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ted, so we started talking, and it was very clear that God was in it,” Trascritti recalled. “Not many people leave a state convention position to go to a small church, but we came to Beacon Church.” Building on a New Foundation In February 2023, the Trascrittis returned to Cincinnati to lead Beacon. On their first Sunday, the 50 people in the congregation were mostly octogenarians. Pastor Renner had started a revitalization process with the church during his five years there. The church was originally known as First Baptist Church of Dent. Under Renner’s leadership, it was renamed Beacon of Christ Church. “They agreed when he (Renner) came that they would do certain things for revitalization,” said Trascritti. “They agreed to change the name. They agreed to restructure some things. Some of the sacred cows that churches hold on to, they were willing to give up.” However, when Renner initiated the revitalization pro- cess, not all members agreed, and some left the church. “I’m just going to say this. He did some things I could have never done,” Trascritti remarked. “And God used his personality, and God used his abilities to get a great head start. He cleared the land and planted some seeds. I got to water and began to see some harvest. He’s an unsung hero.” Building on the foundation that Renner laid, Fran tackled a pervasive belief that church revitalization is a one-and- done process. “When people say we’re going through revitalization, they feel like we’ve been revitalized,” Trascritti noted. “I would challenge every church to look back at itself every few years and say, ‘Okay, where are we on this continuum? Are we growing? Are we plateaued? Are we declining? It’s like a maintenance thing. It’s like changing your oil in a car. It’s needed once in a while. Check yourself out and make sure that everything is functioning properly.” Beacon was revitalizing, but needed to continue rebuild- ing and reaching out to its community. “The biggest emphasis for us has been missions, evan- gelism, and discipleship,” he said. “We’ve recaptured the Beacon is growing and is slowly becoming a younger church as families with children join the fellowship. At- tendance has increased to 80-90 people and sometimes reaches 100. Since July 1, 2025, 10 new believers have been baptized. Activities such as Kids’ Camp (VBS) in the summer, an Egg-a-Palooza Easter event in the spring, and a Can- dy-Palooza event in the fall are growing connections in the community. heart for missions.” Seeing God at Work
Events like Egg-a-Palooza draw families to Beacon Church.
The church is also reaching out overseas. “So we took SCBO’s partnership with Florida seriously and connected with One More Child, a partner ministry there,” he said. The partnership opened the door to multiple church mis- sion trips to Costa Rica with One More Child. “It’s (Costa Rica) gorgeous, and the poverty is real, and the need for the gospel is huge,” he noted. Finding Hope in Revitalization The revitalization/rebuilding of any church is a slow process. Trascitti has a few pointers for pastors whose churches need revitalization or are currently revitalizing. “There’s always hope. Jesus is still on the throne, even if it’s discouraging. There’s hope for the church. God gets the glory when a church reaches one person, but we always want to see more. The second is, I would pray for breakthroughs -- breakthroughs in the congregation, breakthroughs in their leadership.” SCBO has resources for replanting, revitalization, and fostering. Visit https://scbo.org/revitalize for more infor- mation.”
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