A Note from Betsy
Life can be hard; let's face it - life is hard. But if I could sit down with you, I would tell you that it’s going to be okay because the Lord is faithful. We desperately need to hold on tight to the One, the Only One, Jesus Christ, who can lead us through this life. He wants us to trust Him and obey Him, even when things seem to go impossibly wrong. He wants to build our faith.
For that reason, our website contains a broad spectrum of features with you in mind. Whether you are a mom seeking a quiet respite and a smile at the end of your day, a spouse discouraged by heavy circumstances in need of renewed hope and spiritual recharging, an isolated parent seeking a place of community and a word of encouragement, or a student of the Word looking for fresh biblical insights, hopefully we have something for you.
We are grateful that with all the choices and distractions in life you have chosen to spend a portion of your time as our guest.
With joy,
Ministry Staff
Sometimes God’s plan for your life looks way different than your own.
All through her childhood and undergrad years, Betsy planned to be a medical missionary and hand surgeon. She graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Occupational Therapy and passed her boards soon after. While in college, Betsy met and married David, and together they received extensive training in biblical discipleship through their involvement with The Navigator’s Ministry. After starting a family, the priorities of children and ministry rose to the top of her agenda, and her dreams of becoming a surgeon slid to the back burner. She began to devote her life to the dual cause of discipleship and family life.
Betsy wrote Entrusted with a Child’s Heart in 1999 in response to the needs she saw in families as she and David counseled young parents just a few years behind them. Entrusted has been taught in hundreds of churches nationwide, been translated into several foreign languages, and has made its way around the world.
More recently, Betsy received her Masters in Biblical Studies from The Master’s University and is developing a new Bible Study program called Get the Word Out. Her passion for God’s Word, discipleship, and teaching biblical principles as they apply to family life has remained strong to this day.
One of the greatest blessings in Betsy’s life are her three grown children, their spouses, and ten grandchildren that keep her constantly in touch with every age and stage. So much better than anything she could have planned for her life.
Stephanie has always delighted in God’s Word and in sharing it with others. This desire to teach was stewarded as she earned her degree in elementary education. She was greatly influenced by refining her biblical worldview at the Focus on the Family Institute, volunteering in Kenyan orphanage classrooms, and her more recent training in family counseling.
Stephanie and her husband Travis’ courtship began with a horrible blind date, and yet they now have three dynamic boys and a darling little girl. They’ve weathered quite a few storms together and have repeatedly seen God’s faithful anchoring of their family. Baking elaborate birthday cakes, hiking through creation, watching football, and snuggling while reading are some of Stephanie’s favorite activities to enjoy with her family.
Another dear relative has become a more consistent part of Stephanie’s life, as her coworker and aunt, Betsy, continually blesses and inspires her. What a joy to know that one of her childhood heroes was just the woman she believed her to be! Whether it is equipping mothers and leaders through Entrusted with a Child’s Heart, inspiring students when teaching at homeschool co-ops or children’s ministry, or homeschooling her own children, Stephanie’s life mission is to encourage others to follow faithfully and joyfully after Jesus—especially if they hold her favorite job title: mom.
Nancy has been a part of Entrusted from the very beginning as a participant in the first class Betsy taught back in 1999. She has led several Entrusted groups over the years and has a passion for strengthening families.
"The biblical principles of Entrusted have had a huge impact on my family personally. That is why I feel so passionate about helping others implement this curriculum in their church or neighborhood. I have found that most young moms truly desire to be a godly wife and mother, but many of them honestly don't feel equipped for the job. The biblical teaching of Entrusted with a Child's Heart gives them the tools they need."
Nancy has been married to her husband, Jim, for 30 years and they have two grown children.
Anna is truly a provision from the Lord! Anna has jumped into this role at the perfect time and with so much enthusiasm and awareness. Several years ago, Anna took Entrusted with a Child’s Heart and fell in love with the study and its commitment to biblical truth. She felt the practical takeaways were abundant, and she was challenged and equipped to be a better mom to her three young children. It was at this time that Entrusted’s bookkeeper was ready to retire, and Anna could not have been a more ideal fit for the position! Anna is a CPA and worked in the corporate world prior to becoming a mother. As her youngest recently entered preschool, it was a perfect time for her to find an avenue to use her gifts—lucky us!
Anna is married to Mike. They live in Marengo with their three children. She is excited to see where Entrusted goes in the years to come and to be a part of God being glorified in families and in the church!
Board of Directors
Dave serves as the Director for Entrusted Ministries. He has worked in the insurance industry for the past 35 years, while devoting much of his free time to ministry. He is a frequent speaker on the topic of church leadership, elder training, and individual discipleship. Dave loves to teach his "New Believer's Class" and to pour his life into discipling others. He has extensive teaching and counseling experience and has been been heavily involved in church leadership for over 35 years.
Dave Corning has been married to Betsy for over 40 years. They are the parents of three grown children and the grandparents of ten. They reside in the Chicagoland area.
Sometimes God’s plan for your life looks way different than your own.
All through her childhood and undergrad years, Betsy planned to be a medical missionary and hand surgeon. She graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Occupational Therapy and passed her boards soon after. While in college, Betsy met and married David, and together they received extensive training in biblical discipleship through their involvement with The Navigator’s Ministry. After starting a family, the priorities of children and ministry rose to the top of her agenda, and her dreams of becoming a surgeon slid to the back burner. She began to devote her life to the dual cause of discipleship and family life.
Betsy wrote Entrusted with a Child’s Heart in 1999 in response to the needs she saw in families as she and David counseled young parents just a few years behind them. Entrusted has been taught in hundreds of churches nationwide, been translated into several foreign languages, and has made its way around the world.
More recently, Betsy received her Masters in Biblical Studies from The Master’s University and is developing a new Bible Study program called Get the Word Out. Her passion for God’s Word, discipleship, and teaching biblical principles as they apply to family life has remained strong to this day.
One of the greatest blessings in Betsy’s life are her three grown children, their spouses, and ten grandchildren that keep her constantly in touch with every age and stage. So much better than anything she could have planned for her life.
John and Julie Southard have been married 25 years and have 5 children, 4 biological daughters and 1 adopted son. They live in Wheaton, IL where John is co-founder of Innovator Capital Management. The Southards are passionate about Entrusted and believe strongly in the biblical principles upon which it is based.
Bob Gunter recently retired from his role as Pastor for Family Ministries at the Moody Church in Chicago. His wife Linda has led women’s Precepts classes for both the Moody Church and Christian Heritage Academy. For years they have taught weekly on parenting, marriage and family matters, and provided counseling as requested and are a tremendous source of wisdom.
Prior to coming on staff at Moody Church, Bob served as General Counsel and Vice President for the Moody Bible Institute from 1998 to 2008 and prior to that he practiced law in the Seattle area for 27 years. The Gunters have two adult children and 7 grandchildren.
Jim Jodrey and his wife Brenda have served together in many ministry areas over the past 30 years. Jim has served on staff at 3 churches over the past 25 years where his pastoral responsibilities included finance, operations, stewardship, family ministries, campus management and in executive roles. He has also served on a few ministry boards – most recently 222 Foundation, church boards and Administer Justice, which provides Gospel centered legal aid and reconciliation services to the needy around the United States.
Jim and Brenda reside in the Barrington, Illinois area. They have two grown sons and five grandchildren. We count it a privilege to serve with our long-term friends Dave and Betsy who were mentors in our lives as we raised our boys to become Godly men.
Nancy has helped Betsy with Entrusted since the very first class taught back in 1999 when her children were just preschoolers. She shares Betsy's passion for strengthening families and has led several Entrusted groups over the years.
Nancy has been married to her husband Jim for 30 years and they have two grown children. They are active in their church and they own a business together.
Jen and Eric Freckman have been married for 18 years. Jen homeschools their 4 children (3 biological + 1 adopted) and they serve in Awana & Entrusted with a Child's Heart at their local church. They live in Inverness, IL where Eric works in Finance. Entrusted has had a huge impact on their parenting. There are many days when a verse from Entrusted memory work will pop into Jen's mind at just the moment she needs the encouragement or wisdom. Jen is passionate about helping young moms realize the precious & enormous ministry right inside their own home in being a mom.
Rob and Jen Stotz have been married for 30 years and have two daughters, a son-in-law, and a son in heaven. Having not grown up in a Christian home but desperate to raise her kids in a way that honored the Lord, Jen took her first Entrusted class in 2001. It blessed their family beyond what she ever hoped and informed so much of their family life that the Lord will still bring verses to mind that she realizes later were learned from the Entrusted study! It is still impacting them today as empty nesters..
She and Rob are both teachers at Harvest Christian Academy in Elgin, IL (she in preschool, he in high school), and Jen is passionate about helping this next generation of young moms find the same unchanging truths in Scripture that she was given years ago as they build their families for Christ. They continue to serve in their church's children's ministry, at their school, and any time the Lord gives them an opportunity to pour His love into kids and point them to Jesus.
Board of References
Dr. Erwin Lutzer is Pastor Emeritus (after 36 years as Senior Pastor) of The Moody Church in Chicago, award-winning author of more than 20 books, International Conference Speaker, and Featured speaker on three radio programs: The Moody Church Hour, Songs in the Night, and Running to Win.
"The ministry of Entrusted with a Child's Heart meets a great need in the lives of families. I have a deep appreciation for this material because of its scriptural sensitivity and practical wisdom. In a world that has lost its way, we must return to our families and teach parents how to care for 'the least of these.'"
David W. Jones has more than twenty years of ministry experience in a variety of contexts and roles. After helping to revitalize a dying church in suburban Detroit, he lectured overseas at Moffat College of Bible in Kijabe, Kenya. David then served as the associate editor of The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Crossway, 2001).
From 2001 to 2010, David served as a pastor at Harvest Bible Chapel where he founded the Harvest Training Center—an eight-month residency program for church planters. In 2010, David became the senior pastor of the Village Church of Barrington.
David is a graduate of Midwestern Baptist College (1987) and Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (1996). He also did doctoral work at Trinity. David combines a passion for the in-depth study of Scripture with a shepherd’s heart.
David and Helen have been married for twenty-four years. They have three sons. The Jones family gives glory to God for His guidance, provision and protection through the years.
"Transitioning to a new role can be difficult. You do not always know what is expected of you and you are often unsure of yourself. In such situations, it helps to have an experienced hand beside you, providing encouragement and imparting wisdom. That is what Entrusted with a Child’s Heart does for parents. It is a robustly biblical approach to parenting, full of practical application and personal examples. Author Betsy Corning has opened her home to the rest of us and let us come in for a look. What we see is not a perfect home, but a godly one—a home where parents intentionally disciple their children to become mature adults who love Christ. Our church offers Entrusted with a Child’s Heart and I cannot think of a better resource. I know many people who have taken the study multiple times in order to absorb it all and put it into practice. I highly recommend this study!"
Scott Phelps is Executive Director of the Abstinence & Marriage Education Partnership in Chicago and Co-Founder of the National Abstinence Education Association in Washington, D.C. A&M Partnership exists to ensure that every teenager in the country has the opportunity to hear a clearly reasoned, positive presentation on the benefits of abstinence until marriage and instruction on preparing for a healthy future marriage. A&M provides training and curriculum for parents, pastors, and educators.
Carrie Phelps has homeschooled each of the couple’s four children. Her passion is to teach biblical worldview and writing classes for groups of homeschool students. Along with two friends, Carrie has been teaching a weekly Good News Club (GNC), at the local elementary school for the past ten years. She also mentors many of the former GNC students at the local middle school in an after school club each week.
Scott and his wife Carrie have four children and reside near Chicago.
"There is no greater responsibility for parents than to encourage, guide, and equip their children toward a genuine relationship with Jesus Christ and to instill in them a love for biblical truth. It is hard to imagine a time in which this mission was more necessary than it is today and we are grateful that Entrusted Ministries is fully dedicated to this critical work." One generation shall praise Your works to another, and shall declare Your mighty acts. – Psalm 145:4
Mission & Vision
To glorify God by serving and supporting the global Body of Christ through biblical teaching, discipleship, leadership training, benevolence and counsel; edifying and exhorting believers to live by biblical convictions and to strive for excellence in their Christian lives through the study, exposition and application of God's Word
To build and strengthen the Body of Christ by the authority of God's Word—family by family, generation after generation
Statement of Faith
We believe in the only true God—John 17:3, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit—Matthew 28:19-20. He created all things (Revelation 4:11) and upholds all things by the Word of His power—Hebrews 1:3. In Him we live and move and have our being—Acts 17:28. He is a God of truth and without iniquity; He is just and right—Deuteronomy 32:4, and He shall judge the world—Psalm 9:8. We believe that the Godhead eternally exists in three persons: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. These three are one God, having precisely the same nature, attributes and perfections, and are worthy of precisely the same homage, confidence, and obedience—Mark 12:29; John 1:1-4; Matthew 28:19-20; Acts 4:3-4.
We believe in the only true God—John 17:3, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit—Matthew 28:19-20. He created all things (Revelation 4:11) and upholds all things by the Word of His power—Hebrews 1:3. In Him we live and move and have our being—Acts 17:28. He is a God of truth and without iniquity; He is just and right—Deuteronomy 32:4, and He shall judge the world—Psalm 9:8. We believe that the Godhead eternally exists in three persons: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. These three are one God, having precisely the same nature, attributes and perfections, and are worthy of precisely the same homage, confidence, and obedience—Mark 12:29; John 1:1-4; Matthew 28:19-20; Acts 4:3-4.
We believe in the total deity of the Lord Jesus Christ. We believe He is the manifestation of God in the flesh. We believe He was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. We believe Him to be true God and true man—John 1:1, 1:14, 1:18; John 14:8-9; 1Timothy 3:16.
We believe the Scriptures of the Old Testament and New Testament are verbally inspired by God and inerrant in their original writings. We believe the sixty-six books of the Old Testament and the New Testament are God’s complete and sufficient revelation and therefore carry God’s authority for the total well being of mankind—Psalm 119:97-104; Psalm 119:160; Matthew 5:18; John 5:46-47; John 10:35; 2 Timothy 3:15-16.
We believe man was created in innocence under the law of his Maker, but by voluntarily transgressing, fell from his sinless and happy state. Consequently, all mankind is sinful. All people are sinners not only by inheritance, but also by their own choice and therefore are under just condemnation without defense or excuse. We believe that without exception every man and every woman is totally depraved and needs a Savior—Genesis 3:1-6; Romans 3:10-19; Romans 1:18, Romans 1:32.
We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, as a representative and substitutionary sacrifice. We believe that each person who by faith receives Him as personal Savior is justified on the basis of Jesus Christ's shed blood on Calvary. Each person who receives Christ as personal Savior is born again of the Holy Spirit and thereby becomes eternally secure as a child of God. We believe the Holy Spirit baptizes each believing person into the body of Christ at the moment of salvation and that there is no second baptism of the Holy Spirit—Romans 8:37-39; 2 Corinthians 5:21; 1 Corinthians 12:13.
We believe in the resurrection of the crucified body of our Lord Jesus Christ, His ascension into heaven and His present life for us as High Priest and Advocate—Acts 1:3; Acts 1:9; Hebrews 7:25-26.
We believe in the blessed hope: the personal, premillennial return of the Lord Jesus Christ. His return has a vital bearing on the personal life and service of the believer—1 Thessalonians 4:13-18. We believe in the bodily resurrection of both the saved and the lost. The saved are raised to eternal, conscious bliss in heaven—Matthew 25:34; John 14:2; 2 Corinthians 5:1; Revelation 2:7. The lost are raised to eternal torment in hell in conscious separation from God—Matthew 8:12; Matthew 10:28; Matthew 13:49-50; Mark 9:47-48; Luke 12:5; Revelation 21:8.
Upon accepting the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior, a believer becomes part of His body, which is the church. There is one church universal, composed of all those throughout the world who acknowledge Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. The Scriptures command believers to gather in order to devote themselves to worship, prayer, teaching of the Word, observance of the ordinances (baptism and communion), fellowship, service to the body through the development and use of talents and gifts, and outreach to the world in fulfillment of the command of Christ to make disciples of all believers—Ephesians 5:23; Romans 12:1; Acts 2:42-46; 1 Corinthians 14:26; Matthew 28:18-20. Wherever God's people meet regularly in obedience to this command, there is the local expression of the church under the oversight of elders and other supportive leadership. The church's members are to work together in love and unity, intent on the ultimate purpose of glorifying Christ—Ephesians 4:16.
Realizing that the cause of Christ extends beyond any one local fellowship, we commit ourselves to an ongoing ministry of extending the call of Christ to make disciples around the world—Matthew 28:19-20.
History of Entrusted
How did Entrusted Ministries begin? Over 25 years ago, Dave and Betsy Corning were part of a church-planting team in the northwest suburbs of Chicago. From the earliest point, it was clear that a foundation of strong families would be necessary if this young, fledgling church was going to grow and remain healthy. As they counseled with couples, Dave and Betsy observed a common theme: parents who had not been parented were trying to raise children “on their own understanding” (Proverbs 3:5-6) . They lacked an understanding of the abundance of instruction which the Bible provides regarding marriage, parenting, and family life.
When much counsel was being directed toward families in crisis, a prayer was planted in Betsy’s heart for a way to reach and teach God’s biblical plan for families. Her hope and prayer was to find a way to intervene—providing help and guidance to all who would seek it—years before they would reach the point of crisis.
Twelve years later, when Dave and Betsy were parenting four teens themselves, the church had begun a new moms’ ministry for which Betsy was asked to write the curriculum. Having had years of Bible training with the Navigators Ministry, a degree in Occupational Therapy, much experience in church leadership, (and as an “older woman”), Betsy felt as if her prayer for families was being answered. She recognized this vision as a calling from the Lord, and so the ministry of Entrusted with a Child’s Heart was born. This biblical study in parenting has since been taught to thousands of women (and now also to couples) not only in the Chicagoland area but around the world.
In 2007 Entrusted Ministries became its own 501c3 (not-for-profit) ministry whose goal is to support churches as they minister to the families God has entrusted to their care. Entrusted with a Child’s Heart provides biblical counsel as well as a community of encouragement to mothers at all stages raising children of all ages.
Today the family is facing greater challenges than ever before as even its very definition is being questioned. Entrusted endeavors to fight for the integrity and survival of the family. This study is not based on technique or opinion. Rather, it clearly and methodically lays out God’s design from His Word—week by week, with practical application to everyday life.
