Annual Celebration in Review

The Great Lakes Conference Annual Celebration at Thornapple Covenant Church April 21-22 was encouraging on many fronts: Pastors and lay leaders from churches across our conference experienced rich fellowship with one another over meals, in group settings, and in casual conversations; they prayed with and for one another; they worshiped together; they were encouraged by updates on how God is moving through recent church plants; they celebrated over 400 new conversions and dozens of baptisms reported by Conference churches in 2022; they heard accounts of how the Holy Spirit seems to be moving in a fresh way in and through our churches; they were given tools for increasing their missional traction and engaging their community in fruitful evangelism.

They heard our denominational President, Tammy Swanson-Draheim, underscore her call to prayer and invite us to a deeper discipleship in order to strengthen our walk with Jesus. Three pastors who serve GLC Churches –  Rebecca Homan, Family Pastor at Covenant Community Church in Fairfield, OH; Josh Hinken, Pastor of High School & Young Adults at First Covenant Church in Grand Rapids, MI; and Matt Ness, Pastor of One (Covenant) Church in Louisville, KY – were recognized and affirmed as they move forward to be ordained at the upcoming denominational Annual Meeting (Gather ’23) in Anaheim, CA this coming June.

Thanks to all the delegates from 47 of our churches for representing your respective congregations. And thanks to Thornapple Covenant Church for three very full days of splendid hospitality and sacrificial service to make it possible for both on-line and in-person participation.