Ribbon cutting for new Frank King Training and Equipping Center

NOW: Ribbon cutting for new Frank King Training and Equipping Center
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ELKHART, Ind.-- Guidance Ministries is hosting a ribbon cutting this afternoon to introduce a new center located right inside of their very own church.

The new space is called the Frank King Training and Equipping Center. It was a 5-year long vision of the former Pastor of Guidance Ministries, Frank King, to provide educational resources to the community.

Frank was known as a caring, loving and honest man to everyone who knew him. His vision for people in the community, and becoming a pastor, though, wasn’t always the plan. Frank got into the wrong crowd as a teen and into his adult years, participating in several different gangs, became a drug addict and alcoholic, and eventually became homeless. At the time, Frank was living in New Orleans, when he first met his wife, Lori, who was there trying to help feed people in need. Noticing Frank was going down the wrong road in life, Lori and her partner offered him to move to where they were living in Pennsylvania to get him back on track, and from there, his whole life changed, and he became a man of God.

Originally from Goshen, Frank and Lori got married and moved to Elkhart, where Frank became the Pastor at Guidance Ministries with goals to help changes the lives of others. His vision to create a space for educational services and resources for people became a reality by Lori, 5 years after he passed away from a tragic motorcycle accident in November of 2016. Lori says he would’ve been overjoyed to see his dream come to life.

“You know when your heart changes, your actions change as well. And so, he became the man that all of the community that knew him, the man that they knew was kind and compassionate, but very straight forward. Don’t ask Frank to tell you something that you did not want to hear, because he was going to tell you the truth,” CEO of Guidance Ministries Lori King said. "He'd be delighted that his vision was coming to place. You know we have phase 1 completed, he’d be so excited about it.”

The Frank King Training and Equipping Center will offer up educational opportunities 7 days a week. The process just wrapped up phase 1, which was to renovate the room inside, with full installations, equipment and furnishings. All of the resources will be free to those who need the help, and all Lori asks is for those who take up the opportunities, to donate time for other things they may need help with within the church if possible. The educational resources include a wide-range of different hands-on classes, tools and skills, which will help teach them how to prepare and operate equipment for careers, along with marriage seminars, and teaching people about family healthy boundaries and how to implement what they’ve learned into everyday life. Lori says she hopes to extend what they’re doing at their ministry, to other churches throughout the area down the line.

“Once we get the in-house done and we have 7-days a week different educational programs are coming out of here, then we would like to offer the materials to agencies and churches in our community who would like to borrow some of this material, and take it to their own site and offer it to their people that they have contact with as well.”

The ribbon cutting event takes place at 3 PM on Monday at the Guidance Ministries building, located at 216 N Second St. It will be followed by an open house at 5 PM for anyone to come in for a tour.

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