After being licensed with the OFWB in 2007, I began seeking the Lord for preaching opportunities. One Wednesday, riding down memory lane in Wilson, NC, the Lord laid the desire on my heart to go by WLLY 1350 AM Radio station, where I had worked as a teenager. Upon entering the station I was greeted by a wonderful woman of God by the name of Ms. Nancy Sykes.

I explained to her how I had worked there many years ago and was now licensed to preach and we began an exciting conversation.   She explained that she had guest speakers to speak on the radio every Wednesday and asked me if I'd like to be her guest, which I graciously accepted.

When I had completed my first message she gave an opportunity for the listeners to call in with questions and comments. There were so many calls that time ran out before all the calls could be answered and I had to take calls off air. I was invited back several times to be her guest and one Wednesday Ms. Nancy called me after I left the station.   There had been an anonymous donation to cover airtime if I would agree to be on every Saturday morning.

After a couple of weeks of preaching every Saturday, Ms. Nancy asked me to name the program. I was in the process of studying Colossians 2: 6-10 in preparation for the next program.  Looking down at my bible, the words in verse 7 jumped out at me. The name of the program would be Established in the Faith.

 Colossians 2:6-7 (KJV)   As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: ⁷  Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.

After a time, I began preparing prerecorded messages at home, which enticed the curiosity of my 8 year old. She began asking me questions about what I was speaking on and I quickly realized that her questions could be shared by the radio audience. At that point Haiven became an important part of the program. We would read and discuss scripture and she would ask questions as she saw fit. Boy, did she have some humdingers.

The format of the program changed when I began my duties of pastoring at Friendship. I began to prepare the program around the sermons recorded on Sunday morning. I had both Haiven and Julie to record an outtake, telling the location of the church and service times, which I have used until recently. They insisted that the outtake be changed seeing that they have aged significantly since that time.

The Lord opened the door in 2014 for the program to be aired on the Go Mix Radio Network, covering over half of eastern NC and part of southern VA. We were in need of a theme song to begin the program. Haiven suggested that the song “He Has Made Me Glad” be used, and she has played the piano for each program since that time.

In 2017, Established in the Faith acquired it’s very own website. All the messages that are preached at Friendship OFWB Church are now in podcast form for the world to hear.  

Hours were spent creating our logo. It was created to symbolize the act of being Established in the Faith. It first contains the Word of God, with the shadow of the Cross of Christ, a magnifying glass, and a microphone. The word of God should be the foundation of our faith. From Genesis to Revelation we find the message of the cross. The magnifying glass symbolizes the desire of the Christian to search the word of God to remain Established in the Faith. Finally, the microphone symbolizes the means by which God has given us to spread His Word to all people so that everyone that hears the message of the Cross of Christ can truly be Established in the Faith.