Our Founder
Dr. Freddie Coile is the founder of Focus Evangelistic Ministries. For many years, Freddie worked as an itinerate evangelist, traveling extensively and preaching in many settings. Freddie spent his life telling people how they could know that they have eternal life and training the saved how to live for the Lord.
Freddie paid special attention to the spiritual needs of our youth. After researching trends in America’s youth culture, Freddie and his wife Janet began praying seriously about doing more for kids. They realized that today’s students will be the leaders of the future. Those students would need serious training. Freddie believed that the most powerful ministry setting in the world was camp.
Freddie made a strategic ministry decision to add another facet to what Freddie’s ministry could offer. The idea of building a camp and training center gained momentum as Freddie began sharing the project with his wonderful family of supporters. Two things were obvious from the beginning: the importance of raising a ministry place to train students how to advance the truth to future generations, and the lack of a budget to build a place.
Freddie knew it would take a miracle. The dream could only live by the working of God through the giving hands of the Body of Christ. He began showing the dream to the churches and trusted in the Lord to raise up a special place where kids could come and meet with the Lord in the backwoods of rural north Georgia.
Our President
Josiah Coile is the president of Focus Evangelistic Ministries, as well as the director of Grace Farm youth camps. In addition to being the primary session speaker and event facilitator throughout the year, he also hosts Focus on the Bible, a radio program and podcast aimed at helping people understand and apply God’s Word to their lives. Josiah is a gifted speaker and a willing servant of the Lord. He is dedicated to continuing the legacy of Focus Evangelistic Ministries.
The Property
The dream to start a youth camp was stirred to life when an abandoned property on the banks of Beaverdam Creek became available. Cherokee and Creek Indians had once roamed the woods and bottomlands of the area. After the Indian Removal Act, the property became a cotton plantation where its fields grew the “white gold” of the prosperous South. Over time, the boll weevil broke the prosperity of plantation life and the fields grew into tall timber. About fifty years ago, the timber was harvested, and the woods were abandoned except for occasional hunting. In 2004, the property was auctioned. We believe that this special property was always meant to be Grace Farm, where we are now growing leaders to advance the gospel. A colorful story is told from the hills and valleys of this special land, but the best story is yet to be told!
Fourteen kids and leaders from Missouri and Georgia were the first of hundreds to come to build something beautiful at Grace Farm. The property was covered in kudzu and briars. The group camped, sweated, took cold showers, and built an outhouse and the first cabin. The following year, the Georgia Missions Project hosted fifty-three people who camped in tents. News of the development of Grace Farm spread all over the place. One of the student missionaries trusted Christ as his Savior; another was called to preach.
For ten years, we have been busy building on the Grace Farm property. Thousands of people from all walks of life have come to be a part of the ministry of Grace Farm. Saws have buzzed and hammers have pounded to shape the dream. Many have donated funds and materials. Children from a V.B.S. brought us $1200 in coins! A couple years after the project began, a bus rolled to a stop and 21 kids from St. Petersburg, Florida walked onto Grace Farm to be a part of the first “Camp Grace at Grace Farm.” Inside our Barn, a volunteer twirled his screwdriver and flipped on the lights for the first time. God has answered our prayers! Furthermore, He continues to work in the lives of those who come to learn, serve, and build at Grace Farm.