About Us

Faith Forward is a grant project funded by the Lilly Endowment’s Christian Parenting and Caregiving Initiative. This five-year project aims to help parents and caregivers share their faith and values with their children. As the recipient, Grand View University is a Lutheran university with several grant projects having a heart to serve rural and small congregations who are underserved and under resourced.

Each year, Faith Forward will have a cohort of 20 pastors/congregational leaders who will help their congregations in a paradigm shift to a home-centered faith formation. Through the initiative, Faith Forward will also provide direct support through resources and workshops to families within their congregations.

“Campus Ministry is thrilled to receive the Faith Forward grant. This initiative will empower rural and small congregations to help them hand down their Christian faith to the next generation, equip parents and grandparents with faith practices, and encourage parents and grandparents to weave faith formation into the normal routines of family life. Continuing the good work of Nexus and the Moses Project, Faith Forward brings resources and renewal to rural congregations and families. We are thankful to Lilly Endowment for its support in helping Grand View become an innovative leader in ministry opportunities. This program brings in Peer Ministry as a partner, and we are excited to begin this new grand adventure,”
Dr. Trisha Wheelock, Director of Campus Ministry Grant Initiatives, Grand View University.

Faith Forward has a three-fold aim:

EMPOWER rural and small congregations to more effectively work with parents, grandparents, and faith mentors through the normal routines of congregational life to help them hand down their Christian faith and values to the next generation.

EQUIP parents and grandparents with doable, repeatable, livable faith practices.

ENCOURAGE parents and grandparents in creating homegrown faith through easy-to-use activities and resources which weave faith formation into the normal routines of family life.

Learn more and become a participating congregation

Faith Forward Foundations

“All research in the United States today shows clearly that parents are by far the most important factor for influencing their children’s religion, not only as youth but also after they leave home. Not clergy, religious schools, youth ministers, neighborhoods, Sunday school, mission trips, service projects, summer camp, peers or the media. Parents.”
Smith, Christian and Amy Adamczyk. Handing Down the Faith. Oxford: 2021, 69.

You must be very careful not to forget the things you have seen God do for you. Keep reminding yourselves, and tell your children and grandchildren as well.
Deuteronomy 4:9 (CEV)

5 Faith Promises

You can practice the ways of faith at home, in the car, and while sharing a meal.

Prayer: We promise to pray together every day.
Bible reading: We promise to read the Bible together regularly.
Faith conversations: We promise to talk together often about Jesus and our faith.
Acts of service: We promise to perform acts of service together in our community, our congregation, and our home.
Shared mealtimes: We promise to share five or more meals together each week, and to engage in other rituals and traditions together.

Start with ONE and strive for FIVE!

Things we like to repeat!

You can’t expect families to do at home what they haven’t practiced in congregation.

The church becomes the learning lab for families to discover and practice ways to live out faith in their homes. Young ones learn and value a faith that is practical and lived within their own family.

Modeling is the most powerful way children, including teenagers, learn faith and values.
Let your kids “catch” you practicing the ways of faith.

Parents and grandparents can weave faith formation into the normal routines of family life.

Our Team

Kristi Wicks

is the Director of Faith Forward at Grand View University. She studied Public Relations at Drake University and enjoyed previously working in event planning and in urban youth ministry before Faith Forward. When not working, she enjoys time with her husband and their five boys- cheering on at many of their soccer games, being outdoors, and sneaking in some quiet in a good book.

What is your favorite part about Faith Forward?

I get jazzed every time I hear a story from one of our congregations and how they put their spin on an idea. I also love hearing from the families how Faith Forward has helped empower them to talk faith at home.

Trisha Wheelock

is the Gerhard O. Forde Assistant Professor of Theology at Grand View University where apart from teaching, she's also responsible for overseeing the Moses Project and manages three other grants. She earned her PhD in Religion from Baylor University. She loves watching college football and attending her boys' band events and track and cross country meets. Trisha is married to her high school sweetheart and mom to two teen boys.

What is your favorite part about Faith Forward?

Hospitality is one of Faith Forward's core values. Not only do we equip and empower parents, grandparents, and faith mentors to pass on the faith to the next generation, we encourage pastors and give them opportunities to experience radical hospitality. Faith Forward reminds pastors that their ministry in small and rural churches matters!

Amy Johnson

is the administrative assistant to campus ministry and grant programs at Grand View University. Amy is from Indiana and attended Purdue University where she met her husband, Andy. They have two sons, one daughter and a very bossy dog. Amy has a degree in child development and family studies and served as the executive director of a national sorority for over 20 years. She has non-profit management experience with parent education, volunteers, youth sports, and preschool programs.  Amy spends her time supporting her children and enjoys anything that sparks laughter, road trips, family time in any form, Indy Car races, and watching college basketball.

Our Team

Lyle Griner

is the Executive Peer Ministry Leadership Director, a connoisseur of “Aha” moments, a writer and teacher, and has worked across the country with multiple denominations to help congregations expand and deepen their abilities for youth and families to find purposeful ministry in everyday life. Lyle worked 14 years with the Youth and Family Institute (now called Vibrant Faith) and is co-creator of The Living Room Summit. Lyle has trained thousands of adult leaders and youth to use Peer Ministry relational skills helping people practically know how to love every neighbor. Lyle's latest book, Youth Are Either Leading or Leaving, helps church leaders reimagine what successful youth ministry can look like in any size church. 

What is your favorite part of Faith Forward?

My favorite part of coaching in Faith Forward is personal connection! Feeling as if I have trusted friends that are eager to learn and open to sharing their life and ministry with me. I love being part of a passionate collaborative team.

David Lynn

is a veteran of children, youth, and family ministry, and has written over 40 books including TalkSheets and HomeGrown Faith. David is the creator of the popular Make Mealtime Family Time initiative. He and his wife, Kathy, developed the Total Family Ministry framework, training, and resources used by congregations to equip and resource parents and grandparents to pass on faith to their children and grandchildren within the normal routines of family life. David is an associate with Peer Ministry. He lives in Tucson, Arizona where it’s warm and sunny. They have two children and a desert tortoise.

What is your favorite part of Faith Forward?

Normally, my work with congregations has been going into larger congregations, doing a workshop for the staff and the parents then leaving. Faith Forward has given me the opportunity to do multiple workshops as well as one-on-one and small group coaching with pastors. It has been enjoyable seeing pastors in their “ah-ha moments” as they see the need for both homegrown faith and cross-generational ministry in congregations. The year-long equipping, coaching, and resourcing of pastors gives them a foundation for sustaining family faith formation in the home and congregation.