Capstone Ministries is a 501c3 nonprofit, nondenominational Christian organization dedicated to sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the love of God around the world. We do this in projects known as FAITH, HOPE & LOVE
25th Anniversary
Statement of Faith
The Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are the inspired Word of God, inerrant in the original documents and the final authority in all matters of faith and practice.
There is only one God, eternally existent in three persons; Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
In the full deity and perfect humanity of our Lord Jesus, His representative and substitutionary sacrifice, His bodily resurrection, His ascension to the Father’s right hand, His present high priestly ministry, and His personal return in power and glory.
In the regeneration by the Holy Spirit, which is absolutely necessary for the salvation of fallen, sinful and lost mankind, and is a free gift of God’s grace received by personal faith through Jesus Christ.
In the present ministry of the Holy Spirit by whose indwelling the Christian is enabled to live a godly life.
In the bodily resurrection of the just and unjust; those who are saved to everlasting blessedness and those who are lost unto the resurrection of damnation.
The universal church composed of all true believers in Christ Jesus who are united in Him and to one another by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. The chief functions of the Church are to worship God and witness for the Lord Jesus Christ until he returns. The local church is composed of a group of believers in a specific locality who gather in Christ’s name for the breaking of bread, prayers, fellowship and teaching.
Project Faith
“...go therefore and make disciples of all nations...teaching them all that I have taught you...and lo I will be with you until the end of time.” Mt.28. India is a complex and ancient culture of over one billion people-with as many as eighty million being Christian. There are only a handful of quality Bible colleges in the country leaving thousands of lay pastors with a heart to serve God but very limited Biblical training. Capstone is attempting to address this issue with a unique program: Capstone Bible Institute (CBI) .We employ a “triple A” approach of: affordability, accessibility, and adaptability. We offer three levels of training to poor lay pastors: Level 1-Old and New Testament surveys, Level 2-an in depth, Biblical based discipleship study and finally Level 3- the great doctrines of scripture. There is a short handout on how to study scripture given prior to the study and another on pastoring and preaching following the study. The program can now be accessed online (http://cbiin.org/) and includes study books, audio instruction, and transcription notes of the audio. We offer this to any pastor or teacher or evangelist who professes a heart to serve God. We have five Indian languages translated. The students may study independently at their own pace or in groups. We ask them to meet weekly, as able, with at least one other student to review the workbooks and discuss the material. A certificate is offered at the completion of each study provided they pass a final exam, with a diploma after completing all three levels.
We offer the same study in Africa. Liberia just graduated a class and five of those graduates want to go on to start planting and supervising their own CBI centers. Also pastor and teacher Amos Freeman was given an Epsom projector from Capstone, at his request, to start showing “The Passion of the Christ” throughout the region.
Ghana has a class completing the study and has also just started using the material on a radio ministry. The material is presented for thirty minutes followed by a call-in question and answer period.
Recently God has lead this ministry to Mongolia where there is virtually no Biblical training available. God has provided a gifted teacher and translator to lead this endeavor.
Beginnings
The seed for Capstone Bible Institute, (CBI) came to Dr. Bob Fehr's mind after going on different Bible teaching trips to India several years ago. When on these trips, he had been allowed to freely teach any Biblical study and the students—poor lay pastors— were eager to learn. However, he realized that there was no systematic way of teaching doctrine and discipleship to the students he encountered and there was no follow-up with them.
Here was certainly a challenge. These pastors had no access to Biblical training but were on fire to serve God and educate their flocks. Language was also a problem. How to go about teaching them in their own language?
Dr. Fehr started working with some members of his Capstone Ministries' Board to develop a basic study of the great truths of the Bible with in depth discipleship training. From Bob's initial desire to see a need fulfilled, came the Capstone Bible Institute.
How You Can Help
Capstone expects much growth in the Capstone Bible Institute. Our goal is to train 10,000 pastors through this program. We are near completion of the translation of all the online material (http://cbiin.org/) in the following languages: Hindi, Telugu, Kannada, Tamil, Oriya, and English. This will language allow access to most Christians in India.
While Capstone Ministries provides the materials for the seminary study to lay-pastors at no charge, this multi-level course costs us about $80 per student to produce.
In India, CBI has an ever-growing number of students and training centers across the country. This growth can be monitored on the CBI website. Most of these students are poor lay pastors who would not have access to any Biblical instruction without our program. This is one of the largest Bible teaching programs in this country of 1.2 billion.
Project Hope
Basic medical care is typically unattainable to the poor in India. Capstone Ministries feels a strong desire to help children and families by treating illnesses which are often preventable or treatable with education and accessible medical care.
In addition to providing medical relief, Capstone's purpose is to bring to light the Gospel of Jesus Christ wherever people's physical needs are ministered to.
Baer Christian Hospital
Capstone Ministries is partnering with Baer Christian Hospital on the east coast of India. It was founded by Dr. Mary Baer who trained in Philadelphia but upon graduation in the early 1900's was called by God to start a charity hospital in a poor, rural area of India. After many decades of faithful service, the hospital fell into disrepair a number of years after Dr. Behr retired. In recent years, pediatrician from Atlanta, Lalitha Chikkala, and her husband, Fred, an AIDS researcher at Emory University, were called by God- to refurbish the hospital and continue the vision of Dr. Baer. Fred and Lalitha Chikkala were two of the last babies Dr. Baer delivered at the hospital before she retired. After growing up in the community, they moved to America to complete their education.
Today the clinic sees 50-70 outpatients daily and the hospital has been full the last two months. Capstone helped purchase a medical van used to provide medical care to remote surrounding villages. We recently sent a medical/dental team to provide care and preventative education.
The hospital is praying for $30,000 to renovate the second story of the hospital to be used for a nursing school. Capstone's primary goal is to help promote medical education and preventative care while sharing the love of Christ.
How You Can Help
Please contact us if you are interested in becoming involved.
If you want to help support our medical missionary efforts and partners in India, donations of any amount are appreciated.
Project Love
Mission Statement: Project Love, a division of Capstone Ministries, is dedicated to meeting the physical, educational, and spiritual needs of disadvantaged children in select Christian ministries and orphanages. We work with existing ministries that have the same goals by providing funds for such things as clothing, bedding, school supplies and tuition.
Shelter Ark Orphanage / Sharon Rose School
Capstone Ministries’ Project Love Committee was started to provide a new orphanage and Christian school for children living at the Shelter Ark Orphanage in the Baiganwadi slum of Mumbai, which was one of the largest slums in Southeast Asia. Capstone Ministries partnered with the Bombay Revival and Prayer Band (BRPB), a local Christian organization that was caring for the children in an old building located in the middle of the slum.
The goal was to move the children out of the slum. We needed to find suitable land, which is difficult (and expensive) in such a populated country as India. God provided a beautiful 1-acre lot about one hour's drive northeast from Mumbai, in the town of Panvel.
The Shelter Ark orphanage was begun in 2003 and completed in 2004, housing 50-60 children. Capstone then worked with our Indian partners to build a school. The Sharon Rose School was completed in 2007. The high school goes up to the 10th standard and also educates over 500 village children for a minimum tuition fee which helps support the orphanage.
In 2014, Project Love felt that God wanted us to change our direction of our commitment. We felt that the Shelter Ark Orphanage had a good start. They had land, buildings, and a Christian school. Capstone agreed to continue to support BRPB by providing tuition and school fees for the orphanage children who graduated from the 10th standard. God was calling us to help other orphanages and ministries that work with deserted children.
Home of Hope, Hyderabad India
Home of Hope children having a rare treat of ice cream
In 2015, Project Love began partnering with Dr. Cherian and the South India Baptist Bible College (SIBBC) to start an orphanage in Hyderabad India. Hyderabad, is a large city in South Central India. The children live in a safe and supportive environment and attend a local Christian school. All of the expense are underwritten by Capstone Ministries. There are many more children who need help.
Other Projects
Roatan Ministry
This fall, 2015, Project Love worked with the Roatan Ministry started by Travis and Tish Moran. This is a Christian ministry on an island off the coast of Honduras. The Morans have several different ministries on Roatan. One is to help the people who live in a nearby garbage dump. These people live off what they can find in the dump. The Morans call this the Special Treasures Ministry. The children are not necessarily orphans but they are street kids and very, very poor. Travis and Tish wanted to help the children living in the dump to go to a public school there but needed money to buy uniforms for them. There are 53 children and the uniforms cost $45. Project Love provided $1,000 to help with this. This only partially covers the total need.
Please consider partnering with us to help some of these precious children by making a donation to Project Love. We want to help more children.
James 1:27 (TLB) The Christian who is pure and without fault, from God the Father’s point of view, is the one who takes care of orphans and widows, and who remains true to the Lord—not soiled and dirtied by his contacts with the world.
Leper Village
A Saint in the Leper Village
There may be no more pitiful people on the face of the earth than the lepers of India. India is one of five countries in the world that each have a small but significant number of people with leprosy. Sixty percent of the world’s lepers reside in India. As in Biblical times the lepers are isolated and segregated from the general population-confined to live in their own villages throughout the country. It is a life of loneliness, persecution and physical disability.
Fate has caused one such village in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh near the state capital of Raipur, to cross paths with Capstone Ministries. Biskot Sika was in his last year of a Baptist bible college when he began to pray for God’s leading as to how he could serve Him.
He was led to share the Gospel message of God’s love as an evangelist on the streets of Raipur. It was there he met the lepers begging on the streets. For the last eight years he has ministered to them three days each week in between his evangelist calling. He is only supported by his wife -a housekeeper in the city hospital.
Leprosy is caused by a very slow growing intracellular bacterium called Mycobacterium leprae which divides every two weeks. Treatment is effective but must extend from six to twelve months with daily antibiotics. Symptoms usually take three to five years to develop after exposure and are irreversible. It still exists in India due to limited access to medical care among the poor.
The bacteria invades the skin cells causing disfigurement-often on the face; and it invades the peripheral nerve cells causing loss of sensation and muscle weakness. The sensory loss makes them prone to injuries such as lacerations,fractures, burns and infections of the extremities any of which commonly lead to amputation. The weakness often leaves their hands and feet with a claw-like deformity. The bacterium may also affect the cornea of the eye causing pain and visual loss.
Throughout history mankind has dreaded the devastating consequences of leprosy. They feared that it was highly contagious, which it is not, and have established elaborate barriers to protect themselves from contact with a leper. One must have prolonged and close contact with a leper to become infected.
The 120 lepers (forty of which are children) in the village can only survive by begging on the streets. The deformities of their hands and feet preclude any manual work. All have now been medically treated but it was too late to prevent the irreversible complications. They will walk or bike, as able, the three to six miles to the surrounding villages or to Raipur to beg for a rupee (about two cents) or a small portion of rice. Some will stay home to care for the totally disabled or young children. All are illiterate. Seventy have become Christians under Sika’s discipleship.
With the recent COVID epidemic and a national home quarantine, their livelihood was suspended. Confined to their homes they could no longer beg for food or money. They were at risk of starving. God provided for their dire need through connecting Sika with Capstone Ministries-thereby supplying funds for food and basic necessities during the lock-down.
Prayer needs:
- Funds to build a church for the leper village Christians.
- Safety for India as the COVID pandemic overwhelmed the medical services for the poor.
- Thanksgiving for expansion of Capstone Bible Institute to Sierra Leone and now over 1100 pastors and evangelists are being trained world wide-850 in India.
- For the Capstone sponsored Jesus movie to be shown in churches in India in their native languages and offered to the public.
- Love, strength and courage for believers suffering from the widespread and aggressive persecution of Christians by the radical Hindus.
Serve With Love
‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’
Matthew 25:40
“We must be ready to allow ourselves to be interrupted by God.”
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Our mission is to help those with a heart to serve discover their best match for volunteering.
The twelve organizations listed below comprise a broad spectrum of programs which are most in need of volunteers in the Knox County area.
Children/youth:
Project Grad (classroom tutoring at Austin East and Fulton HS's and their feeder middle and elementary schools) 525-4030, www.projectgradknoxville.org
Emerald Youth Foundation (after school and summer programs- mentoring, tutoring, discipleship, sports) 637- 3227, www.emeraldyouth.org
Hope Central (after school programs/ homework help in Parkridge Community) 314-8514, www.hopecentralknoxville.org
KLF (mentor children of incarcerated parents 4-6 hours/month for 12 months and youth programs) 524-2774, www.klf.org
Big Brothers/Sisters (mentor youth,one-on-one, for 4-6 hours/month for 12 months) 523-2179, www.tennesseebig.org
Elderly:
Office on Aging (elder transportation, home repair/yard work, Meals on Wheels, Connecting Hearts (senior companion) 524-2786, www.knoxseniors.org
KLF (home repair, wheelchair ramps) 524-2774, www.klf.org
Women:
Restoration House (housing and life-skills for single mothers) 200-5406, www.therestorationhouse.net
Homeless:
KARM (serve at various positions at the rescue centers or the thrift stores) 633-7653, www.karm.org
Salvation Army (serve in the shelter, kitchen, thrift store or warehouse. Angel Tree/bell ringer) 525-9401, www.salvationarmyknoxville.org
Serenity Shelter (KARM/addiction recovery) 673-6540, www.karm.org
Housing:
Habitat for Humanity (help build homes/educate about finance and home ownership) 523-3539, www.knoxvillehabitatforhumanity.com
KLF – Operation Back Yard (home repair) 524-2774, www.klf.org
Refugees:
Bridge (facilitate resettlement, 6-12 month commitment) 540-1311, www.bridgerefugees.org
KIN (help internationals,which number 28,000 in Knox county, integrate into the community)333-4546, www.kin-connect.org
Short term projects:
Compassion Coalition (sign up to receive their e-newsletter) 251-1591, www.compassioncoalition.org
Recommendations:
Pray for: love, wisdom, courage and perseverance.
Form a volunteer team with one or more other persons.
Visit Volunteer East Tennessee website (www.volunteeretn.org) to learn more information about the ministries.
If led to work with youth, recommend an educational program offered by the Center of Excellence. Many of the youth in need have had extensive emotional trauma and this program gives a deeper understanding of their behavior and mindset.
Compassion Coalition offers resources to help potential volunteers prepare for ministry to the needy including: online Salt and Light Guidebook as well as Bridges Out of Poverty, Frontline-training about community resources, and the Cost of Poverty Experience (C.O.P.E.).
For further information or if your Sunday School class would like a presentation to discuss in more detail the above volunteer ministries, please contact capstoneministriesknoxville@gmail.com or leave a message at 865-315-7947.
