Hurdles to clear, a passion to share at Faithway Church

The Rev. Michael Sawicki has endured many changes at Faithway Church.

By RJ Walters, Editor

Michael Sawicki is the lead pastor of a of a congregation that meets at a resort, but that title might be a bit misleading to people unfamiliar with his story.

He leads worship at the Midland Resort and Convention Center, the home of Sunday services for the new church start Faithway Church, but the current location is just the latest remedy for yet another roadblock Sawicki has encountered.

In Saginaw, Sawicki started in a storefront that he called “relatively ineffective for ministry” before securing a building that was all but a done deal — until word arrived that “the township’s opinion was we could use it for anything except Sunday morning worship.”

Then he found a prime location at Delta College, but the Thursday before the first service was to be held the school’s board of directors told Sawicki the church couldn’t use it.

One transition led to another — with Sawicki losing several families along the way — and eventually a location nearly half an hour away with different demographics and new challenges was his landing spot.

Saginaw Bay District Superintendent Jeff Maxwell says the giving and ministry participation has exceeded the benchmarks for a church that has regular worship attendance of 55-60 people with roughly 85 people involved, but the worship attendance is far from the critical mass of 225-250 the Detroit Conference was hoping to see in the “post-launch” phase of ministry.

Sawicki likens the journey to a “rollercoaster.” He said it’s often difficult to balance the excitement of seeing new people serving the Lord and joining in Christian community with the reality that the church is “woefully inadequate to where I wanted to be at this point.”

“We’ve got a few small groups going and you’ve got people there who know nothing about the Bible, literally, and these are adults who are coming to their very first Bible study and exploring faith for the first time. They have so much enthusiasm, passion and excitement that they bring,” he said. “Yet on the other side of that there is the side of discouragement and just not being where I want to be. Psychologically it has much more to do with expectations over reality than it does reality.”

His ministry is 100 percent portable. Sawicki hauls a trailer to the resort each Sunday, setting up for worship starting at 8:45 a.m. and tearing equipment down roughly four hours later.

The Rev. Brad Kalajainen, lead pastor at Cornerstone Church in Caledonia, has been Sawicki’s coach through the ups and downs.

He said Sawicki is wonderful at networking — evident by his months spent engaging people at a kiosk at Fashion Square Mall in Saginaw — but there are a lot of variables that determine the success of a newly planted church.

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Saginaw Bay celebrates new District Superintendent

By Michael Desotell, Correspondent

Pastors and parishioners of the Saginaw Bay District, along with the friends and family of the Rev. Dr. Jeffery Maxwell gathered at Christ United Methodist Church in Bay City to celebrate the installation of Maxwell as District Superintendent.

The worship service highlighted the creativity and passion of the district, featuring the Trash Can Band from St. Luke’s UMC and the young streamer dancers from Faith Way Church.

Bishop Jonathan Keaton was on hand to offer words of encouragement to both Rev. Maxwell and the Saginaw Bay District. Keaton also explained to those in attendance how God led him to call Rev. Maxwell into this new ministry.

“Every now and then in this work of responsibility I have the privilege of extending personal calls myself. I do that when I look out and hear the words of superintendents and hear the words of laypersons and hear the words of these district committees on superintendency and what they need when I have to select a new superintendent,” he said.

“And in the midst of all of that information that came to me and looking out at the universe of people in the Detroit Annual Conference, the name by word, by deed, by prayer that came to me was Dr. Jeffery Maxwell.”

Keaton called attention to the many ministry areas in which Rev. Maxwell has served during his tenure and how they will enhance his service as a district superintendent. The Bishop also acknowledged the difficulty of making it through the trials of ministry alone and extended his thanks to God for the wonderful partner that Rev. Maxwell has in his wife, Jan.

Keaton also offered a few words of comfort and encouragement to Rev. Maxwell for those difficult times that may lie ahead, saying, “It’s going to be alright! Not because I am with you, but because God is with you!”

Rev. Maxwell brought the celebration to a crescendo with a message from 1 Corinthians 12. He emphasized the diversity of the district and how important that diversity is to fulfilling their mission of making disciples for the transformation of the world. Those in attendance laughed in approval as Maxwell engaged Keaton to represent the Body of Christ as represented in the scripture that was read.

The congregation was privileged to witness, for the first time, Rev. Maxwell actually “bending” the ear of the Bishop.

On a serious note, Rev. Maxwell included three promises to his new district.

“As I stand before you I am going to make you three promises. Promise number one: I promise to strive to grow in grace and knowledge. Oh Boy! Now is not the time to stop learning. Now is not the time to stop growing,” he said.

“My understanding and experience of the ways and will of God and even of God need to deepen and expand…”

His second promise was geared directly at the unique gifts possessed by each pastor.

“You all have your own personality and preference and gifts package; you have your own unique experiences, and I want to know you. I want to know who you are and the uniqueness that God has invested in you,” he said.

His final promise was focused on building personal relationships with all churches.

“Just as each person is unique, so too is each church. Each church has a culture,” he said. “Each church has unique offerings to the kingdom. I want to know each church.”

Maxwell explained that as the district holds him accountable to these promises he will be able to more effectively utilize the gifts and graces and passion that God has given him.

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