John Vermilya

Greeting from freezing cold northern Michigan! Our ministry with FORGE continues to be a blast as God uses this speaking ministry to set hearts on fire.  A recent ministry highlight didn’t involve John preaching at all however. Instead, he was invited to be a coach for FORGE Firebrands at their Denver Intensive in November. Firebrands are speakers-in-training, and the intensive involved 2 days of listening to sermons from 10 speakers and offering constructive feedback (American Idol style). The Firebrands were amazingly receptive and John was encouraged to be a part of helping train the future of FORGE.

On the home front, 2018 is a big year for Vermilya-Nation. Our daughter Isabel will be married to Jakob Crawford in August, and Lilian will leave for college soon after. In a span of 2 weeks our home will go from 5 kids to 3! We will probably need therapy, so please pray for us. We also need to figure out which of our younger kids to sell to pay for it all. (Joking, calm down).

We are grateful to everyone of you as you continue to bless us with your giving.

Much love and thanks for your support,

John & Darcey Vermilya

Todd Bright

Chief Operating & Financial Officer

At the close of five different (2018 Summer) FORGE EQUIPPING programs––our staff pushed pause to catch our breath after a massive summer schedule and to spend time praising God. It has been an incredible summer of…changed hearts and lives, forgiven pasts, transformed countenances, altered futures, life-calling for many, families and parents transformed, new emerging laborers for Christ’s harvest fields equipped for their unique callings and future assignments, miracles, and such profound answers to prayer! With a full Fall ministry season ahead, what a fantastic experience to collectively “remember the wonders God has done” and know His plans and purposes ahead are just as glorious. Together––with you––we Forge Forward for the glory of our God and King. Thank you for YOUR ministry with us and profound it is. God is setting “hearts on fire” and “lives on purpose.”

Taylor Derrick

Director of Finance

Summer 2018 is in the books! I always find it so cool to look back at the end of the summer training programs and see how what began as just a detailed schedule on a calendar, fills to be a time of transformation as unique as the students who come through the doors. This summer, in addition to getting to share with the Experience students about biblical stewardship, I had the joy of walking alongside a couple young ladies in particular. While their journeys were very different from each other, I wish you could have heard the cheers and shouts for joy when they shared at the Experience graduation how God had met them uniquely and begun a new work in their lives. It truly was a time of celebration – both for what God had done and what is yet to come!

The last few months have brought quite a bit of newness for me personally as well. As many of you know, I graduated from Liberty University with my Bachelor’s degree back in May. In order to continue on the journey to earning my CPA license, I’ve begun my Masters in accounting through Western Governor’s University. I’m currently three classes in and loving it! I also adopted a little kitten named Dora a few weeks ago (while she is quite the explorer, I actually chose that name because it means “gift” and she has been such a gift to me in many ways). J

As always, I am so thankful for your prayers and support! While I get to have a front-row view of the work here at Forge, it truly wouldn’t be possible without the partnership of others!

Ron and Lorene Klopfenstein

Vice President of Ministry Expansion

Dear Friends and Support Team,

It is hard to believe, but his was our 7^thSummer of ministry here at Forge. It may also have been our best. God did mighty things in lives. There was a prevailing attitude among the student teams of being willing to go deep with God.  Many went to difficult and painful places and found the freedom that God and only God can provide.  It was so beautiful to watch. Just this week Lorene got a text from a young woman thanking her for loving and serving them and saying how much she missed her.

God is also teaching us the value in simply being faithful. So often, we desire and expect certain results that we don’t always see. Yet that doesn’t mean God is not at work. Our responsibility is to be obedient. We are constantly learning to turn the results over to Him and be at peace with that.  That is the case with the small church that Ron is co-pastoring. Some weeks it seems momentum is hard to gain.  Then, God brings someone along who He touches and uses and we come back again to the value of faithful service. Pray that we lead faithfully in that arena.

On the family front, we are enjoying having our kids and grandkids close by.  What a blessing and one that we were not anticipating when we moved here.  We are excited that we will be welcoming a new granddaughter (our son Reid and his wife Maria’s first child) this October. The softer side of Ron is having trouble staying hidden!

To all of you how make our work possible, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts.  You mean more to us than you can know and the impact you are making will live on into eternity.

Love, Ron and Lorene

Rob Cupp

Chief Content Officer

Cupp Family Update

Cupp Update – Fall 2018

Back to School!   It’s a crazy season of transition…new classes… new friends…new opportunities. As a family, it has been a time to reflect on what God did during our summer ministry at Forge. One story summarizes what we saw God do this summer…

A young woman, Jess, came to The Experienceprogram as a shy “wallflower.”  After a class Rob taught, she started a deeper conversation with Rob about some of the darkness she’d been experiencing in her life. Later, Bridget shared and blessed Jess with some truth God wanted to share specifically with her. As the summer progressed, we simply encouraged what Jess with what we were seeing in her. By the end of the program, Jess had stepped into her gifting and was leading the team spiritually and logistically!  She is now going back to her college campus equipped to not just deal with the darkness in her own life, but invade the darkness of those around her with the Light of Christ. It was so much fun to work with God to uncover the precious jewel He had created in Jess!  And this is just one of many stories from our summer ministry.

And now as school starts back up, we continue as a family to seek what God wants to do in the individual lives of the students and parents we interact with in our daily lives.  Pray for us as Sophia (10^thgrade), Chase (8^thgrade) and Foster (3^rd) grade go back into their school routines. Pray that as a family we can invade the darkness in the lives of others with the Light of Christ!

Nate Hoot

Discipleship Training | International Ministries

For the Hoot family, summers at Forge are FULL! For two months, we pour our hearts and—hopefully more of Jesus—into the lives of kids, youth, young adults and adults from around the country and world.

On June 28^th, Joy and I had the privilege of baptizing our oldest, Kelsey (14), in a mountain lake at Forge’s multigenerational “Deep Camp” near Winter Park, CO! What a gift! Immediately after her baptism service ended, God sent a majestic bald eagle to circle the lake several times—for us, a sign declaring His work of freedom and victory in each person who was baptized! No doubt His Name and transformational power was on display this summer. Join us in celebrating other God-sightings…!

A man struggling to make sense of recent news of his son’s debilitating diagnosis met God’s heart of compassion and love through lament. A young lady found herself weeping as God broke her heart over the wide-spread idolatry in Mexico City. A father, for the first time, embraced the truth that his past mistakes did not disqualify him from passing the Heavenly Father’sblessing to his son. A mother, consumed with living a life of performance, embraced the beauty of God’s grace. A young man found freedom deep in his soul after forgiving his mom and brother for past abuse. Another young man recognized his life was consumed with building his kingdom instead of surrendered to God and His Kingdom advance.

God transformed us and hundreds of others this summer declaringthat He is: VICTORIOUS, FORGIVING, GRACIOUS, COMPASSIONATE, LOVING & GLORIOUS! Thank you for being part of this with us!

Loren Hayes

Speaker Ministries

Hayes Happenings

I’m pleased to report that we have graduated and commissioned another group of high school and young adults as Kingdom Laborers.  Looking ahead to almost thirteen years on staff with this ministry reminds me that God is unchanging.  Lot’s has changed over my tenure as a staff member at Forge but God is still doing the same work.  Lasting work that changes the direction of people’s lives, gives them a hope and a future, frees them from sin, depression, and hopelessness, and grants them identity and purpose in Him.

Jonah was a participant in the high school program, called Surge, this summer.  I asked myself if what I had seen God do in the lives of so many others would actually “work” for my son, too.  You’re probably laughing at that question.  OF COURSE!  God does the real work that only HE can do.  Forge creates the place and space and asks God to fill it.  God IS faithful.  That’s just who He is.  God faithfully took Jonah to places in his heart that God needed him to be and peeled back another layer toward Jonah’s true identity in Christ.  Amen!

As always, we are so very thankful for YOU.  Without you we could not be involved with this ministry that God continues to use in powerful ways; Faithfully.  May God be glorified in you today.

Ron and Lorene Klopfenstein

Hospitality | Ministry Relations

Dear Friends and Support Team,

It is hard to believe, but his was our 7^thSummer of ministry here at Forge. It may also have been our best. God did mighty things in lives. There was a prevailing attitude among the student teams of being willing to go deep with God.  Many went to difficult and painful places and found the freedom that God and only God can provide.  It was so beautiful to watch. Just this week Lorene got a text from a young woman thanking her for loving and serving them and saying how much she missed her.

God is also teaching us the value in simply being faithful. So often, we desire and expect certain results that we don’t always see. Yet that doesn’t mean God is not at work. Our responsibility is to be obedient. We are constantly learning to turn the results over to Him and be at peace with that.  That is the case with the small church that Ron is co-pastoring. Some weeks it seems momentum is hard to gain.  Then, God brings someone along who He touches and uses and we come back again to the value of faithful service. Pray that we lead faithfully in that arena.

On the family front, we are enjoying having our kids and grandkids close by.  What a blessing and one that we were not anticipating when we moved here.  We are excited that we will be welcoming a new granddaughter (our son Reid and his wife Maria’s first child) this October. The softer side of Ron is having trouble staying hidden!

To all of you how make our work possible, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts.  You mean more to us than you can know and the impact you are making will live on into eternity.

Love, Ron and Lorene

Lisa Zimmerman

Content Team & Prayer Team Coordinator

Hello friends and family!

Another summer has come to an end here at Forge!  I find great excitement in believing the new beginnings God made possible have only just begun in the many hearts and lives who participated in our equipping programs. I have no doubt these high school students and young adults will soon see how God’s unfolding Kingdom story is taking shape through them as they return to school, work, and home environments with transformed hearts and perspective, and with new vision to live life on purpose.

I had the opportunity to lead another international trip to Mexico City this year with a group of young adults whose passion, hunger, and openness to experience more of God and take risky steps of faith renewed my own heart and inspired so many others. Forgiveness took place, false identities were washed away in light of God’s truth, new ministry and missions callings were birthed, deep community was experienced, and we witnessed God showing up all around us.  To all of you who continue to pray and help financially enable me to participate in this ministry—THANK YOU!  The work God was about in these lives is truly a part of your Kingdom legacy.

As the Fall approaches, Josh and I would love continued prayers over our busy schedules with work and school.  I will be half way through my counseling program in December, and Josh will finish his management/HR program next Summer!  We are seeking God daily for guidance on future direction, as well as trying to create more balanced life rhythms for connection and rest.

We love you and are so grateful to be linking arms with you in watching the gospel transform lives. May God surprise your heart in new ways with reminders that He is with you this Fall!

Love,

––Lisa and Josh Zimmerman

Laura Bulgrien

Discipleship Training / Forge Speaker

Summer 2018 has held some major milestones for me.  This season marked my tenth summer in Colorado.  Though I have lived in other places throughout that time, I always found my way back to this high desert for the summer, to be connected with Forge and the work of discipleship and equipping that is happening here.

This was my second summer serving as the Director of the Experience, and my first year getting to plan the calendar beforehand and make adjustments to the program, which was incredibly fun and challenging and affirming.

In June, I was officially commissioned as a Forge Speaker, after working through the Firebrand Program for the past three years.  This was an incredibly powerful and humbling experience, being surrounded by some of my closest friends and mentors and people who have trained me and encouraged me and cheered me on for years, calling me forward and inviting me to step into this work, blessing me as the first female itinerant speaker on the Forge Team in a long, long time.

On top of these major events, I am looking forward to another big transition: I am in the process of moving back to Indiana, to set up my home base to travel and speak from there. I am so excited about this next chapter of my life and ministry, and ask that you would continue to pray for me, for guidance, connections, and provision.

Cheers to a new season!

Further up and further in.

Kersha Kahrs

Speaker Coordinator | Administrative Assistant

This past summer has been characterized by seeing and experiencing God’s faithfulness. I work with many details at Forge, and the amount of times God came through and made everything come together so beautifully and lovely was astounding. One of the examples of this was being able to baptize multiple people at Deep Camp this past June. When I went through the Experience three summers ago, I was able to be a counselor at Deep Camp to a few of the daughters of staff members here at Forge. That summer became a launching pad for growing relationships with the girls. Last summer I was able baptize one of those girls at Deep Camp, and this summer I was privileged to stand in the water alongside the other. A few hours before the baptism began, we were notified of a forest fire that was gaining ground and we needed to be prepared to evacuate if it continued to get closer to the campground. We were to baptize multiple students that day, and right at the end of the baptism, a bald eagle flew through the air in all of its majesty. That moment brought me full circle from when I was a student, to standing in the water baptizing these students as a staff member. God is so faithful, and continues to prove Himself faithful throughout this journey. Thank you so much for your prayers and support during our busy summer months! I am looking forward to sharing more with you about the exciting opportunities I have coming up this fall!

Love,

Kersha

John Boyd

Writer | Content Team

Boyd Family Update

8, 95, 11. I know you want to say, “hut, hut!” Those numbers, however, are not in a quarterback signal-calling sequence, but significant numbers for our children. 8 is Maggie’s number. She will be getting married September 8^thin Nashville to Chris, whom we love and welcome to our family with open arms. 95 belongs to Audrey. After a year of trying things on for size in Nashville, Audrey has moved back to Colorado to take on a full-time marketing position with Spur Coffee in Denver. 95 is the street number of the business. That leaves 11 for Aidan. He just started his junior year of high school (11^thgrade). Crazy, but true. It’s more believable when you see him standing shoulder to shoulder beside me.

Shannon and I continue to navigate life and ministry in an ever-changing world. We both continue to write, learn, listen, and journey with people all over the spectrum of life and faith. “We want to know Christ,” as Paul says. We want to share and experience the power and hope his resurrection brings. And, we choose to stand with Jesus and others in the hard, painful, and tension-filled places of life—all with the purpose of drawing closer both to Jesus and others.

Now in our 8^thyear of ministry at Forge, Shannon and I continue to give thanks for the many people like you who have walked with us in helping others experience the life and purpose only Jesus gives. Thank you!

Julia Michael

Content Team

Julia Newsletter Update—I’m leaving

I am finding myself in a sweet season of transition. Not only did I just get engaged to an amazing man of God, but I am also stepping forward in saying goodbye to Forge and my time at the ministry.

For some time, God has been stirring new things in me—giving me a sense of conviction and peace about the idea of leaving Forge. After much prayer, and a commitment to be here throughout our chaotic and amazing summer, I’m sharing that this month of August will be my last at the ministry.

Change and transitions are scary, but I want to walk fully in faith that God knows what He has next for me even if I don’t have the full picture. I will continue helping at a part-time job I have making letterpress stationery, but am also open to other opportunities that the Lord may call me into in these coming months. As I navigate the changes of this season, your love and prayers are more of a blessing than ever before. Thank you to everyone who has been a part of my team! It has blessed me more than I can express.

If you are interested in continuing to support Forge as a ministry through the general Forge Fund, or if you wish to end your support at this time, email me at [email protected]and I will be sure to adjust/end your donation accordingly!

If you want to know more or have questions, don’t hesitate to reach out to [email protected]! Love you all, Julia

Jason Roe

Forge Speaker

This summer was a busy one and the Lord has done great things! We are so grateful and humbled to be entrusted with so many different ministry opportunities.  We’ve also been blessed with a family of God that is eager to serve him and come alongside us in building the Kingdom of God.  This summer we had 3 student ministry interns that blessed us by joining us for 6 weeks of ministry and others that joined us for parts of the summer.  From serving alongside youth groups for two weeks to minister to the poor through Smoky Mountain Outreach to a week of ministering to inner city youth at Bristol Outreach to the Jesus Rally tent revival for several days to a week of family ministry at Deep Camp in Colorado to being in leadership for 10 days at Indian Springs Holiness camp to our weekend retreat together, we’ve come to love each one of these young people like they were our own immediate family.

These students are all outstanding young people that give us hope for the future and make us think of the scripture in Philippians 1:3-11 that says, “Every time I think of you, I give thanks to my God. Whenever I pray, I make my requests for all of you with joy for you have been my partners in spreading the Good News about Christ from the time you first heard it until now. And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns. So it is right that I should feel as I do about all of you, for you have a special place in my heart…”

To these young men and women of God- We have built wheelchair ramps for those in need, cleaned yards for our special needs friends and the elderly living in poverty, spoken the Word of God to children living in situations that we could never imagine.  We have confided in each other, leaned on each other, dug into the Word of God for hours upon hours together.  We have cried, we have laughed, and some of us almost died in the Dodge together (literally).  You pushed yourselves through sickness, exhaustion and beyond the comforts you longed for all in the name of Jesus.  We are proud of what God is doing in the lives of young people.  Jesus, in you, is incredible.

To the rest of you—Thank you Thank you Thank you! For your prayers, your support and your love.  We can’t thank you enough.

Fred Lynch

Forge Speaker

Hey Forge Family!

The Lynch Family has been in some great transitions this year and we want to thank you all for your prayerful support! D’Ann and I just reached a beautiful milestone in our lives: we celebrated our 25th year Anniversary! We are so thankful that God blessed us 25 years ago and would have never thought that we would have come so far as we were two little kids in love. We went to Washington D.C. to celebrate this great moment and it was really a pleasant get away!

Asia is doing great as she has entered her Jr. year in college and has really intensified her pursuit of her calling in ministry! Personally I have been blown away as I watch this once little girl who has grown into a beautiful young woman grow in her love for God and others. Asia has seemed to have ‘caught the ministry bug’ because she is totally fired up to go on The Experience this Summer with Forge!

We are also so proud of Jordan, and he is ready to take the next step in his life. Jordan is excited about graduating and looking forward to following his sister to Texas A&M to pursue a degree in Counseling and Social Work to follow in his great-uncle’s footsteps to open a practice to as a licensed counselor. We are so grateful for where our children are at in their lives.

We love you and look forward to seeing many of you this summer!