When God is in the change, what is next is good, different and absolutely necessary.

June and July are months of transition for the Timm household. A marriage will do that. From the moment I write this, we are less than 5 days from Danielle’s wedding. On that day, our lives will change. I finally get someone with testosterone at family gatherings, and we get to share our daughter with another family as well. While giving your daughter away is a rather symbolic part of the wedding ceremony… it is a reminder to all parents, there are transitions in life that are coming.

Our daughter met a wonderful Christian young man. We are thrilled that they are beginning their own home together. Not as thrilled that they are living in Ohio to begin that life. God is providing for them in ways, just like he provided for Denise and me when we started out (over 30 years ago now…) This transition is necessary – we raised her knowing and teaching her that this part of life would come. It is good. God is in it and we are gaining a wonderful son-in-law. And it will bring something better – grand kids someday (not this year... but someday soon.)

And when God is in the change, what’s next is good, different and necessary.

In July, Michael Dafoe, our Student Minister for the past 7 years, will be moving into a new ministry in Crawfordsville, IN. His last Sunday with us will by July 17th. God has been in the midst of this transition in his life, and in our ministry. God has grown Michael in ability and desire since coming to Macomb. Over the years, he has stepped up to lead lots of various ministries here… from “all church” events, to food packing outreaches and working with our management team in building and grounds. This move for him will allow Michael to serve God in new ways. He will be able to step into a role he is looking forward to. A role God has grown him for. We will miss him, and we should. But this move will be great for him.

Here at MCC, the search and leadership team are recommending Garrett Nimmo as our next Student Minister. Garrett is a recent graduate of Cornerstone College in Grand Rapids, and has a real passion to work with teens. (You’ll get a chance to meet him in the next few weeks. Just a heads up, he is a bit younger than Michael and… shorter.) While we may miss the Dafoe’s, this move will allow them to grow, and allow us to grow to love someone new as they work with our students. The timing over the summer could not be better for us. God has been evident in this.

And when God is in the change, it is good, different and absolutely necessary.

Changed People Reaching People for Christ

In July, we will begin teaching through a series on our mission and 3 core biblical purposes. Over a year ago, God impressed upon our leadership that these needed to be at the core of everything we do. We are changed people reaching people for Christ. We will go about doing this by making God known, developing disciples and having a strategic go into our community and world.

Focusing on these objectives, causes some things to change. But God is leading us to these things. And when God is in the change, what’s next is good, different and necessary.

Making God Known

Developing Disciples

A Strategic Go

At MCC, we will focus even harder this fall on developing disciples. That development for our children and teens begins with our core programming on Sunday. For adults, it begins with our LIFE groups and continues into our training for ministries and leadership. When Jesus was on earth, his core command to us was to make disciples. If you were to ask him what the plan was to reach the ends of the world, he would have said – make disciples. If you want to know the key to life change – it is to make disciples. This fall, everyone should be involved with developing disciples. You should be developing, and we should be helping others develop too.

In outreach, we are looking at starting new practices to reach into our community. Instead of VBS, this year we will offer Family Camp on two Saturdays in August. We will meet offsite – in our local community. It is a way for us to gather, learn together and involve our neighbors in what God is doing in our world. We will also continue to develop relationships with cities and schools and our local first responders… to reach out to them and help where we are needed. These changes are part of reaching our ever-changing culture. They are part of where God is leading us.

When God is in the change, what’s next is good, different and absolutely necessary.

All this comes, as we seek to make God known. We are not just promoting a lifestyle change. Jesus calls us to be more than polite, moral and conservative. He calls us into a relationship with Him. People can’t be in a relationship with someone they don’t know. As a church, we will continue to teach about God, to speak his name, to worship him boldly, to take worship services beyond our walls and into the community, to support ministries that serve prisoners, unwed mothers, college students and uneducated tribal boys on the other side of the world. What the world needs is not a dose of common sense (though that is sorely lacking). What the world needs is God: his help, his message, his way of life. Those ministries that lead people there, we will get behind and add even more support.

Life changes… when God is in the change, what comes next will be different – but it will be good, better, and necessary. Our world is changing. Even if we do not like the changes, we recognize that we must change how we do things if we want our new world to hear the message that will never change.

And as much as I might imagine going back to the family of four with two pig-tailed girls tumbling through my backyard… God has moved us into a new stage of life. Last night, the girls who made us homemade pottery in the shapes of “supposed” frogs and alligators beat us for the first time at Euchre. (I think they cheated… they get that from their mom.) God has grown them into two incredible, godly, young women. He is using them now to grow our family (this week, by one 24-year-old husband-to-be). And preparing us (and them) for new challenges.

Because, when God is in the change, what’s next is different, better and absolutely necessary.

~ Andy