FOUNDING PASTOR JOHN HONN AND THE BEGINNINGS OF ANCHORED IN FAITH
Pastor John Honn was a lifetime resident of Oxford Iowa. He was an especially rugged outdoorsman. Those who knew John Honn in his earlier years would have found it hard to believe he would go on to found and pastor a church. However, Yahweh had a calling on him to do just that. A calling that he could not shake off. No matter how much he tried.
Pastor John Honn was a contractor. Later he would modify his career to become a tent-maker. He had a business of making tents of various sizes and shapes. He also made tents for traveling evangelists to hold “revivals” under.
Pastor John himself was featured in the book “The Oxford Project” along with many other neighbors from the Oxford community. The pictures showcased physical differences in people living in a small town with the advancement of years. The Associated Press did a story on the Oxford Project book. The book was featured on “ABC World News Tonight” and “CBS Sunday Morning”. It was also featured in various newspapers via AP. Pastor John’s before and after pictures contained in the book show a tremendous contrast compared to other pictures of Oxford residents within in the book. In Pastor John’s case, it showed the outward change as he surrendered to Yeshua Jesus Christ.
When Pastor John finally accepted the call to preach, he prepared himself through various extension classes provided through the Assemblies of God as well as other religious organizations. He had a remarkable comprehension level. He had always been an avid reader of the Bible as well as other study materials prior to committing himself to the ministry. This added to his knowledge base. Upon being ordained, he became an assistant pastor for an Open Bible church. While serving there, Yahweh called Pastor John to found a Pentecostal church in Johnson County Iowa. In 1993, Pastor John founded what was then Anchor Bay Full Gospel Church and began holding services in a large addition to his home that was used for his tent business during the week. He looked for places to build a church building. When purchasing other sites fell through, he built the church in his own literal backyard.
With the construction knowledge that he acquired combined with the assistance of friends and parishioners, the original section of the building was built in 1996. The television outreach came soon after. The church family soon outgrew the existing church building. Thus a new and larger sanctuary was built on what was left of Pastor John’s backyard soon after. The church name changed to Anchored in Faith Gospel Church in 2001.
Pastor John Honn went to be with Jesus on April 2nd of 2011. Pastor Linda Honn (Pastor John’s wife as well as being an ordained minister) then became Senior Pastor and continued to lead Anchored in Faith Gospel Church until the church permanently closed it’s doors in July of 2021.
MEDIA DIRECTOR JOHN SCHMIDT AND YAHWEH GOD’S CALL ON HIM TO TELEVISE ANCHORED IN FAITH.
John Schmidt is a retired broadcast engineer. He grew up in the Assemblies of God in his home area of Albert Lea, Minnesota. He accepted Yeshua Jesus Christ in his heart at age seven. He helped build and sign-on what was then Christian TV station WFBT channel 29 in Minneapolis / St. Paul in 1982. This station was the flagship of the now-defunct “Faith Broadcasting Network”. Channel 29 has since become secular and was sold several times and is presently owned by the FOX network. John saw many shortcomings in the operation of the station by the ministry leadership that made him cynical of Christian TV. He quit the station to pursue an opportunity to work at Broadcast Services at the University of Iowa in 1987.
The university job was beneficial in many ways. His deceased wife Janie (who taught children’s Sunday School at AIFGC for many years) grew up in nearby Solon, Iowa. The move brought them closer to Janie’s family. The university job was more diverse, dealing with engineering related to Cable-TV and Satellite transmission as well as working with KSUI-FM and WSUI-AM. The Satellite Uplink (Transmitter) gave him opportunities to work on television projects related to news and sports for just about all the major television networks as well as many television stations across America.
John Honn met John Schmidt at the now-defunct “Victory Assembly of God Church” in Coralville Iowa in 1989. John Schmidt was the sound operator. John Schmidt also was in charge of setting up the meeting room for services each week. John Honn was studying for the ministry. John Honn also ran the youth outreach and was involved with Sunday School. Both served as deacons for the church. John Honn left the church upon being ordained. Victory folded soon after. John and his wife Janie then settled into an independent charismatic church in Iowa City.
One night, Yahweh God spoke to John Schmidt in a dream. Yahweh God told him he was to use his expertise to proclaim his word again. Soon he was given an opportunity to acquire the first batch of used broadcast equipment at a fraction of what it was actually worth taking into account the condition it was in. Other items became available just as the need for them arose. But John did not know who he was to work with. His pastor at the time had no interest in helping him understand the calling. John reached out to Pastor John, who was in the process of founding Anchored in Faith Gospel Church. Pastor John suggested that John Schmidt should come and tape the Friday night revival services that the church was having at the time. John did. Thus the original cablecast “Revival in Oxford” began in 1996 on one cable channel in Iowa City and Coralville. The program later evolved to become “Anchored in Faith” and “Anchored in Faith Classic”.
The AIFGC TV outreach grew extensively to cover many communities served by Mediacom in Iowa and Illinois as well as South Slope in eastern Iowa. The television programming could also be seen briefly on Christian TV broadcast stations WJYS in Chicago and WJDW in West Virginia. Now the television ministry has viewers tuning in from many countries via the internet. Despite the permanent closure of Anchored in Faith Gospel Church, John Schmidt continues to supply past episodes under the title “Anchored in Faith Classic” for both Internet and cable TV access channels via a spin-off ministry named “Faith Media” These episodes are timeless because God’s word is timeless!