Episode 27 | Halle Thompson

Episode 27 | Halle Thompson

In this episode of The First 50, we follow Halle Thompson’s journey from being born into the Fellowship family to serving on college campuses across France. Halle reflects on her early years, her faith journey, and the people God used through Fellowship’s children’s and student ministries to shape her life. Looking back, she can now see how God was preparing her for missions long before she fully understood where the road would lead. The conversation explores her growing love for France, the process of discerning God’s calling, and what it has been like to live and serve in a culture where faith is often viewed with skepticism. Halle shares honestly about the challenges, joys, and lessons that have come from following God far beyond her comfort zone. This episode is a reminder that God often uses special moments, faithful people, and simple acts of obedience to prepare us for things we never could have imagined. Halle’s story began right here at Fellowship. Today, that story continues on college campuses in France, impacting lives one relationship at a time.

Episode 26 | Natalie Caruso

Some stories make more sense when you start at the beginning... and Natalie Caruso's is one of them. In this episode of The First 50, Natalie shares how her upbringing, her relationship with Alex, and the journey that brought them to Fellowship City Hudson all connect in ways she couldn't have seen coming. She reflects on finding community, helping build something meaningful in the earliest days of the Hudson campus, and the beautiful story of how Atlas became part of their family. It's an honest conversation about faith, marriage, belonging, and adoption... and what it looks like when God quietly shapes a life through the people and places He puts in your path.

Episode 25 | Andrew and Kimberly Pfeifer

What started in a living room… a small group of people gathering for prayer, worship, conversation, and community… eventually became the foundation for Fellowship City Hudson. In this episode of The First 50, Andrew and Kimberly Pfeifer reflect on the years of quiet faithfulness, meaningful relationships, and open-door living that prepared them to help launch a campus and build a deeply connected church family. They share honestly about faith, marriage, family, and what it meant to open their home and their lives during the earliest days of Hudson. Their story is a reminder that the best things God builds rarely start with a strategy. They start with people willing to create space for others, and Andrew and Kimberly did exactly that. Church has never simply been about buildings. At its best, it’s about people opening their lives so others can experience faith, family, and belonging together.

Episode 24 | Joan Nosal

In this episode of The First 50, we see how Joan Nosal’s story became woven deeply into the fabric of Fellowship City Church, not through titles or a platform, but through decades of faithful service, hospitality, and genuine investment in people. Joan reflects on her early years, her marriage to Bob, and how the two of them became a quiet anchor for couples, families, and friendships across generations. She shares openly about mentoring, hospitality, loss, grief, and what it looks like to keep living with purpose and joy through life’s hardest seasons. And her story is still very much being written, with a continuing heart for people, relationships, and mission that hasn’t slowed down. This conversation is for anyone who has been impacted by Joan and Bob’s lives, and for anyone who needs a reminder that the most lasting legacies are often built quietly, through faithfulness, one person at a time.

Episode 23 | Rick and Jill Mlakar

In this episode, we sit down with Rick and Jill Mlakar to hear their story marked by hardship, honesty, and the relentless faithfulness of God. Rick shares openly about seasons of anxiety, depression, addiction, spiritual drifting, and relapse, along with how God continued pursuing him even in the darkest moments of his story. Jill reflects on what it looked like to walk through those seasons as a couple, and how grace, authentic community, and faithful relationships helped carry them both toward healing and restoration. The conversation also explores how Fellowship City Church became part of their story, and the role that honesty and belonging played in the long road back. If you or someone you love has ever felt beyond reach, this conversation is for you. This episode is a reminder that no season is beyond the reach of God's grace and that restoration is possible even when life feels completely broken.