Frank and Sue Ferrari live in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania along with their 6 children and 11 grandchildren.  Planting and pastoring a church in Lancaster county over a 4 ½ year period has given them insight into the life and times of church life.  Through relating to other church leaders, they have become aware of the need for the local church to be envisioned for current moves of God.  Working with leaders and churches to move from the traditional into the transformational has been the hallmark of their ministry for the past 5 years.  In this transitional stage in which the church finds itself, there are many obstacles and challenges.  Frank and Sue, having experienced many of them, consult with churches and church leaders equipping and envisioning them to overcome the challenges and remove the obstacles. 

There is a lot of talk about being on the cutting edge and about new wine and new wineskins.  Well, what does all this mean?  Can the ‘historical’ church still be part of what the Lord is doing today or is it simply an old, stiff wineskin blowing in the breeze waiting for Jesus to come back?  Frank and Sue would say emphatically, NO!

Having worked as public high school teachers and local church pastors, Frank and Sue bring years of experience to the art of envisioning and equipping leaders enabling churches to ‘move forward’ into the call that God has for them.

Does our past history as individuals and churches play a part in how we function today?  By all means!  Can people and churches do anything about those issues and the baggage from the past?  Not only can it be addressed, it must be dealt with or the church will live as an invalid unable to move into the fullness of God’s will.

Frank and Sue challenge people with this; “How can we continue to do things the way we have always done them and expect different results?”  We cannot!  Let’s discover what the logjam is all about, remove those ‘key logs’ and move on.  Having worked with churches, leaders and individuals, Frank and Sue have been able to watch as people  experience remarkable progress in these areas.  

With a heart to engage with the next generation, Frank and Sue function as a spiritual father and mother to many.  As young people navigate through life, they are asking two heartfelt questions; “Does anyone out there love me?” and “Will someone please tell me the truth?”  The younger generations are searching for answers.  These are the Joshua generations and they will see God move in miraculous ways as never before.  The current Moses generation must be preparing them by handing off the baton in a way that the church does not lose a step.  It can be and must be done or we will once again experience the same old, same old way of doing church.

“Transformation Ministries connects churches, businesses and individuals with similar vision in order to impact the spiritual and social climates of a society so that the communities within that society experience the reality of Godly freedom and prosperity."

Extravagant Worship

Primarily a relationship built on intimacy rather than activity– John 4:19-23
John 4:19-23, Luke 10:38-42, Job 1: 18-21, Acts 16:22-26

John 4:19-23 (NLT)
"Sir," the woman said, "you must be a prophet. So tell me, why is it that you Jews insist that Jerusalem is the only place of worship, while we Samaritans claim it is here at Mount Gerizim, where our ancestors worshiped?"
Jesus replied, "Believe Me, the time is coming when it will no longer matter whether you worship the Father here or in Jerusalem.
You Samaritans know so little about the one you worship, while we Jews know all about him, for salvation comes through the Jews.
But the time is coming and is already here when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for anyone who will worship him that way.
 

Prophetic Intercession

Primarily hearing what He is saying to us rather than what we have to say to Him – Ezekiel 37:4-8
John 15:7, Ps 81:11-14, 1Sam. 3, John 10:1-4, Is. 62:6-7, John 15:7

Ezek 37:1-7 (NLT)
The LORD took hold of me, and I was carried away by the Spirit of the LORD to a valley filled with bones. He led me around among the old, dry bones that covered the valley floor. They were scattered everywhere across the ground. Then he asked me, "Son of man, can these bones become living people again?" "O Sovereign LORD," I replied, "you alone know the answer to that." Then he said to me, "Speak to these bones and say, 'Dry bones, listen to the word of the LORD! This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Look! I am going to breathe into you and make you live again! I will put flesh and muscles on you and cover you with skin. I will put breath into you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the LORD.' " So I spoke these words, just as he told me. Suddenly as I spoke, there was a rattling noise all across the valley. The bones of each body came together and attached themselves as they had been before.

Christ-Like Obedience

Primarily doing what He wills rather than what we want – 1 Sam 15:22-23
Matt. 7:21-22, John 15:9-10, Ps 51:16-17, 1Sam 13:8-11, 1 Sam 15:1-15

1 Sam 15:22-23 (NLT)
But Samuel replied, "What is more pleasing to the LORD: your burnt offerings and sacrifices or your obedience to his voice? Obedience is far better than sacrifice. Listening to him is much better than offering the fat of rams. Rebellion is as bad as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as bad as worshiping idols. So because you have rejected the word of the LORD, he has rejected you from being king."

Greek Influence
In the book, Your Work Matters to God, written by Doug Sherman and William Hendricks, Sherman makes an excellent assessment here of how many Western societies have been affected by the philosophies and culture of the Greek influence.  We may speak English, but we think “Greek”.  Our focus on competition, segmentation of life from the secular to sacred, rationalism and reasoning—all move us to a more intellectual position in our faith rather than to a simple, trusting faith.  The Greek/Hellenistic civilization has been so much a part of our thinking and way of viewing life that we have lost our ability to understand God and relate to Him as the early church did.

As the Church grew and extended its borders outside Jerusalem, believers became influenced by a wide array of philosophies.  The purity and power of the gospel message were affected by the dominant Greek culture.  Following the two major Jewish revolts of A.D. 70 and A.D. 135, a Greek, man-centered view of the world reshaped the Church.   Early Greek Scholars like Plato introduced dualism, which says that life is divided into two compartments: the spiritual or eternal, and the temporal realm of the physical.  Plato’s dualism entered the Church through many of the Church fathers that were Greek philosophers who had converted to Christianity.  They attempted to reconcile Greek though with Christianity.

Source: Restoring the Early Church, Mike and Sue Dowgiewicz, Aslan Group Publishing