Laura Bulgrien

Discipleship Training / Forge Speaker

Five years ago I moved to Colorado in my little red Honda, stopping for only one night along the way, eager to start my new adventure. I recently packed up my car again to move back across the country; but this time the same trip stretched out over ten days, as I stopped to visit friends and alumni and ministry partners along the way. Last month I traveled to the Dominican Republic, and while I was there someone commented on the friendships I had built within the town I was visiting, asking if I had lived there before. Being back in Indiana, I have enjoyed reconnecting with family and old friends – and I still enjoy continuing to hear from people so close to my heart all around the world.

Pausing to reflect on these experiences, I realize the nomadic nature of my work has come with challenges: It is hard to feel grounded and planted anywhere. I am weary of living out of a suitcase. “Home” has been elusive for me for a long time.

And yet, the way my work has shaped my life has given me a gift I wouldn’t trade: deep, meaningful relationships with people from different cultures, different backgrounds, different life stages, different states, different countries.

As we move toward the end of 2018, I look back with gratitude for the changes, transitions and growth this year has held.  And I look forward with hope that the best is yet to come.

Thank you for being a part of this adventure with me.

Further up, further in.

Lorene Klopfenstein

Hospitality | Ministry Relations

Dear Friends and Support Team,

The seasons of Thanksgiving and Christmas bring with them times of reflection and gratitude.  High among the things we are grateful for is you.  You have stood with us, prayed for us, financially sustained us and believed Kingdom sized dreams with us.

This past year has been one in which we have seen God work on many fronts.  We saw lives transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit during summer training and beyond. We have seen people deal with hard things in their lives and find the peace they have long been seeking.  We have the opportunity to lead the expansion of our discipleship training to new groups and even new places around the globe.

November 4 was a very special date for us as we celebrated our 40^thwedding anniversary.  How time flies.  We also experienced the joy of welcoming our new granddaughter Ava into the family in October.    This fall also brought the 14^thCouples Retreat we conduct at Lost Valley Ranch, speaking opportunities in Indianapolis, and our work at Timber Ridge Church.

In addition to his work with Forge Ron continues the development of his Life and Leadership Coaching practice.  Helping people leave a legacy by discovering new roads, navigating life’s transitions and simply getting unstuck is the focus. You can check out that website at www.road2legacy.com.

Our desire continues to be to live intentionally with a heart on fire and life on purpose focus.  We pray that is your desire as well.  Together with you, and through the power of God, lives are being impacted. Thank you for your partnership.

Love, Ron and Lorene

Ron Klopfenstein

Vice President of Ministry Expansion

Dear Friends and Support Team,

The seasons of Thanksgiving and Christmas bring with them times of reflection and gratitude.  High among the things we are grateful for is you.  You have stood with us, prayed for us, financially sustained us and believed Kingdom sized dreams with us.

This past year has been one in which we have seen God work on many fronts.  We saw lives transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit during summer training and beyond. We have seen people deal with hard things in their lives and find the peace they have long been seeking.  We have the opportunity to lead the expansion of our discipleship training to new groups and even new places around the globe.

November 4 was a very special date for us as we celebrated our 40^thwedding anniversary.  How time flies.  We also experienced the joy of welcoming our new granddaughter Ava into the family in October.    This fall also brought the 14^thCouples Retreat we conduct at Lost Valley Ranch, speaking opportunities in Indianapolis, and our work at Timber Ridge Church.

In addition to his work with Forge Ron continues the development of his Life and Leadership Coaching practice.  Helping people leave a legacy by discovering new roads, navigating life’s transitions and simply getting unstuck is the focus. You can check out that website at www.road2legacy.com.

Our desire continues to be to live intentionally with a heart on fire and life on purpose focus.  We pray that is your desire as well.  Together with you, and through the power of God, lives are being impacted. Thank you for your partnership.

Love, Ron and Lorene

Kersha Kahrs

Speaker Coordinator | Administrative Assistant

Hello friends and family!!

What an incredible fall it has been! For those of you who do not know, I began a Master’s in Human Services Counseling: Trauma and Crisis Intervention program through Liberty University in August. It has been incredible seeing how the classes have been relating to different conversations or experiences I have been having with students that come to Forge or individuals that I meet on the street. Please keep me in your prayers as I venture through the program and lean into some difficult classes!

This fall has been full of activity. In September we had a of students taking a gap year program, OneLife, come out to Denver for a week where a few Forge staff members and I engaged with them in a week-long training on growing as individuals, stepping out of comfort zones, trusting the Lord, and learning what it looks like to evolve together as a team. Soon after that, we had the Firebrand team join us for ten days. There are currently eight Firebrands who deeply desire to know God in profound ways and who want to grow in their skills as individuals sharing the Gospel. It has been an absolute joy to see the Firebrand team cultivate a community that is committed to flourishing  as speakers. As the beginning of October, I made a trip back to South Carolina where I was able to be on campus at a college loving on students and connecting with the gap year program students again! Thank you for your prayers this fall! Please continue to cover our ministry in prayer as we work to finish the rest of this year strong.

Love you all!

-Kersha

Nate Hoot

Discipleship Training | International Ministries

FAMILY UPDATE: We have a high-schooler! Kelsey started 9^thgrade this fall engaging a mix of homeschool and public school classes while Olivia transitioned to Leman Academy, a local charter school, for her 3^rdgrade year. Ethan is really enjoying Kindergarten—half day at home with Joy and half day at a local kindergarten. Joy has loved the opportunity to occasionally serve as a guest teacher at Olivia’s school. Please pray …for increased faith as we navigate ongoing health challenges …for parenting wisdom …and for God’s financial, emotional and spiritual provision. Life is shifting and changing, but God ALWAYS remains the same. Our hope is in HIM!

MINISTRY UPDATE:In 1997, I (Nate) interned at Forge. Our ministry tagline back then—One Life at a Time—caught my eye …and ultimately captured my heart, changing the course of my life. For 14 ½ years, we have spiritually invested one life at a timeinto more than 300 youth and young adults. The process is simple, really. The Spirit of the Living God uses us to “write” his transformational work on their hearts! These lives are “a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry.”

“You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.”~ 2 Cor 3:3

You and others fuel what God is doing through us! Would you pray about making a 2018 year-end financial investment in this work …or becoming a monthly financial partner with us?To give, go to www.forgeforward.org/give, click “Donate Now” and select “Nate and Joy Hoot”. Email us at [email protected]with any questions! Thank you!

Loren Hayes

Speaker Ministries

Hayes Happenings

Only a couple of months left in 2018.  Hard to believe.  I’m working hard, however, to finish the year strong at Forge.  I’ve been working for many months on an adult training course called Forge Core.  We are currently in the middle of our third offering of this four-series option.  We plan to offer the last of the series early next year.  The next exciting part is that we’re hoping to launch this in a new distance learning format by the end of the year!  I know distance learning is not a new technology or a new idea, but for our mission at Forge, this is groundbreaking.  We have many ministry partners, alumni, and so many others across the globe that we’ve wanted to resource with the empowering message of Kingdom Laborership.  With distance learning, so many tangible variables of time, geography, and financial resources will no longer be an obstacle to those people.  Remember Matthew 9:37, “The harvest is plentiful, but the Laborers are few.”  This is exciting and you’re helping make it happen!

I would also like to ask for your prayers.  Jonah will be graduating a semester early from high school.  That means that by the middle of December he’ll be on to his next chapter in life.  He has some good thoughts on his direction.  That said, we’re praying for the Lord to direct his steps.  Will you celebrate and join us in prayer for his direction from the Lord?

Much love and many blessings.

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.”

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.

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 jkm[email protected]! Love you all, Julia

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!

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!

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

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!