2025 Year-in-Review & Vision for 2026

Dear Church Family,

A Year of Extraordinary Blessing

As I reflect on 2025, I’m overwhelmed with gratitude for God’s faithfulness to our church family. This has been a year of remarkable growth and significant milestones that reveal the Lord’s hand at work among us.

After two and a half years of careful prayer, study, and preparation, we ordained our first elders. This wasn’t just a procedural step; it was a return to the biblical pattern of shared spiritual leadership that will help shepherd our growing flock for years to come.

We completed a two-year process of bringing Mikel Bowen on board as our Family Ministry Director. Mikel’s vision and heart for families across all generations has already begun bearing fruit in ways we’re only beginning to see.

We took a step of faith in welcoming Jonathan Wilson to lead our college outreach ministry. This gifted young man has brought fresh energy and strategic thinking to reaching the college students in the Valley — a mission field sitting right in our backyard.

We had the joy of welcoming home the Richardson missionary family, providing them a home base for their six-month stateside assignment. Hosting them reminded us that our support for missions isn’t just financial — it’s deeply relational and personal.

But perhaps the most visible sign of God’s blessing has been our continued, astounding growth. We’re averaging about 230 people this fall — a record for our church. To put this in perspective: if we were in the Spokane or Coeur d’Alene metro area, we’d be considered a megachurch. But here’s what matters most — we haven’t lost sight of who we are. We remain focused on being a family that loves the Word of God and disciples across generations.

Our ministry programs are thriving in ways that reflect this growth:

• AWANA has re-launched with rising numbers of both learners and volunteers.
• Student ministry is flourishing with genuine spiritual momentum.
• Young Adults are connecting and growing together.
• Sunday School participation is at its highest numbers ever.

This is no accident. This is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes.

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An Important Question: Club or Family?

Yet as I’ve prayed over this past year and looked toward 2026, the Lord has brought a critical question to my heart — one I believe He’s asking all of us to consider together.

Are we becoming a club, or are we remaining a family?

Let me explain what I mean.

A club is a place where people gather for a common interest. They show up, participate in programs, enjoy the benefits, and then leave. Clubs can be excellent at what they do. They can grow large. They can offer impressive services. But clubs are fundamentally transactional — you get what you came for, and that’s that.

A family is something entirely different. In a family, you know and are known. You care and are cared for. You invest in others and they invest in you. Families gather not just for programs, but for life together. They eat meals together, celebrate together, mourn together, and walk through the messiness of real life together.

The early church in Acts understood this distinction deeply. Luke tells us in Acts 2:42–47 that the believers “devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers… And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts.”

Notice the rhythm: church gatherings and home gatherings. Large corporate worship and small, intimate fellowship. Public teaching and personal discipleship. This wasn’t a club meeting once a week — this was a family doing life together in multiple contexts and settings.

Here’s the honest truth: we’re at a crossroads. Our growth is a gift from God, but growth alone doesn’t guarantee we’ll remain the family God has called us to be. We can add more services, expand our programs, fill more seats — and still become nothing more than a religious club where people attend but don’t truly connect.

Some of you have been here long enough to remember when the pastor knew everyone’s name, attended every life event, and could personally shepherd each family. That beautiful season served us well, but we’ve grown beyond it. I wish I could do all that… but I can’t anymore! We now face a choice that every growing church must make: will we simply scale up our programs, or will we multiply as families do?

I’ve watched with joy as new faces fill our sanctuary each week. I’ve also noticed something that concerns me — while people are coming through the front door, we’re not connecting with them as deeply as we must. Some visit for weeks or months and then quietly drift away. Others join our membership but struggle to find their place in our family. Still others bring energy and gifts from their previous church experience, but we haven’t created clear pathways for them to serve and connect.

This isn’t a criticism of anyone. This is simply what happens when a church grows beyond the relational capacity of informal connections. We need more than good intentions — we need systems that create space for the Holy Spirit to weave people into the fabric of our church family.

The question before us isn’t whether we should grow. God is clearly bringing people to us, and we celebrate that! The question is: how will we grow? Will we be satisfied with bigger attendance numbers, or will we pursue deeper family connections?

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Choosing Family: Our Vision for 2026

Brothers and sisters, I believe with all my heart that God is calling us to choose family. And that choice requires us to take specific, strategic steps in 2026.

Thursday Night Outreach Service: Reaching the Unreached

We’re launching a Thursday evening outreach service specifically designed for the shift workers of the Lewiston–Clarkston Valley.

Think about how many people in our community work schedules that make Sunday morning impossible — mill workers, first responders, retail employees, nurses, restaurant staff. These aren’t people who have rejected the church. They’re people whose work schedules have made church attendance practically impossible. We’re going to remove that barrier.

This Thursday service will have the same commitment to biblical preaching and genuine worship as our Sunday gathering, but it will be designed with the shift workers of the Valley in mind. We’ll use a core team of committed Sunday morning members to help launch and sustain this service, creating a welcoming environment where people can encounter Jesus regardless of their work schedule.

This isn’t about convenience for current members (though if your work schedule changes, you’re welcome to join us!). This is following the Great Commission. This is about being a family that doesn’t just invite people to join us where we are, but reaches out to them.

Home Groups: From Information to Transformation

We’re launching a church-wide home group ministry. Right now, we’re learning what works best for our church culture. Later in 2026, we’ll invite every member and regular attender to join a home group.

Why home groups? Because transformation happens in relationships. Our Sunday School classes do excellent work teaching God’s Word — and that will continue! Sunday morning teaching gives us biblical foundation. Home groups give us life transformation. In a home group, you can ask the hard questions. You can confess struggles. You can receive prayer from people who know your name and your story. You help each other apply Scripture to real life.

The early church did this naturally — they met in homes, broke bread together, prayed for one another. We need to recover this. Home groups are how we ensure that no one falls through the cracks. They’re how we move from being strangers to being household members.

The Biblical Foundation

Both of these initiatives flow directly from the Acts 2 model. The early church gathered in the temple courts (our corporate worship services) and in homes (you know, home groups). We’re not inventing something new. We’re returning to something ancient and biblical. We’re choosing to be the family of God rather than a religious club.

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The Cost of Choosing Family

I won’t mislead you — choosing family over club requires investment. It requires commitment. It requires resources.

Our 2026 budget reflects these priorities. You’ll see investments in supporting home groups, expanding our outreach efforts, and sustaining our staff team who will help implement and coordinate these ministries. These aren’t frivolous expenses — they’re strategic investments in people’s lives and eternal souls.

Choosing family also requires something money can’t buy: your participation. The Thursday service only succeeds if our core members help welcome and disciple new believers. Home groups only work if people join them. This vision requires all of us — not just our staff, not just our elders, but every member of this household — to embrace a family mindset.

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A Household, Not a Hotel

Ephesians 2:19 tells us we are “no longer strangers and aliens, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God.” A household is not a hotel. You don’t just check in, use the amenities, and check out. In a household, you have a room. You have a seat at the table. You have responsibilities. You have relationships. You belong.

That’s what we’re fighting for in 2026. We’re fighting to ensure that every person who walks through our doors has the opportunity to move from stranger to family member. We’re fighting against the cultural tide that tells us church is just another weekly activity, another program to consume. We’re proclaiming that the church is the household of God — a family bound together by the blood of Christ, indwelt by the same Spirit, committed to knowing and being known.

As I look back on 2025, I’m grateful for every blessing God has poured out on us. As I look forward to 2026, I’m excited — and yes, a bit overwhelmed — about the road ahead. Change is always uncomfortable, even when it’s good and necessary.

But I’m convinced this is God’s direction for us. I’m convinced that He’s not just calling us to be bigger, but to be deeper. Not just to have more programs, but to have more genuine, Spirit-filled community. Not just to be a club that people attend, but a family where people belong.

Will you join me in this vision? Will you pray for our Thursday service launch? Will you commit to being part of a small group? Will you open your heart to the new people God brings through our doors? Will you invest in relationships that might be messy and costly but are eternally significant?

The choice is before us: club or family. I believe we’ll choose family. Because that’s who we’ve always been, and by God’s grace, that’s who we’ll continue to be.

For the sake of His Kingdom and the glory of His name,

Pastor Dan