This past week I had the privilege of connecting in a variety of settings and celebrating the amazing ways in which God is working in and through our West Michigan District team.Yesterday, October 25, I dropped in at Lowell – Ignite in time to join the team and leader Jim Mora for prayer before heading on to Belding to worship with the two-year-old congregation at Encounter. Pastor Jim & Rachel Bowen have done a terrific job of assembling a team to impact Belding with the love of Christ. Jim was home with the flu bug but the team carried on admirably without him. (the top left picture is with Pastor Jim at their recent baptism.)
From Belding to Hudsonville where it was 20 years ago this month that Wes & Claudia Dupin stepped out in faith to plant Daybreak. They’ve been celebrating this milestone all mont
h and are taking another step of faith to begin this 21st year of ministry by launching a new site called Daybreak – Downtown. It was fun to connect for lunch with Wes, Claudia, Mark Courtney and Mary Merrill to hear their stories of the early days and to rejoice in the thousands of lives touched for eternity. Daybreak continues to break ground with innovative, risk-taking, life-changing ministry that inspires the rest of us to keep stretching. Congratulations, Daybreak!Sunday afternoon I dropped in on a gathering of Butanese immigrants that are being ministered to by a team from Kentwood Community Church. How exciting to see the mission fields that God is bringing to our neighborhoods!
I also received a wonderful praise report from Frontline Church where Pastor Brian Blum and the team had just baptized 38 new believers! God is at work changing lives!
Sunday evening I worshiped with the team at Greenhouse. It was a significant night in the life of this congregation as Pastor Jason Grate announced that he and Holly had accepted a new ministry assignment in Washington, D.C. I’m deeply grateful for the investment that Jason & Holly have made in the life of this church plant and excited to see the leadership that God has raised up to lead Greenhouse in this next season.
This past weekend was the first Nitrogren Gathering hosted by Pastor Phil Struckmeyer, our district director of Evangelism and Church Growth. More than 20 prospective planters walked through a day and a half preview of church planting which included site visits to Lowell – Impact, Lowell – Ignite, Portland – Epic and Grand Rapids – City Life. This is an event designed to help people who are exploring the possibility of signing on for the ministry adventure of a lifetime. The next of these preview events is scheduled for January 22-23. If you have potential planters, please contact our office so that we can make sure they receive an invitation.
Wednesday, October 21, Sherry and I hosted our new pastors for an orientation session at the district office. It was good to connect with Pastor Steve Bean (Sturgis), Pastor David Kingsbury (Eaton Rapids) and Pastor Andy Trowbridge (Hastings – Grace). These leaders are off and running in their new assignments and we’re grateful for God’s provision to these churches!
Dr. Jim Dunn, General Director of Spiritual Formation, and Dr. Phil Stevenson, General Director of Evangelism and Church Growth, were our special guests for the Intentionally Missional Church seminar last Thursday at Kentwood Community Church. Thirty pastors and lay leaders took advantage of this leadership development opportunity. Pastors of our small and mid-size churches remarked on how applicable the concepts were for their respective ministry contexts.
You have another leadership development opportunity coming up next week with Rev. Paul James. Rev. James serves as District Superintendent of the Eastern New York – New England District. Prior to this new appointment, Paul led three turnaround churches, two of which broke the 400 barrier, and he also planted a church in Anderson, South Carolina. Pastor Paul has a great life story of the priority of personal leadership growth preceding ministry responsibility growth. He is a wonderful encourager and I’m confident that you’ll find this two-hour seminar well worth your investment.
I’ll be attending the National Conference in New Zealand and a brief meeting in Australia (October 27-Nov. 6) on behalf of Global Partners, so Rev. Mike Black will be your facilitator in each of the four sites where we’ll be offering this learning event.
Pastors in the Jackson/Lansing Zone are invited to hear Pastor Paul James at Lansing - Willow Community on Tuesday morning, November 3, from 9-11 a.m. Pastors in the Battle Creek- Kalamazoo Zone are invited to meet at Battle Creek – First Wesleyan on Tuesday afternoon, 1-3 p.m.
On Wednesday, November 4, Grand Rapids Zone pastors are invited to meet at Kentwood Community Church from 9-11 a.m. and pastors from the Lakeshore Zone are invited to meet with Pastor Paul at Holland – Central Wesleyan from 1-3 p.m.
I’m also looking forward to our time together on Monday evening, November 9, at West Berlin Wesleyan Church near Lake Odessa for the Pastor Appreciation BBQ. Rev. Christy Lipscomb and Rev. Chad McCallum, our fearless Assistant District Superintendents, have assured me that this will be an evening to remember. I’ll have to admit I was just a little nervous when I heard that Chad was in charge of entertainment again this year. See you there!
Your servant in Christ,
Mark Gorveatte
West Michigan District Superintendent
P.S. If you're one of the last pastors to submit your 1-page action plan for this year's ministry, you have just 5 more days before we make our final report to Dr. Lyon. If you need assistance with this, please call Laurie at the district office.
