Wings of Faith Ministries (WFM) is a brand new ministry, but it is also an extension of the work in Sarnia which was led for many years by Pastor Jack Barker. WFM is a fresh and innovative ministry, but it is also rooted in good soil from the past.
Pastor Barker was ministering in Prescott, Ontario in the early fifties when he received a call from Ollie McCubbin who was providing leadership to a small group of people in Sarnia. The two ministers knew each other because both had been involved in powerful revival services in Detroit, Michigan (McCubbin had served the pastor of Bethesda Missionary Temple – M. D. Beall – and her family as a live-in nanny; and Barker and his wife, Lillian, were deeply touched and encouraged for ministry when they attended revival services at Bethesda).
McCubbin inquired whether Barker would be interested in assuming leadership of the small group of folks who were meeting in various homes. He was very interested! When he held evangelistic meetings four years prior in Sarnia, he was sure the Lord was going to have him return there one day to pastor a church.
Upon his arrival, the house meetings were moved to the Orange Hall for Sunday services. Because of the Lord’s blessing, the fledgling congregation grew to the point that more permanent arrangements needed to be made. First, a building was built on Sycamore Drive, but when the church outgrew that facility yet another building was erected, this time on Murphy Road in 1964.
The church had a new building, a name – Wings of Faith Tabernacle, and a sign on the front lawn that declared it was “Sarnia’s revival centre.” It was a bold claim, no doubt, but it remained true that revival was deeply ingrained in Wings of Faith’s mission. Pastor Barker had been very affected by the revival in Detroit (he was told there that he would be a shepherd who would feed God’s sheep, and also that the sick would be healed when he laid hands on them – (both happened in his ministry).
Further, a great stir was caused in Sarnia in 1962 when Wings of Faith put up a large tent and brought in a healing evangelist to minister to the city. Yes, revival was definitely in Wings of Faith’s DNA.
It was during the healing evangelist’s meetings that Stephen Fleming’s family became part of Wings of Faith. Stephen experienced his own conversion in 1962, going on to serve the church in several capacities as he grew into manhood.
As Pastor Barker and the Wings of Faith congregation served Sarnia faithfully and effectively for many years, so now Stephen Fleming is taking up the torch and accepting a call to minister to the city. A previous generation was impacted by a tent revival (and later a downtown coffee house ministry called, The Way Out), and now the internet is being utilized to reach people whenever and wherever they might be when they recognize their need for the Lord’s help.
Wings of Faith Ministries seeks to present Christ without boundaries.