Welcome to
Fortis Institute
Be steadfast, immovable, always
abounding in the work of the Lord.
Why Fortis Institute?
The world is careening wildly to the left, and too many evangelical organizations are joining them.
We are committed to standing firm, no matter the cost.
Fortis, Latin for “strong”, is our commitment to standing strong in a world that is collapsing right in front of our eyes.
Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.
1 Corinthians 15:58
GENERAL INFORMATION
Fortis Foundations
Our commitments to you
Our Mission
To create compelling media and resources that integrate biblical truth into every aspect of life.
Our Vision
To see vibrant churches filled with joyful people moving from brokenness to wholeness.
Core Values
Trustworthy
Consistent commitment to integrity,
biblical values, and ethical standards while faithfully declaring the uncompromised gospel message.
Biblical
Unwavering alignment with God’s Word characterized by theological depth, humble service, and bold faith in Christ
Excellence
Relentless pursuit of the highest quality standards, with a commitment to continuous improvement, exceptional performance, and resourceful solutions
Our Story
In the beginning...
Y2k was safely behind the nation, Evangelicals were hopeful that George W. Bush would usher in a conservative era of politics, and a naive Evangelical began broadcasting on Christian radio in Minneapolis, MN. That lasted two years until he was dismissed by the vice-president for criticizing the Prayer of Jabez on air.
Todd Friel found himself at the competitor’s station across town where he spent three hours a day driving people home. That lasted three years until he was dismissed by the vice-president for criticizing prosperity preachers on air.
Graciously, Ray Comfort invited the two-times fired Friel to host Way of the Master Radio. Soon after, Charles Stanley asked Todd to host a daily TV show in Atlanta on FamilyNet TV. Although Todd was never called into the vice-president’s office, after three years, In Touch decided to sell FamilyNet to Robert Schuller Jr. Needless to say, Friel and Schuller weren’t exactly a theological match made in heaven.
Friel, along with a group of very talented and godly men, decided to continue producing TV and radio as Gospel Partners Media. Thanks to the generosity of God’s people, Wretched TV and Radio have produced thousands of hours of broadcasting, dozens of resources, and distributed over four million evangelistic booklets and DVDs.
Determined to be good stewards of the Lord’s resources and build a ministry that endures, we are pleased to add seven new and respected voices that will strengthen us, expand our expertise, and carry us into the future. We consider this a bold new era for the ministry that demands a bold new name: Fortis Institute.
With the Lord’s blessing, we will remain steadfast until He returns. None of this would have been possible but for the kindness of our Lord and the dedication of countless men and women who have served and supported this ministry faithfully. Thank you!
Leadership
Meet the Board of Directors
Phil Johnson
Director
Phil Johnson is the executive director of Grace to You and has founded several popular websites, including The Spurgeon Archive, The Hall of Church History, and Pyromaniacs. He is an ordained elder and pastor at Grace Community Church. Currently residing in California, Phil and his wife, Darlene, have three adult children and seven grandchildren.
Emeal Zwayne
Director
Emeal Zwayne is the President of Living Waters Publications. He attended Biola University as a Biblical Studies and Theology major. Having received his pastoral ordination in 1995, he served for almost 6 years as a full-time Associate Pastor and Vice President of his church’s board. E.Z. resides in Southern California with his wife, Rachel, and their 5 children.
Todd Friel
Executive Director
Todd Friel is the current host of both Wretched TV and Radio and the former host of Way of the Master Radio. He has authored five books, five evangelistic booklets, and is the producer of over two dozen Bible study courses. Todd has one wife, three adult children, and two grand-dogs.
T Getterman
Treasurer
T graduated from Texas A&M University in 1975 with a BBA in Accounting. T worked at Ernst & Ernst (now Ernst & Young) and then ran The Seven-Up Bottling Company of Austin. After running his own CPA firm for approximately 7 years, he served as Chief Financial Officer for Supercuts for 14 years.
Gary Wetherhold
Secretary
Gary Wetherhold retired from ABB after 32 years. He is currently the Director of Counseling, Children, and Families at Grace Fellowship. Gary and his wife Donna are blessed to have three children and 9 grandchildren.
STATEMENT OF FAITH
Our Beliefs
We believe in one God, eternally existing in three Persons—Father, Son and Holy Spirit, co-identical in nature, coequal in power and glory. (Deut. 6:4; John 1:1-4; 16:7-15; Luke 1:35; Matt. 3:16-17).
We believe in God, who is Spirit and a person; infinite, eternal and unchangeable in being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth; sovereign. (Deut. 4:15-18; John 4:24; Exodus 3:14; Num. 23:19).
We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, became man, without ceasing to be God, having been conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary, in order that He might reveal God and redeem sinners. (John 1:1,2,14; Luke 1:30-35; Phil 2:5-8; Heb. 4:15; Matt. 1:18-25) We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished our redemption through the shedding of His blood in death on the cross as a representative, substitutionary sacrifice; and that our justification is made sure by His literal, physical, resurrection from the dead. (Rom. 3:24-25; I Peter 2:24; Eph. 1:7; I Peter 1:3-5) We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ ascended to heaven, and now exalted at the right hand of God, where, as our High Priest, He fulfills the ministry of Representative, Intercessor and Advocate. (Acts 1:9-10; Heb. 7:25; 9:24; Rom. 8:34; I John 2:1-2).
We believe that the Holy Spirit is a divine person, and not merely an influence; that He is the source and power of all acceptable worship and service. We believe that His work is to convince the world of sin, righteousness and judgment, to convict and regenerate sinners, to dwell in the hearts of believers, to guide, comfort, protect and sanctify them in this world, and to glorify Christ. We believe that He will never depart from the Church nor from the weakest believers. (John 14:16-17,26; 16:13-15: Acts 1:8; 5:3-4; Rom. 8:2,16; I Cor. 6:19; 12:13; Gal. 5:22-23; Eph. 4:30; 5:18).
We believe that Christians should bear a good testimony for the Lord Jesus Christ by living lives separated unto God, abstaining from worldly practices. (Rom. 12:1-2; I Cor. 3:16-17; 8:13; II Cor. 6:3,14-18; I Thess. 5:22; I John 2:15).
We believe that man was created in the image and likeness of God, but that in Adam’s sin the race fell, inherited a sinful nature, and became alienated from God; and that man is totally depraved in the sense that his whole being is affected and cursed by sin so that he cannot, in this state, please God. We believe that he is unrighteous in an absolute sense and can only accomplish relative good. We believe that he is lost and, of himself, utterly unable to remedy his lost condition. (Gen. 1:26-27; Eph. 2:1-3, 12; Rom. 3:22; 5:12) We believe that salvation is the gift of God brought to man by grace and that man is justified by faith in Jesus Christ alone, and is thus given a new position of righteousness and holy standing before God, in which he becomes a son of God by spiritual rebirth, a new creation in Christ. (John 1:12; Rom. 8:1,38-39; I Cor. 1:14-15; 10:10; II Cor. 5:17) We believe that all the redeemed, once saved, are kept by God’s power and are thus secure in Christ forever. (John 6:37-40; 10:27-30; Rom. 8:1,38-39; I Cor. 1:4-8; I Peter 1:5) We believe it is the privilege of believers to rejoice in the assurance of their salvation through the testimony of God’s Word, which, however, clearly forbids the use of Christian liberty as an occasion to the flesh. (Rom. 13:13-14; Gal. 5:13; Titus 2:11-14).
We believe in the imminent, personal and bodily return of our Lord Jesus Christ to gather His bride, the church. This should be the joyful hope of every believer. While we generally hold to a pre-tribulation, dispensational view, the staff at Fortis Institute holds alternative orthodox positions re. eschatology (Acts 1: 11; I Thess. 4: 16-17; 3: 13; Colossians 3: 4; Revelation 19: 11-16).
We believe that Satan is a fallen angel; that he is the open and declared enemy of God and man; that he is the prince of the power of the air, often appearing to man as an angel of light, but that he attempts to frustrate all of God’s purposes through hindering the true proclamation of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. We believe that eventually Satan and those separated from the goodness of God will be cast into the lake of fire and brimstone to be eternally tormented and separated from God. (Job 1:6-7; Isaiah 14:12-17; Ezekiel 28:12-19; Matt. 4:2-11; Jude 6-7; Rev. 20:10).
We believe that every unrepentant, unbelieving sinner whose sins have not been forgiven through Jesus Christ, will immediately be condemned after death to conscious torment until the Great White Throne Judgment, when they will be reunited with their body and cast into a literal, eternal place of conscious torment, never to be annihilated, but punished by God Himself, with everlasting torment for their sins, separated from all that is good about God. Further, we believe that all of those who have received the gifts of repentance and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ will, at death, immediately enter into His presence in Heaven and will there remain in conscious comfort until the resurrection of the body at His coming for His bride, the Church, when soul and body will be reunited and they, together with the saints from all ages, will dwell with Him forever in glory (Luke 16: 19-26; 23:43; John 3: 36; II Cor. 5: 8; Phil. 1: 23; II Thess. 1: 7-9; Rev. 20: 11-15; 21: 8).
We believe in the verbal, plenary God-breathed inspiration of the Bible, both the Old and New Testament, consisting of 66 books, inerrant in the original writings. The Bible is God’s sufficient revelation to man and there is no need for any additional revelation from God. (II Tim. 3:16,17; Matt. 5:18; II Peter 1:21,22; John 16:12,13)
We believe that the church, which is the body and espoused bride of Christ, is a spiritual organism made up of all born again persons of this present age and is distinct from the nation of Israel. (Eph. 1:22-23; 5:25-27; I Cor. 12:12-14; II Cor. 11:2) We believe that the establishment and continuance of local churches is clearly taught and defined in the New Testament Scriptures. (Acts 14:27; 20:17,28-32; I Tim. 3:1-13; Titus 1:5-11).
We believe that every new believer should be baptized (preferably by immersion) in water as a physical picture of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and as a picture of the believers death to self, and resurrection to new life in Christ. Baptism does by no means confer forgiveness. Further, baptism does not initiate an infant into a protective covenant with God. Baptism is an outward picture of an inward work of grace (Matthew 28: 19-20; Acts 10: 48).
The Lord’s Supper is a symbolic meal of bread and wine that represents the death of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord’s Supper does not confer forgiveness. The Lord’s Supper should only be partaken by those who are repentant believers who are willing to make amends with anyone in the body if there is division. The failure to rightly examine one’s self in this manner could result in weakness, sickness, or even death (Mark 14: 22-25; I Corinthians 11: 23-24).
