Always Abounding - Fall 2018 - Volume 3

FBC ALUMNI
Courtney (‘00) & Portia (Wallace ‘07) Lewis
By the age
of eleven,
I had
not only been
expelled from
three Chicago
public schools,
but managed to
get tossed out
of class on my
first visit to Vacation Bible School! This VBS
was held at Garfield Ridge Baptist Church
near Midway Airport in the “Windy City.”
After that Vacation Bible School in 1990,
I immediately started riding the church
bus every Sunday. Pastor Gary Zdziarski,
a 1989 Fairhaven Baptist College graduate,
invested literally thousands of hours into
my life fulfilling the roll of the father I
never had. Because of being mentored
by an alumnus, I can honestly say that
Fairhaven has been an integral part of my
life since I was eleven years old. At the age
of twelve, I made the decision to one day
attend Fairhaven Baptist College.
In 1993, I had been attending church
almost three years (only missing one
Sunday), and, although it was good to be
in church, I was not yet in Christ. On April
22, 1993 at Fairhaven’s annual Preaching
Conference, I settled all my doubts and
received Jesus Christ as my own personal
Savior. From the day I was saved, I knew
that there was a calling upon my life to
preach the gospel. In the fall of 1996,
my dream of attending Fairhaven Baptist
College became a reality. During my
freshman year, God began calling me to
plant a church in Chicago.
Portia’s journey was similar to mine.
She started riding the church bus to West
Coast Baptist Church in Vista, California,
at the age of twelve. In sixth grade, at
Reynolds Elementary School, she was
given the opportunity to read stories once
a week to some of the younger elementary
students. The girl she was paired up with
was in second grade and, at that time,
rode the bus to West Coast Baptist Church.
One day while in a reading session, this
girl invited Portia to church. As the school
year went on, they became friends. One
Sunday, Portia decided she would ride
the bus to church with her friend. This
changed both Portia’s temporal and
eternal destiny. A few years later Portia
was at home reading the Bible and a
church tract. The Lord broke her will, and
she accepted Christ there at her bedside.
Through the efforts of her bus captain and
caring church members, Portia was able to
attend Fairhaven Baptist College in the fall
of 1999.
I finished my time at Fairhaven with a
bachelor’s degree in pastoral theology and
a master’s degree in Bible. I then had an
opportunity to intern at Fairhaven for one
year. We were married in August 2004.
Portia finished her teaching degree in
elementary education. By God’s grace, we
were sent out of Fairhaven Baptist Church
to begin our inner-city work. Portia and I
left Fairhaven in the spring of 2008 with
the vision of seeing God begin Cornerstone
Independent Baptist Church “from
scratch” on the southside of Chicago.
Forty other churches supported our
work, allowing us to start full time. We
met on Sundays in two locations for
seven years. In 2015, God gave us the
opportunity to purchase an existing
church building complete with offices,
4 | ALWAYS ABOUNDING