Hello Fairhaven Baptist Church, we are Jared and Bethlie Dircks. We both graduated from Fairhaven Baptist College in May of 2017 and have been serving here at Mt. Zion Baptist Church in Brogue, Pennsylvania these past four years. We have served in many different areas here at Mt. Zion since graduating from college. One month before I came on staff at Mt. Zion our previous youth pastor (Tom Almanza) was sent to plant Greater York Baptist Church. With his departure there was a need in the Youth Ministry that we were able to jump into and fill the need in and we have worked with the teenagers ever since. From weekly teen time, to regular activities, to leading teen visitation, to taking occasional teen trips, we try to make a godly impact on the teenagers that God has placed here. Other ministries we serve in include choir, children’s church, a home-school co-op class, Vacation Bible School, summer camp, Christmas music and drama outreaches, as well as helping in the daily administration in the church. One new challenge we are excited about is re-starting the bus ministry. Mt. Zion has run a bus route for many years, however, it was one of the casualties of 2020 and COVID. We are excited about restarting this ministry and seeing what God will do through it.
We are very excited about this coming year as we have many ministries planned for the spring and summer, including some brand-new ministries. In early April we had our second “Each One Reach One” kids’ outreach, spearheaded by our young singles group, that we run like a one-night VBS. Over 50 children came, 28 of which were from the community. We were thrilled to see six children saved! Other summer ministries we are looking forward to are: our annual Jr./Sr. trip in May, a week-long summer camp in June, Vacation Bible School in July, a week-long teen missions trip to the Navajo Nation in August where we will run a week of Vacation Bible School, and a brand new outreach “Back to School Extravaganza” where we hope to give out school supplies and more importantly the gospel to as many children as possible as they prepare for the new school year.
Like everyone else, we experienced quite a year in 2020. Like most churches and folks, we were unsure what to expect when COVID hit in the end of March. God has blessed the church greatly though, and after several weeks of livestream/parking lot services we have been able to function as “normal” as a church. He has also continued to protect the ministries and the people here at Mt. Zion. God protected not only our church, but also our personal life through this past year. In the fall of 2019, Bethlie began teaching English as a second language on an online platform, a job she loves! Even as the world shut down in early 2020 her teaching remained the same as everything was done online. In the crazy year, it was nice to have an area that was untouched.
Amid our summer plans we are looking forward to coming out to Fairhaven Baptist Church for the 2021 graduation. Some of the highlights of our lives the last four years have been the times we have been able to come back to Fairhaven to visit and see you all and we are looking forward to being with you all again soon!
In Christ,
Jared and Bethlie Dircks