Our Story

The idea for VFS was started at a Pastor’s conference in the summer of 2006. I attended a two day seminar on how to take ministry into the marketplace. We were asked to take a look at the ministries our churches currently do and evaluate if any of those ministries were meeting social needs. Inverness Vineyard Church (IVC) had established a great relationship with the Department of Human Resources helping with issues associated with foster care. IVC took the initiative and trained 20 families to be foster or adoptive parents. In addition, they were also serving the social workers who worked in the foster care department at DHR. This ministry opened up the door for a great relationship with the Shelby County Director of Human Resources. It was this relationship that ultimately birthed VFS and our Fostering Helps! program.

During this process, I also began to research other priority areas of need for our state and community. I discovered that The National Fatherhood Initiative was a priority funding area. The father programs that were being funded emphasized recovering owed child support from noncustodial fathers. I decided to become a certified trainer to facilitate the “Quenching the Father Thirst” curriculum which helps fathers realize the important role that they play in their children’s lives. Men in this program are taught what their role as father ultimately means for their child. Once we met with the Shelby County Child Support Judge to discuss what services we desired to provide for the noncustodial dads of Shelby County, he was excited to implement this program through his court. We have been met with much enthusiasm and success since then!

Ward Williams

Vineyard Family Services Director