Christian leaders continues to excite and drive us and we invite you to join us in this great adventure.Meet The Class Of 2021!
It gives me great pleasure to introduce to you the 2021 Class of The Timothy Foundation Fellows. This is another outstanding group of young Christian leaders and we are thrilled the Lord has called them to the Fellows program. Their pictures and bios are now on our website and we invite you to get to know them.
 

As we continue to grow the work of The Timothy Foundation we recognize the importance of expanding our Board. It gives me great pleasure to introduce our newest Board member, Mike Sambrook.

Mike is a graduate of Trinity Western University in Vancouver, Canada and holds a Masters degree in Leadership from there. He spent 20 years in full time ministry and for the past five years has run his own consulting business and is a part time professor of leadership at his alma mater.  He is married to his lovely wife Dawn and they have two children.

We are thrilled to have Mike join our Board and look forward to him adding his wisdom and humor to our group.

New Mentors
There is a great Francis Schaefer quote, "Most men want to build their own kingdom. Some men want to build God's kingdom for him. Only a few want God to build His kingdom through them." When I think of the guys the Lord has brought to The Timothy Foundation  and the mentors He has raised up, I know that God is building His kingdom, and we are along for the ride!

It was fairly daunting to think about having to find thirteen new mentors for this latest class of Fellows. But as we prayed about each guy, the Lord provided the right man for them as a mentor. The Mentor part of the program is one of the key components of our impacting the next generation of Christian leaders and our goal is for the mentors would be as blessed by it as the Fellows are. One of the mentors told me, " I am getting way more out of this than my mentee is!"  It is just more evidence that God is building His Kingdom and allowing even us to be part of it.

We have thirteen new mentors for our 2021 Class of new Fellows and in each case it is a perfect match. A huge thanks to the mentors and to the Lord who has called each of us to this.

Coaching With Dr. Kooistra

We are continually looking for ways to make the Fellows experience more valuable. One of our goals is to make an impact in the lives of leaders who are going into the ministry. Dr. Paul Kooistra - who is a member of our Board - has agreed to host a monthly zoom call and meet individually with the guys in our program who are in the ministry.

Dr. Kooistra has been a faithful servant of the Lord for many years. He served as a pastor, as President of Covenant Seminary and as head of Mission To The World. This is an incredible opportunity for these young men to learn from one of the greatest leaders I've had the privilege of knowing. My time in seminary was incredibly enriched because Dr. Kooistra met with me monthly. I am grateful to Dr. Kooistra for giving himself in this way and for what our Fellows will learn from him.

Videos Are Here
One of our goals is to have each of our Fellows become great speakers. Last year they began our program by taking the "Christ Centered Preaching" course, and have been working on honing their speaking skills.

In January we began recording their messages and are posting them to our website. Click here to see  the messages from Rob Gicking, Jacob Reed, and Ducky Ryan. 

Conference In October

We are changing the timing of our yearly Conference. This years Conference will be held October 15 - 17 in Philadelphia.  More details to follow, but block the dates now for a fabulous weekend of great speakers and a chance to engage with our Fellows.

Invest With Us

As with any ministry the financial health is an important aspect of it's ability to do the work God has called it to. It costs approximately $5,000 per Fellow per year for us to operate the program. 

Please join us in making the Fellows program a reality for this and future generations of young Christian leaders.

We cancelled our yearly Conference in Philadelphia at The Union League but nevertheless needed to vet the new applicants and continue the training of our first cohort. We gathered in Naples for the weekend and asked everyone to take a rapid Covid test before they came. It was a phenomenal time together and the Lord met us in a powerful way. Eleven "Fellows" attended along with fifteen applicants for the next class.  Invitations were extended to a fabulous group of candidates who will make up an awesome second cohort.

Some years ago there was a shopping mall which had the slogan "where the best stores put their best stores." I felt like this weekend was "where the best speakers gave their best talks." Every message was absolutely outstanding. The weekend began with Rev. Herb Lusk from Greater Exodus Baptist Church in Philadelphia. Herb focused us on the Gospel for social justice: it was a powerful way to begin our time.

Rev. Erik Bonkovsky from City Church in Richmond spoke to us on Friday night and challenged us on "the story in the Gospel." Erik has become a regular speaker at our events and continues to plunge us into the deep end of the pool. 

On Saturday morning Rev. Trent Casto from Covenant Presbyterian Church in Naples blew us all away with his teaching on God wrestling with Jacob, the need for connection with our fathers and what it means when all you have is God. It was an impactful message for all of us.

We ended our time on Saturday evening with Andy Parham, CEO of Brado speaking to us on Paul's admonition, "when I am weak, then I am strong." It was another powerful admonition for all of us.

We were extremely privileged to have this group of men share their thoughts and lives with us. I want to extend my deepest gratitude to them for making this an impactful weekend for all who were there.

In addition to the various keynote speakers the Fellows worked through a full curriculum during the weekend.

Our current Fellows worked through the unit on the Constitution. They were assigned a case that was before the Supreme Court this past November: Fulton vs The City of Philadelphia. In this case the Philadelphia Catholic Charities were being denied taxpayer funding for refusing tp assess same sex couples for foster parenting. It is a complex case that brings into focus several constitutional issues that directly affect the next generation of Christian leaders. 

The current Fellows were broken into teams of two and each given a side of the case to argue. Two attorneys, Jim Sweet from Philadelphia and Chas Jones from Baltimore, acted as Justices (and legal coaches) as the teams argued their side. The Fellows were stretched and challenged to think in ways they had not done previously; This is a key part of what we want to happen in the Fellows program.

Additionally, the Fellows were asked to create a five minute video that integrated what they learned in Christ Centered Preaching and from their time with Jerram Barrs in October. Those videos will be posted on our web site.

This year's group of applicants were guided through the Core Motivatorassessment. Each of them wrote their life history prior to arrival and, after introductory remarks, they were broken into small groups with facilitators to work through and discover their Core Motivator.  We had wonderful facilitators who joined us for the weekend and the process made a huge impact for the guys. Many thanks to Jeremy Beadenbaugh , Eric Johnson, Andy Parham, and Naa Yirenkyi for making this a huge success.

Each evening after the sessions, we gathered the Fellows and Applicants in separate spaces to process the day. Many thanks to Eric Johnson for meeting with the current Fellows while I (Bob Perkins) met with the applicants.

Each night I sat with the new applicants and they were given the opportunity to process what they had experienced.  It was an open forum and they were given permission to ask any question, talk about any subject, and voice any thoughts. And they did! On the last evening I asked them to describe their experience in one or two words They went around the room and said words like, "real," "honest," "transparent," "genuine," "I've never been to any Christian thing like this." Their response was exactly what I had hoped it would be. Real Christianity articulated by real Christian men being honest, authentic, and transparent. It was powerful.  It was a wonderful time and the Lord has assembled another amazing cohort.

We continued our Fellows Training with our second weekend of coursework, this time traveling to beautiful St. Louis! We tackled two subjects - "Marketing" with Dr Jim Fisher from St Louis University, and "Outreach & Evangelism" with Professor Jerram Barrs from Covenant Theological Seminary.

Dr. Fishers course was a great blend of Marketing and Ethics. His "Case Study" approach was both engaging and challenging with everyone involved in the animated discussion. I watched the guys interact with Dr. Fisher and I realized the great intellectual challenges we face in our culture and the need to be addressing these issues with our Fellows.

Jerram Barrs' sessions were incredibly deep and personal. The Fellows had prepared for the session by listening to twenty-six of Jerram's lector's on line and were excited for this time with him. They asked great questions and he challenged them to live a deeper expression of Gods grace in their lives and towards other people. 

It is an incredible blessing to have both of these men be part of our training and we all appreciated the time with them.

I am thrilled to let you know that again this year God has moved eighteen young Christian men to apply to the Fellows program. The group is an incredibly diverse group of amazing leaders and I am humbled and grateful that the Lord would entrust to us the joy of being a part of their lives.