What We're All about

Greetings, my name is Lonnie Trembly and I am the Associate Pastor of Students here at First Baptist Church, Columbia, Illinois. Thank you for your interest in our ministry. I am very proud of our students here. It is a pleasure and an honor to work with each and every one of them and look forward to doing so for many years.

My Story

I was raised in a solid but non-Christian military family with high moral standards. When I was in my early 20’s and in the military myself, I realized that those high standards were not enough. I needed a relationship with God but my own sin was keeping me far from it. At the age of 23, I trusted Jesus Christ as my savior and Lord. My wife, Audrey, trusted Christ about a year later and we have both enjoyed wonderful relationships with God ever since. We have raised 3 children in the faith and they are all following in the Lord’s footsteps. We also have one terrific grandson named Jonah and one beautiful granddaughter named Naomi. We have been blessed beyond measure.

After I left the military, I spent 27 years in the business world pursuing a career. It was during this time that we raised our children, saw them through college and began to serve in the area of student ministry. I have worked with students for 15+ years now. When I was ordained in 2001, I knew God was calling me to into full-time ministry. I took a voluntary layoff from my corporate career and worked as a part time Youth Minister while waiting for the Lord to provide a full time place to serve. That came in 2007 when I answered the call to come to FBC Columbia.

God has given me a passion for students and I am blessed to be a worker here. I do not take this privilege lightly. It is my life’s work to joyfully serve Christ with our students as they grow to adulthood.

My Personal Philosophy

Jesus came as a servant and it is my privilege to serve the students, parents, leadership and members of this church. Through this attitude of service, ministry happens. It is not about me, but Him (John 13:3-17).

Everything that I do should reflect the Savior. Students should be given every opportunity to grow and lead using the gifts God gave them. An openness of ministry should allow others to lead, not just the “professional” (not a good term in my opinion). Good coaching creates an atmosphere of freedom to grow and lead using God’s gifts and talents.

My Vision for HFG

 ‘And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.' This is the first commandment.  "And the second, like it, is this: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these." (Mark 12:30-31)

The vision I see for Heart For God Student Ministries is to point students to Christ and to have them trust Christ as Lord and Savior, to teach them to live for eternity, not today, to be heaven minded, but Christ focused, and to produce, lead and teach future Christ followers. One of the things I have learned while working with students is that too many of them abandon their faith when they leave high school. This has had a dramatic impact on how I approach ministry. We cannot let this go on. Our students need to be well trained and grounded in scripture and theology. They must know what they believe and why so they can stand firm in their faith when they enter the world.

To accomplish this, we will teach a Biblical Worldview so that our students can measure the world by scripture. Our students are drowning in conflicting world views. They are always applying the world’s view to see if scripture measures up. This needs to be reversed.  We will teach scripture and then how to apply it to life. God’s word is what changes people. We will teach who God is, not who we think He is. This is what changes lives. When we apply these, we will see students grow to love God all the time, not just certain times of the week.

We will apply this first by loving God with all our heart (emotions), mind (intellect), soul (spirit), and strength (applied momentum). Each needs to be part of every teaching, game, activity, mission, etc.

Secondly, we will apply this by loving others in the right relationship to loving ourselves. We tend to go here first to impact the world, but scripture tells us differently. We need to know and love God first and then others. I think John Piper said it well, “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.”

We will have no set “to do list” or programs that limit our students or the adults who want to be part of their growth. We will have open minds and hearts to make room for any ministry that a student or group of students can do if they are properly discipled, mentored and on fire for the Lord.

HFG is the theme, the call, and the process for this ministry. “How is your heart?” is the question that will hold us accountable to each other. Fine (feelings inside not expressed) will not be an acceptable answer.

My Challenge to You

If you are a student reading this, my challenge to you is to allow us to study the creator of the universe together and change the world from the inside out.

If you are a parent, my challenge to you is to get to know this ministry and ask questions. It would be my privilege to get to know you and answer those questions.

Blessings, LT