The purpose of this page is to introduce you to the ministry of Faith for Living, Inc., a North Carolina 501(c)(3) Nonprofit Corporation.
An Executive Summary
A Narrative
Faith for Living, Inc., a North Carolina 501(c)(3) Nonprofit Corporation exists to proclaim and teach the Gospel of Jesus Christ to as many possible by all means available. “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Ephesians 2:8, 9 ESV).
Faith for Living was founded by Dr. Michael A. Milton in 2004 to advance the Gospel of Jesus Christ through the broadcasting of expository Bible messages. In 2013 the ministry was incorporated as a nonprofit and approved by the Secretary of State of North Carolina. That same year the Internal Revenue Service granted tax-exempt status, assigning an EIN, and 501(c)(3) status.
From its genesis, Faith for Living has been, and remains, governed by a board of trustees, and operation with a president and Chief Executive Officer as the Chairman of the board. The staff includes an Executive Assistant and Recording Secretary of the Board, Mrs. Christine Hartung, and an Operations Manager, Mr. John Michael Milton. Members of Dr. Milton’s family who serve Faith for Living receive neither pay nor carry the privilege of a vote. Each is a non-voting member of the board.
Faith for Living is an enterprise nonprofit, seeking primary funding for ministry through products, services, and experiences that can produce revenue to operate the ministry and seek the nonprofit goals. Faith for Living also seeks grants for ministry initiatives and tax-deductible donations from prayer supporters.
Faith for Living, Inc. operates out of a burden for people separated from God and the eternal life, and abundant life that comes from repentance and faith in Jesus Christ. Faith for Living ministers with a catholic spirit to all, but teaches according to Biblical Christian truth as expressed in the ecumenical (e.g., the Apostles Creed) and Reformed confessions (e.g., the Westminster Confession of Faith).
Faith for Living is grounded, guided, and guarded by an immovable faith and life commitment to the Holy Bible as the inherent and infallible Word of the Living God, and the Holy Spirit. The ministry is a response to the Great Commission of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
The Vision and Mission Statement
Burden
The Burden is the compelling conviction that envisions and energizes ministry.
M. A. Milton
The burden of Faith for Living is born out of the soul-killing, life-limiting lies of the devil, the flesh, and the world that makes mankind captive to sin, shame, sorrow, and death. Unbelief brings death. Only faith in Jesus Christ brings life. Thus, we seek to captor’s territory and proclaim Faith for Living—now and forevermore.
Values
Values are inviolable vectors that guide ministry by credo.
M. A. Milton
The values that form and inform Faith for Living are the immovable foundation stones on which the ministry the exists, and from which platform we protect faithful, spiritually-sustainable ministry. Our foundation stone values are composed of God’s Word, God’s Mandates, God’s Ways, and our Obedience born of our Gratitude. The values are vectors that provide guidance along the way.
- God’s Word: The inerrancy and infallibility of the Holy Scriptures as the very Word of God.
- God’s Mandates: The primacy of the Cultural Mandate (Christ is Lord of all) and the Great Commission (Christ must be proclaimed to all).
- God’s Ways: The irreplaceable power of the divinely revealed means of grace (Word, Sacraments, and Prayer.
- God’s Truth: The received doctrines and divine mind of God (His Word and His plan of salvation) are most accurately revealed, to be understood, and taught by the Ecumenical articles of faith (“catholic”): The Apostles Creed, and the Nicene Creed; and in the Evangelical, and Reformed statements of faith: the Thirty Nine Articles of Religion (1571), the Three Forms of Unity (the Canons of Dort, the Heidelberg Catechism, and the Belgic Confession), and the English Westminster Standards (the Larger and Shorter Catechisms, and the Confession of Faith).
Vision
Vision: The vision is the projection of redemptive responses that lift the burden.
M. A. Milton
The vision of Faith for Living, Inc. is a direct response to its burden informed by its values.
Faith for Living exists to proclaim the unsearchable riches of Jesus Christ our Redeemer and Lord so that by grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8-9) captives are released (Luke 4:18) from the bondage to sin, experience abundant life and eternal life, and so that there will be a multitude of souls safe in the arms of Jesus when He comes again (1 Thessalonians 2:19-20).
The stated Vision of Faith for Living, Inc., a North Carolina 501(c)(3) Nonprofit Corporation.
Mission
Mission: The mission describes the God-given work that must be pursued to realize the vision.
M. A. Milton
The Mission of Faith for Living, Inc. is to reach as many possible by all means available, especially focused on communication, discipleship, and education.
The Mission of Faith for Living, Inc., a North Carolina 501(c)(3) Nonprofit Corporation.
The Philosophy of Ministry
The philosophy of ministry describes the intentional approach taken to advance the vision and mission, in accordance with the values.
M. A. Milton
“Excellence in all things and all things for Christ.”
Dr. D. James Kennedy (1930-2007)
The philosophy of ministry of Faith for Living rests on the divinely revealed patterns for accomplishing the mission and aligning operations to the vision. For Faith for Living, this means doing ministry in God’s Ways and God’s Means and seeking expression of unity in the Body of Christ.
- God’s ways: We can do more together: “That we should all be one” (John 17:21). Therefore, we seek mutually beneficial Gospel partnerships to accomplish the mission and move towards the vision.
- God’s means: Those whom God calls God sustains. Therefore, we look to the Lord (Word), are fed on the life of Christ in us (Sacraments), and care and cure the souls of men by the power of God (Prayer).
- Our Response: God’s ways and God’s means lead us to a response. Thus, we conduct our ministry not as a corporate initiative built on human case studies, but, instead, as a faithful response, shaped by the Biblical record of God’s providence expressed through our prayerful obedience.
Vision and Mission-driven Operations
Question: How does the Vision and Mission play out in ministry operations?
Faith for Living, Inc., and the organizational units, embrace a hybrid operational model of Faith Promise and Enterprise nonprofits.
Faith in Funding
The Faith for Living Vision and Mission Plan pushes us to identify our immediate needs. Our development plan is to: (1) Seek God in prayer for these needs (and their rightful place in His Kingdom work). (2) We then make the needs known to those who might desire to support the ministry. We do not ask individuals for funding. We present opportunities for generous giving to Faith for Living. (3) We cast a net of prospective support to as many as possible, and trust that those so called to give will become God’s means of support.
M. A. Milton
An Enterprise Nonprofit
We labor to produce products and services that help others in their faith in Christ.
We use Christian Faith Enterprise Zones, “tentmaking,” to create revenue streams to advance the ministry.
The strategy: The strategy describes the practical steps necessary to realize the vision and mission.
The Strategy for mission success is to establish self-sustaining ministries in communication, discipleship, and education.
Organized for Mission
Faith for Living, Inc., a North Carolina 501(c)(3) Nonprofit Corporation is organized for ministry according to the Vision and Mission Statement.
We utilize an anchor ministry as an administrative hub for satellite ministries. We call these ministry groups “organizational units.”
The anchor ministry, Faith for Living, Inc. provides the administrative leadership, nonprofit corporate umbrella, and fiscal support for the ministry units. The ministry is thus organized as follows.
Faith for Living, Inc.
Homepage: https://faithforliving.org
Faith for Living, Inc., is a 501(c)3 North Carolina faith-based nonprofit corporation established by Dr. Michael A. Milton in 2003, incorporated in 2013 in North Carolina, and exists through the intercession of others and the gracious provision of Almighty God.
Faith for Living, Inc. fulfills the mission and reaches the vision through “organizational units.” These ministry units are nonprofit “groups” (IRS) within the anchor ministry and, thus, enjoy the same nonprofit and tax-free status as the anchor organization.
Organizational Units of Faith for Living, Inc.
The D. James Kennedy Institute of Reformed Leadership
- Homepage: https://djkinstitute.org
- The D. James Kennedy Institute of Reformed Leadership was inaugurated in 2013 when Mrs. Anne Kennedy, widow of Dr. D. James Kennedy, and Jennifer Kennedy Cassidy, the Kennedy’s daughter, asked Michael A. Milton to lead a legacy ministry that would fulfill the Great Commission by training pastors in pastoral core competencies and on-the-job training that was the hallmark of Dr. Kennedy’s training ministry. By request of the Kennedy family, the Institute received the legal rights to Dr. Kennedy’s name and legacy through Coral Ridge Ministries.
The D. James Kennedy Institute of Reformed Leadership is a Christian think-tank focused on research, writing, and resources. Our focused constituency includes denominations, institutions of higher learning, local churches, chaplains, and their institutions, and others advancing the Great Commission of Jesus Christ.
From the D. James Kennedy Institute website.
The D. James Kennedy Institute of Reformed Leadership has been supported by major foundations in developing a significant research project: Reimagining Pastoral Education and Training. Born out of a burden for the increasingly alarming rate of pastoral burnout and dropout in the first few years of ministry, the DJK Institute gathered a team to support the produce the Pastoral Training Model (PTM). The PTM reunites the historically symbiotic relationship of the “university model” of clergy education with the “apprenticeship model” of ministerial training. The comprehensive model (in the graphic following) transforms seminary into “Internship,” the first year following seminary as “Residency,” seminary plus five years as a “Fellowship” year of intense study and vocational contribution, and “Lifelong Learning,” which provides a lifelong relationship between minister, congregation, and seminary.
We shepherd shepherds who shepherd the flock.”
M. A. Milton on the D. James Kennedy Institute’s Reimagining Pastoral Education and Training.
The D. James Kennedy Center for Christian Statesmanship reformed leadership includes the teaching ministries of some of America’s most trusted and creative pastor-scholars.
The D. James Kennedy Institute is an award-winning Christian research center for creating resources that provide public theology—the application of Truth to the issues we face. An example of this vision is the soon-to-be-published book, A Strange Land: Public Theology in the Secular Age.
Bethesda Music Group
Bethesda Music Group’s Catalogue is on Apple Music, Amazon Music, Spotify, and the top music streaming and sales platforms. The label is the nonprofit music production and management group for Michael Anthony Milton.
Bethesda has five albums and over sixty songs registered and active through BMI. The music was selected by CCLI and is available to churches, as well. All proceeds go to Faith for Living.
Bethesda Publishing Group
The truth shall set you free (John 8:32).
Bethesda Publishing Group publishes new and reprints of classics for a popular, pastoral, and academic readership. Bethesda seeks to apply the truth of Scripture in books (bound, ebooks, and audio) to bring the healing light of Jesus Christ to every area of life.
Bethesda Publishing is, also, taking works by Michael A. Milton and using Audible to expand the reach through listenership.
Giving to Faith for Living, Inc.
Our development efforts are based on two criteria. Firstly, we seek to be an enterprise nonprofit, meaning that we trust that our products and services generate income for the nonprofit to carry on the vision and mission.
Secondly, we never ask for donations. We only ask that one prays about whether the Lord leads you to support this ministry. We assure you that we both need the support and will use it to advance the vision and mission of Faith for Living, Inc.
How to give? One may give through the secure portal made possible by FaithLife. Our address for online giving is: