Crockpots, Not Microwaves

“Empower us, as Your servants, to speak the word of God freely and courageously.  Stretch out Your Hand of Power through us…”

As they prayed the earth shook beneath them, causing the building they were in to tremble. Each one of them was filled with the Holy Spirit, and they proclaimed the word of God with unrestrained boldness.

All the believers were one in mind and heart. Selfishness was not a part of their community, for they shared everything they had with one another.

- the Early Church’s prayer in Acts 4:29-32

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Online Worship Experience

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BONUS Edition

Below is the BONUS Edition of this week's message, #CrockpotsNotMicrowaves!

Why a Bonus Edition?

Basically a lot of crazy stuff went down in-the-moment thanks to Mother Nature during the 11:15am Outdoor Worship Experience at Saginaw Campus — the first part of the video is me explaining what all happened.

Following my video explanation is the pixelated, sometimes-hard-to-see cameraphone footage of what became my impromptu message that goes in a bunch of new and wild directions!

Photo Essay: One Church in Two Locations

Photo Essay: 707 Returns After One Year of COVID

Photo Essay: Easter Weekend 2021 at Life Church

1,000+ Guests.

40 Volunteers.

20 New Christ Followers.

Two Life Church Campuses.

One Risen Carpenter-King.

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EASTER SUNDAY
MIDLAND CAMPUS

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EASTER SUNDAY
SAGINAW CAMPUS

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Photo Essay: Palm Sunday 2021

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Happy 8th Birthday, Life Church

““I will build my church — and the power of death will not be able to overpower it!””

— Jesus in Matthew 16:18 (TPT)

8 years ago today, my family took a deep breath and cannonballed into the unknown by launching weekly worship experiences... the birth of the church we love!

Just like childbirth it was messy, scary, and even a little bloody... yet what emerged is beautiful and bringing Life to the Great Lakes Bay Region.

We started by renting theater and classroom space at Saginaw Valley State University. 

It was a herculean task setting up and tearing down our portable church environments every week, but we got it done (even in Michigan winter!).

When you start something new completely from scratch, EVERYTHING is HARD... but it's worth it.

For the past 8 years, we've lifted up Jesus, inspired our region, and seen lives transformed by God's amazing love.

To date, we've seen two hundred and eighty-eight people baptized at Life Church -- Holy Wow!

Every number has a name, every name has a story, and every story matters to God.

I CANNOT WAIT to see what our future days bring us as we continue to reach the lost at any cost!

Photo Essay: Nashville Artist Erskin Anavitarte at Life Church's Campuses in Midland + Saginaw

Introducing Anthony Bowman

It is an honor and privilege to welcome Anthony Bowman and his amazing family to our Life Church staff team!

With nearly twelve years of worship leading experience in local churches plus studies at Cincinnati Christian University, Anthony is a down-to-earth guy with an irresistible passion for Christ.

Anthony will lead our Band, oversee all aspects of Worship Production at our Midland and Saginaw campuses as well as our Central Operations volunteers during weekday office hours.

He can play just about any instrument you put in front of him: guitar, bass, piano, drums, ukelele, mandolin, and even a little bit of banjo (although that fifth string trips him up)!

Anthony and his wife Grace are celebrating 10 years of marriage this September as they raise three amazing kiddo's: Iraela, Ember and Cyrus.

Please help us welcome Anthony on his first official morning with us on Sunday, March 28th!

Everyone
wants to belong.

You belong here.

At Life Church, we’re not here to judge or tear anyone down.

Our church exists to build people up with the hope and love of God.

You should know:
No matter who you are or where you’ve been, you’re welcome here!

As God has blessed our church family with tremendous growth in such a short amount of time, we’ve learned that with an increase of people calling Life Church ‘home’ comes an increase in the complexity with improving our internal ministry systems to serve more people.

Making It Better

Over the past couple of months, Life Church has made strong internal improvements and changes to ensure greater ministry health going forward.

One example is Life Church’s new Financial Systems overseen by Sommerville & Associates, P.C. and pending accreditation with the ECFA.

We believe in transparency.

Our robust new financial systems serve to provide donors with an increased sense of comfort and trust as we continue loving and serving our region in Jesus’ Name.

Honor & Integrity

Another example is in the area of ministry staffing.

We have revamped all our internal policies and procedures to create a positive, gospel-centered work environment with clear, written expectations and accountability for all ministry staff including:

• a Character Clause on Biblical Qualifications for Staff: It is a privilege to serve in the local church and we will be held accountable.

• a revised Integrity Clause for Post-Employment Activities: For a period of twelve months, both paid and unpaid staff will walk in integrity and be above reproach by not serving in a similar church role within 90 driving miles of any Life Church campus. Lacking integrity in this area of biblical leadership only serves to stir up division, confusion, and harm to the local church they just left and the larger Body of Christ.

• No Gossip Policy: Gossip is defined as sharing a problem or a negative with someone not in a position to fix it. Sharing a negative “up” to someone who can fix the situation is not gossip; that is leadership integrity and having your teammate’s back! Gossip will not be tolerated and can lead to termination of employment.

• Pro-Team Policy: In all public and private communications (in person, groups, social media, etc), all staff and their spouses are expected to reflect and represent the radical love of Jesus Christ, to always believe the best and not assume the worst about people, and to represent Life Church and its employees and church family with honor and integrity.

COVID SAFETY PROTOCOLS

In cooperation with Midland Center for the Arts, our 9:30am Midland Campus worship gatherings on Sundays will include the following safety protocols:

• 100% Face Masks for everyone at all times inside the building
  

• Social-distanced seating in the theater (with 400 seats to choose from, this is easy to do!)
  

• All Church Volunteers and Guests will CHECK-IN via Digital Kiosks as they arrive & enter the Front Lobby.

  In the event of COVID contact, Digital Check-Ins will allow our team to conduct Contact Tracing.

Thank you all for understanding, cooperating, and loving thy neighbor.

We're excited for this coming Sunday at 9:30am and we believe that the best is yet to come!

#YouBelongHere #SafetyFirst