Summer Fun!

This summer has been a whirlwind of excitement at our GLC churches! We asked our congregations to share the amazing summer fun activities they’ve been enjoying, along with some pictures and they really delivered! From thrilling outdoor adventures to creative community events, the stories are very creative and uplifting.

Here are just a few highlights from some of our incredible churches:

Evangelical Covenant Church of Whitehall, MI:

Amy Love, Office Administrator says, “We have had a busy and fruitful summer so far! All praise to HIM!”

In June we had our Work Camp week where we renovated and repaired houses for families in need. Check out our YouTube video.
In July we handed out freeze pops and t-shirts in our July 4^th
We just wrapped up our Mega Sports Camp week (VBS). Check out our YouTube video.
We have repaired and/or donated vehicles for the needy and provided funds for folks behind on their bills. Here is one of our vehicle donations.
We also have outdoor worship on our lawn on the last Sunday of May, June, July with lunch that follows.
Our August outdoor worship will be combined with our church picnic and baptism at the farm of one of our members. Trying something new with this one….we’ll see how it goes.
Our Youth groups have been meeting weekly for activities and devotionals throughout the summer as well and they also have Sunday morning small groups during our 9am services.
God is so good!

Saranac Community Church, Saranac, MI

July 6: All Church Picnic
July 13: Ice Cream Social
July 18-19: We have a group traveling to City Covenant Church in Detroit to participate in the installation of their new pastor and help with the community lunch.
Aug 2: The first Saturday of the month, the men have a “Men’s Breakfast” that is open to the Saranac community.

Mission Covenant Church, Sugar Grove, PA

Paula Morningstar, the Church’s Office Assistant shared:

“Something our church has done the past 2 years is what we call our Backyard Bash. This is our way of doing Vacation Bible School. We have a free picnic lunch and then Bible school activities following lunch, one Sunday a month for May, June, July and August. It has been a success for our church and lots of fun. If the weather is bad, we have it all inside, otherwise we use our big backyard! This year our theme was Gone Fishing, based on Mark 1:17. We came up with some of our own crafts, games and we even have science experiments. We get lots of help and it’s fun for the whole family.”

Another thing we’ve done the past few years is called Back to School in Our Backyard. This is a community outreach event where we give out school supplies to anyone and everyone in our area. The first 2 years we had it in the town park, but last year we decided to have it at our church, so people could come and see more about our church and where we’re located, since we are rural. The flyer gets passed out all over the community. We ask for donations of any school supplies people would like to contribute and pass out everything from backpacks & lunch boxes to crayons, markers and notebooks. We are so grateful to our church members who donate so much to help many in need.”

Mosaic Covenant Church of Grand Rapids, MI

There have been two cookouts so far this summer and have another coming up in August. There are always a lot of photos to check out on their Facebook page.

Noah Filipiak, lead pastor at Mosaic, says “We do these as outreaches to our immediate neighbors and it’s been a great way to meet new people. Many of our new believers have come from cookouts! We do 5 cookouts a year: on our 1-year anniversary in April, once-a-month in the summer, and one for our fall kickoff. One of our first people who accepted Christ and was baptized at Mosaic, Jon, is our primary grill master. He/we go all out with turkey knuckles and ribs, along with the standard grilling options. Jon used to live across the street from our Sunday location and that’s how we met. I invited him to wheel his grill over and cook for the neighborhood, with us buying the groceries, and he said yes! The rest is history.”

Keystone Covenant Church, Pittsburgh, PA

Pastor Tim Smith, founder of Center of Life, has had a very busy and fun filled summer. Their mission is to provide families and youth with the life skills, education, training, and resources necessary to be strong and to make their communities strong. The vision is to empower and equip families to bring economic revitalization to their communities. With a summer concert series, a basketball league, tie dye and other events – it’s hard to find time to fit it all in!