Kaster led the church for the next four years, and it grew steadily. The church continued Club 3:16, began a visitation program in Poe Mill Village, and started carpooling students from Bob Jones University, who were a majority of the members at this time. Having graduated from Bob Jones University earlier in the year, Kaster resigned from Faith in August 1975. He and his wife moved to Sweetser, Indiana where they planted another Faith Baptist Church. For a short time following Kaster’s resignation, Robert Wolf became the pastor. Few records remain from his eighteen-month tenure; and in June 1977, Wolf also resigned. Soon, Faith was not only without a pastor but also struggling financially. Membership had significantly declined and the few families that remained struggled to support even the basic needs of the church.

In late summer 1977, John Vaughn was invited to preach at Faith Baptist Church. Vaughn was born in Kentucky in 1948. His father was a Methodist preacher, and his family grew up attending church. At Cumberland College he met Brenda Lyttle, and at the end of their sophomore year they were married. Within a few years, the Vaughns had two children and very little money. Pastor Vaughn joined the Air Force as an aircraft mechanic, hoping to relieve their financial need. Though his new income was welcome, he was soon sent to Korea alone, where he spent thirteen months at Kunsan AFB. Within six months of his return, he received orders for Thailand, where he spent another seven months. While in Thailand, he accepted Christ at a Bible study in a missionary’s home. Soon afterward, he felt God calling him to preach. In 1975, having been discharged from the Air Force, he moved his family to Greenville and enrolled at Bob Jones University.

In early October, he was present for a church business meeting at Faith, at which the congregation discussed whether or not to disband. With no pastor, and unable to pay its bills, Faith was ready to close and give its property back to Boulevard Baptist Church. When Vaughn volunteered to help stabilize the church, the deacons asked him to candidate, and on 15 October 1977, he was called as pastor. Including the Vaughns, membership at Faith was forty-five people. By spring 1978, attendance was again above one hundred people, and Faith’s small auditorium was crowded. When the church installed speakers outside the building to reach overflow crowds, many people sat outside and listened to the message from the hood of their car.