Meet Students

• Holly Smith
• 7/23/2009
• Holly Smith's father, Mike, graduated from Fairhaven Baptist College when Holly was just five years old. Mike had joined the military right out of high school; and while in the service, Mike got close to God and decided to attend Bible college upon his release. While a Marine, Mike found West Coast Baptist Church of Vista, California. Led by Pastor Phil Clark, it was here that Mike heard of Fairhaven Baptist College. Soon, Mike and his family, including little Holly, were on a trek across the country to begin preparation for service.
• Brian Boots
• 7/15/2008
• Fairhaven Baptist College students never lack for ministry opportunities in the summer. Just this summer alone, students have taken missions trips, attended missions institutes, and traveled to churches, assisting in revivals and Vacation Bible Schools. In addition, all students are expected to be active in the ministries of their home church each summer and not "sit on the sidelines." This summer has been no different for Brian Boots. Just after the end of the spring semester, Brian boarded a plane going to Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, where he spent five weeks assisting the Muller family in their missionary labors. Jason and Becky Muller, both graduates of Fairhaven Baptist College, have labored in Mongolia for eight years. As a part of his missionary preparation, Brian experienced the work of the missionary firsthand. Adapting to a new language and a radically different culture are two aspects of this preparation trip that Brian will not soon forget. Brian has expressed a desire toward missions since his high school days. Being raised at Fairhaven Baptist Church since his childhood, he heard many missionaries in Fairhaven's pulpit preaching about the worldwide need for the gospel. His parents sacrificed to put him through Fairhaven Baptist Academy for his entire education. This was no easy task, as Brian has nine brothers and sisters. Several things contributed to Brian's surrender of his life to God's harvest. First, his parents took him to church consistently. Brian has been in the same church his entire life. Next, the good example of his oldest brother, Steven, played a part in his desire to live for God. Brian saw Steven graduate from our academy and college, and then follow God's leading to be an assistant pastor near Richmond, Virginia. The example of the staff and preachers also influenced him to live for God. Brian is looking forward to his senior year with anticipation and a deep desire to be used of God in the pursuit of souls on the foreign field, and he feels privileged to train at a college that will prepare him to do just that.
• Samuel Kim
• 3/15/2008
• Samuel grew up in Kunsan, South Korea, in a predominantly non-religious home. He would attend the occasional church service but was unable to view church as anything more than religion. Upon completing high school and fulfilling his two-year obligation of Korean military service, Samuel enrolled in a university to study tourism. He sought a job helping people plan trips to other countries and directing their travel plans.
• Sarah Unger
• 10/15/2007
• Sarah Unger's providential path to Fairhaven Baptist College began nearly a century ago in the World War I era. Her great grandfather, a German, was living and farming in Russia. At the onset of "the war to end all wars," the Russian government put tremendous pressure on him to enlist. Being a Mennonite, his religious belief of pacifism precluded his involvement, resulting in his moving to Canada. Here, he began farming "in peace." Soon, Sarah's grandfather was born, and though he was saved as a younger man, he observed firsthand the numerous doctrinal fallacies and ecumenical drift of the Mennonite denomination. It was not long before he found truth at a Bible-believing Baptist church. As a result of this, Sarah's father, Kevin, was reared in a Baptist church. He and his brothers were deliberately kept from worldly influences. They worked on their father's farm and ran a very successful produce market. Sarah's grandfather taught her dad to work, and her dad passed that same trait along to Sarah. Her parents provided many "opportunities" for her and her siblings. He rented land for a family garden and purchased chickens so Sarah "could have something worthwhile to do." There wasn't much time for video games in the Unger household! Sarah appreciates parents who cared enough about her to teach her the benefits of physical labor. She has applied this teaching to her campus job as a library assistant. Sarah's grandfather is Pastor Wilbert Unger, who started Bethel Baptist Church of London, Ontario, 25 years ago. One day, while going door-to-door, he "happened upon" a family with a daughter. This daughter was the lady who would eventually marry Pastor Unger's son Kevin. Sarah would be their first child. Sarah looks again to the providential hand of God in bringing her parents together. Sarah's church knew little of Fairhaven Baptist College until Pastor Unger attended a spring Preaching Conference. Soon after, Sarah's entire family and several others from her church took several days to visit the college for themselves. Though feeling slightly out of place as a result of visiting on an "I Love America" Sunday, the group from Canada nonetheless saw a college with beliefs compatible to their own, even if none of the flags that were flying that day displayed the red maple leaf! Since then, six young people from Ontario (including Sarah) have chosen Fairhaven Baptist College for their college education. When asked to delineate the key traits she has gained from her 2½ years at Fairhaven, Sarah noted first, that there is joy in serving. "A person can either get discouraged or jump in and serve," she said. She also spoke of the theme of the college as being the desire of her life - to find God's will and do it. Seeing the godly examples of her pastor/grandfather and her parents challenges Sarah that "to whom much has been given, much more shall be required." We thank the Lord for students like Sarah who are striving to serve, to please God, and to find His will and do it.
• Jason and Melodie Landis
• 3/15/2007
• Jason and Melodie Landis both came to Fairhaven Baptist College from the state of Pennsylvania. Jason feels fortunate to have grown up in a Christian home; in fact, all of his grandparents were saved also. As a young teenager, Jason's parents moved to Lancaster County, where Evangelist Rodney Stewart, who was preaching in a nearby church, introduced Jason to Fairhaven Baptist College. Not long afterward, Dr. Voegtlin came to Jason's church, and Jason settled on attending Fairhaven Baptist College. Jason's plan was to attend Fairhaven for a year or two, taking various Bible classes; however, midway through his freshman year, he felt God's leading to preach. Although already active in outreach ministries (as are all students), his classes and ministries took on new life. Working on Pastor Whitecar's bus route proved to be a tremendous ministry experience for Jason. Weekly getting into the homes of the lost and patiently discipling new believers were two things that brought reality to Jason's ministerial preparation. One ministry event in particular had a huge influence on Jason's life. His bus route was able to see both parents of a family of children come to know the Lord as Savior. Soon afterwards, the entire family was baptized, joined the church, and began to grow. Eventually, all of the children enrolled in Fairhaven Baptist Academy. Several years later, while Jason sits in church, he looks across the auditorium at this family at each service, still growing in the Lord. While in college, Jason married his high school sweetheart, Melodie, also a Fairhaven Baptist College student. Melodie grew up in a pastor's home. Her father, Pastor Alan Gardner, pastored in both New Jersey and Pennsylvania. He has been the pastor of Bible Baptist Church in Leola, Pennsylvania, for about 7 years. She is anticipating Jason's graduation, at which time she will become the church secretary for her father, putting to work the rigorous two-year secretarial program degree that she received from Fairhaven. Jason anticipates involvement in the music and youth ministries at Pastor Gardner's church. He and Melodie will join the staff of Bible Baptist along with two other Fairhaven graduates, Mike and Stephanie Roadcup. All of them will be busy, as Pastor Gardner plans to start Victory Christian School of Leola in the near future. Jason says that he looks forward to applying the principles he was taught in college to his ministry in Pennsylvania. He is thankful for Fairhaven's "strong, unchanging stance" mentioning the very practical principle he was taught and saw practiced at Fairhaven: hard work. "The ministry is not easy. It requires a lot of work." Jason feels prepared for this work, however, and is looking forward to "rolling up his sleeves" in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, this fall.
• Martin Watkins
• 7/15/2006
• Among many things that a person may regret in his life, one of those will never be taking the time to leave a cozy abode, put on some nice clothes, grab a handful of good gospel tracts and a Bible, and knock on doors, both sharing the gospel and inviting people to church.
• Portia Lewis
• 3/15/2006
• After moving to Southern California from Detroit at the age of two, life continued much the same for Portia Lewis until the age of 12, when she was invited to ride a bus to church. Being the oldest child in the family, Portia assisted her brother and two sisters in getting ready for church each Sunday. Portia soon realized that although she was not yet a member of the church, she was far more than "just a number" to the people of West Coast Baptist Church in Vista, California; she was a real person who needed a Savior, and afterwards, needed people to sacrifice their time to help her grow in her relationship with God. Under the leadership of Pastor Phil Clark, many of his members did just that. Portia recalls as a "bus kid" being invited often to the houses of church members on Sundays. She was visited regularly, not only by her bus captain, but also by other church members. Portia was saved and baptized, and soon began to take some steps in her Christian life.
• Neil Fultz
• 10/15/2005
• "It wasn't that they did not want me to enroll; it was that they wanted me to enroll only if I was certain that the Lord wanted me to enroll. That is what stands out the most to me." This is how freshman Neil Fultz describes his first impression of Fairhaven Baptist College when he was nearing the end of his military career.
• Liana Johnson
• 7/15/2005
• Liana Johnson was born in Rochester, New York, at the end of her parents' deputation to go to South Africa as missionaries. With her parents, Jim and Rosie, serving as missionaries for over twenty years, Liana has lived in Central Africa Republic, the Ivory Coast, France, and the United States. Her parents are currently serving as missionaries in the land of Ghana.
• Shikhikhutag Bayaraa
• 10/15/2004
• Two years ago Shikhikhutag Bayaraa came to the United States as an exchange student from his native Mongolia. Having been born and raised in Mongolia, Shikhee was excited about this opportunity to live in an "interesting" country. However it was soon determined by school officials that his grasp of the English language was too limited to succeed and he would be sent back home.