Looking Back in Order to Look Forward

Do you have a big vision for your future? It can be tempting to run ahead, full-steam, and leave the past in the dust. However, honoring the past and the people who shaped us helps us move toward our vision with clarity, confidence, and core values. Let’s take a look at some of the people who laid the foundation for Christ Fellowship, and as we do, consider those who laid a foundation in your life.

“One essential value was passed down to us when we started the church: unity. I’ve never heard my dad (the founding pastor) say a negative word about any other ministry or church or pastor–ever. Because of that foundational core value, we will never speak disparagingly about another church or move of God. Other churches won’t always have the same theological positions or may do things differently, but we want to maintain unity. We are a part of something bigger that God is doing in our region. It’s not about Christ Fellowship. We may be a large church in this region but what God wants to do in His Church is bigger. This goes back to understanding the body of Christ. We encourage, complement, and support each other. The foundation my father built is core to us and has fostered unity throughout the years.” - Pastor Todd

“When Christ Fellowship started 35 years ago, I was a college freshman. It started in the living room of Pastors Tom and Donna Mullins—who later became my in-laws. From the very beginning, Donna started gathering and investing in women so that they could connect and grow deeper in their faith. She created a space where an 18-year-old girl like me could rub shoulders with amazing women like her who are further down the road. So much of who we are and what we do as a Sisterhood today is built on that foundation.

As Todd and I stepped into Senior Leadership here at the church, God began to put a passion in my heart for the girls of this house. I wanted them to experience what I got to experience—a place to deepen my faith, connect in a life-giving community, and be surrounded by other women who could cheer me on and call me up. Together, Sisterhood has built a confident movement of women committed to championing each other's Kingdom potential. And it all started in a living room.” - Pastor Julie

“Dick and Mabel Smith moved to South Florida in the 1950s. Dick was a businessman and entrepreneur who started insurance companies, mobile home parks, and bought and sold land. But they were way more than business people—they were Jesus people. They were Kingdom-minded. Everywhere they went, they told people about Jesus. Not in a weird way, but in a way that made you want what they had. There was a bank teller in Riviera Beach, and Dick told her about Jesus every time he went to the bank. The woman noticed Dick was a man of integrity. When the woman’s daughter asked if she could go to a church youth group, the woman was hesitant. But she knew one person who went to that church who she trusted—Dick Smith. So she let her daughter go—and as it turns out, that young girl was Julie Mullins.

It was also Dick and Mabel Smith’s story that inspired Tom and Donna Mullins to move back to Florida in the 1970s and ultimately start Christ Fellowship Church. Dick and Mabel started a movement and set a precedence at Christ Fellowship of sharing Jesus, living with integrity, and modeling generosity.” - Pastors Todd & Julie

Questions for Reflection: 

1. As you consider your vision for the future—who were the people who shaped you from your past? 

2. What core values were instilled in you that you still embody today? 

3. What is one characteristic about someone you admire in your family tree? 

4. As you consider the people who inspired you, who can you thank this week? 

5. Romans 12:10 says, “Outdo one another in showing honor.” What is one way you can go above and beyond in honoring others?

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