Deuteronomy 7:9
“Know therefore that the LORD your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations”
I once was a church planter, and now I am a pastor. Technically, I was both from the beginning, but the transition in my heart has been subtle and vital to my sense of what God has done in and through ReCAST Church here in Mattawan, Michigan. I loved the risk and the excitement, and the unknowns of church planting early on. And there was a time when I wondered if I wasn’t just meant to go start churches all over the place.
But God settled me into “a long obedience in the same direction” (A phrase I adopted from Eugene Peterson). And the fruit have been things I could not plan, engineer, or even imagine. Next month will be 14 years since ReCAST held our first services in a basement in a neighborhood north of Mattawan.
We were just several couples, relatively close in age. Our kids were all around the same age. And we had no idea if God was going to draw more people to the Word and the good news expressed in our little gathering.
Our church nursery is busy. We have over 100 kids on a regular basis in our Sunday morning kids program. And we have people attending who represent every generation.
I don’t know how to draw people together. I have not taken any marketing or sociology classes. I did take a preaching class and got a solid B-. I took intro to Psychology in college and can’t remember a thing from that.
The reason for this blog is to point with deep gratitude to the work GOD has done through the Word and the gospel to forge a multigenerational ministry at ReCAST. For a while I wondered if we would get any older families, and then for a while the question was “Are we going to see younger families?” Now that my family has grown into one of the older families, we can look back and see his faithfulness to every generation.
He is the faithful God. He keeps his covenant with His people. And I have been granted a beautiful glimpse of the way He forges a church through his Word, through His gospel, and through His people.
Some photos from 2009: