Virginia State FFA Convention

Virginia State FFA Convention

On Wednesday, June 29, 2022, the Virginia FFA held their annual convention at Virginia Tech’s Lane Stadium.  The show was run by Pennsylvania Northern Tier Chapter leaders Michael and Karen Steele.

From Michael Steele:

 “We had a good conversation and shared information with Adam Ford who was a VA FFA staff member directing vendors where to go to set up their tables. Adam is also a member of The Farm Ministry . The Farm Ministry was created several years ago by Adam’s employer to help farmers in organizing and maintaining their finances and helping them make and adhere to budgets. Adam was very interested in FCFI and was taking the FCFI information back to his employer.”

“A lady by the name of Connie Gaulden (spelling?) stopped by our table. She was there with her daughter or daughter-in-law. The daughter or daughter-in-law was holding her newborn child and feeding it from a bottle. Connie stated the little one is a 5th generation farmer new to the family. Connie took the FCFI information. She told us in the 1970’s her husband and her were struggling on the farm and received free hay from the west coast to help feed their animals. They now donate hay whenever possible for farmers in need. She struggle to get the story out through tears remembering the outpouring of love for them through this act of kindness of free hay. She said last year they had almost 60 more bales than they expected and they were trying to find farmers to give them to who might need them. She would like to get on a registry with FCFI as a farm wanting to share hay when needed.”

“A young man with the FFA stopped to talk to FCFI witness Karen Steele. He was excited we were at their convention. He told Karen his favorite verse was Romans 6:23 (For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. NKJV). He told her it is his reminder that there is help in this world through all the bad out there. That there was help in this world through the Lord. He received a gel bracelet with this Bible verse on it from Karen and was excited it had his verse on the inside under the black color.”

“We had multiple FFA parents stop by the FCFI able telling us they were excited FCFI had a presence at their convention. The existence of FCFI was new to every single one. It shows the possibility of a stronger influence of FCFI in this region and maybe this state with the right person in FCFI putting forth an effort to reach the farming community. One parent was so excited she told he daughter she should set up an FCFI chapter in Virginia as an FFA project. The daughter was not all in on that idea.”

“The FCFI Pennsylvania Northern Tier Chapter tried something new for this event. We purchased 1500 farm animal bookmarks and attached the FCFI card and a Wordless Bible bracelet to each. We gave these out to anyone who wanted one and used the wordless Bible on each to share the Gospel of Lord Jesus. It was fun watching the FFA members choose from the cow, horse, goat, duck, chicken, and pig according to what they have at home. As may be expected the cow bookmarks were the most in demand followed by the pig bookmarks. We have a lot left over and will use them at our other agriculture events. We tried them several years ago with the 4H members at the Troy Fair in Troy, Pa. and they went over well there.”

“We also gave out the FCFI gel bracelets. These have not garnered much interests the last few years at our events. But everybody had to have one here. It was great to see.”

“We obtained maybe one thousand 2” wide by 3” tall wood crosses several years ago. We gave them to Ernie and Martha Reese of our chapter to glue the Wordless Bible beads on and a magnet on the back. We gave out maybe 200 of these!”

“We did not give out Wordless Walking Sticks at this event. We did not have enough on hand and we wondered if there was enough room within the area our table would be in to pass them out and for the FFA members to carry them. Also, we felt the bookmarks may encourage them to read their Bibles!”

“The Jesus Box with the caption “Look Inside To See Who Jesus Died For” was huge hit. It was constantly being opened. They would open it to see the mirror showing them He died for them. It always brought a huge smile to their faces.”

“Now, for the reason FCFI exists and reaches out to the people at as many events as we possibly can. FCFI witness Karen Steele spoke with a young lady FFA member. She is not a FFA chapter officer but she was invited there as the VA FFA State Convention organizers invite any FFA members from the state that want to come. She was not going to come. She told Karen she was at home very depressed and considering suicide. She felt so alone. She received the invite to come to the convention. She was not going to come be decided she would. At first she felt better just being our with all the people and seeing them walking around having fun. Then she stopped by the FCFI table. She explained this entire story and opened her heart to Karen. This young lady was near tears telling her story. After talking to Karen she knew our table was the entire reason she was to come to this event. In short time she was praying and asking Jesus into heart heart and life. I am not saying without FCFI at this event this young wonderful life would have been lost. But, it was very obvious that Lord Jesus used this ministry at this very moment in time to reach out to a tremendous young lady considering ending her life. When reading this, does anything else that occurred compare?”

“When you stood back and looked at this event, it was amazing. We have never attended an FFA State Convention as a vendor. We attended the Pennsylvania FFA state Convention about 4 or 5 years ago. But they had no vendors. We were strictly guests. We were not sure how we would be received at the Virginia FFA State Convention but everyone was very open to us. And 20 people came out of it with their names written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.”  You can certainly see why it is said “There are not enough books in the world to contain all that Jesus does!””

“We have never attended an FFA State Convention as a vendor and were very nervous for several weeks about what to give out and how we would be received. We spent the entire weekend before tying bracelets and then tying them with FCFI cards onto the new farm animal bookmarks (that arrived just in time on Friday June 24. We were up until midnight both Friday and Saturday night tying bracelets to bookmarks and we are early to bed people. We had great weather and a good trip. It was 7 hours away from our house and knew the trip would be intense. We are excited to say we were well received and we had a great time. Though we did not have any contacts with any other state FFA representatives we are hoping 2023 will open the door to attending various other states conventions.  We ended up praying with 20 people to ask Jesus into their hearts and lives!!”