By Cheyenne Stedman
“We serve our way into people’s hearts”
On May 27, 2021, we got the chance to sit down with Hadley Howe, campus pastor.
Hadley Howe comes from Tatum, New Mexico. He attended high school there and went on to ENMU on a rodeo scholarship as a header of team roping for four years until he graduated in 2014. Hadley has a wonderful wife, Jocelyn, and a beautiful baby girl, Tatum. His parents reside in Tatum, NM and attend the church when they can.
After almost two years in the making, Faith Christian Family Church is finally here with room for everyone, because EVERYONE is welcome. Although there may only be 450 seats, Howe is confident seating would never be an issue as he would do anything to make sure everyone that wants to attend will have a spot. “If chairs are our problem, we don’t have a problem.” Hadley says.
Sunday services take place at 9 and 11 a.m. and typically last about an hour and fifteen minutes each service. To say they have a regular service is an understatement as they have a live worship band consisting of 6-8 people, sometimes more, that rehearses for every service. The music is contemporary Christian and really makes you want to stay on your feet and praise God as loud as you can. You can also join the worship team and be personally trained to play the musical instruments and do vocals. Following worship is 25-30 minutes of sermon speaking. They also have an altar call for salvation every Sunday. Baptisms are available at every service for anyone that wants to know, love, and be saved by Jesus. Prayer time follows afterwards for anyone that would like to pray with or be prayed over. The church structures their services as to how they would like them to be but accommodates to problems should they arise.
Faith Christian makes sure to participate in important holidays such as (but not limited to); Christmas, Mother’s Day, and Easter. Not only does Faith Christian celebrate those holiday traditions, but they’ve started their own traditions as well pertaining to community outreach services and events. Back-to-school give-away takes place every year with quite a large turn out of folks that want to help, and they’re even doing senior citizen oil changes this upcoming June 5th! This includes a free oil change and a free car wash for those 60+.
Faith Christian Family Church is offering adult and age appropriate services for all children 0-18 for the month of June!
The church has their own in-house wedding planner to help coordinate with those that wish to get married in this beautiful, bountiful house of the Lord. With a foyer to take the most fragrant and amazing photos, to the wonderful people to help with anything you need, it’s definitely a most elegant option.
Services
Aside from the usual Sunday services, they also put the fun in ministry with a youth group for grades 7-12 that contains games and an entire worship service. It takes place on Wednesday nights from 7-8:15 p.m. So far the group contains around 60-75 kids, which is no trouble thanks to on-site security.
On-site security provides comfort for everyone, especially those that prefer taking their little ones to the daycare the church has available Monday through Friday. Security uses precautionary methods to ensure everyone’s safety, such as bracelet ID passes and guard tags that must be present at pick-up.
This wonderful church family also offers counseling to all ages and you’re matched to the person that can help you the most based on age or situation.
Hadley Howe says his favorite thing about the church is that it’s 1 1⁄2 blocks away from the university. Thanks to this close proximity that’s already making such a difference in this little town, at least 2-3 college kids are saved every weekend and the fact that at every service, anyone and everyone is given the chance to meet Jesus.
The church moved to this spot primarily because they had a direct confirmation from God. Statistically out of 17,000 people, only about 7,000 attend church on Sunday in Portales. Not only that, but those that made the commute before found it difficult to get their friends and families to attend, and those people needed to be reached. And again, it helps that ENMU is right around the corner. There are new plans in the works for more fun things to come at Faith Christian Family Church.
“Thank you for welcoming us and allowing us to be a part of the community. We’re here truly just to do our best to grow the kingdom of God and we’re available for anyone that needs anything we have to offer and if people give us the opportunity, we’ll do our best to serve them. EVERYONE IS WELCOME! Our mission is to connect with God, grow relationships, and live generously!” -Hadley Howe
If you can’t make it to the in-person service, that’s no problem! You can watch previous and live services by searching fcfconline.com, following their Facebook page, and on YouTube!
