PLYMOUTH – Kick-offs, turf-stained jerseys, injury reports, and stadiums filled with tens of thousands of screaming sports fanatics help us make it through the cold winter in Michigan. If you have not put these important dates on your calendar, let me help you with three upcoming events:
College Championship
First, the College Football Playoff National Championship will be held on Monday, January 20, at 7:30 p.m. at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia. ESPN will broadcast the game.
Super Bowl
Second, the 59th (LIX) Super Bowl will occur Sunday night, February 9, at 5:30 pm at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana. FOX will televise the AFC-NFC match.
Language/Ethnic – Send Network Michigan
Third, in 2025, along with key leaders, I will roll out a platform providing a robust gathering, online and in person, where Send Network Michigan and Michigan Baptists can rally together with a vision to “join in God’s activity to see His Kingdom expand in Michigan by at least 1% over the next decade” among the language/ethnic peoples who live between our shorelines, state borders, and the international border.
“Language/Ethnic—Send Network Michigan” is part of the Send Network’s “family of churches planting churches everywhere for everyone.” That mission will be on display every day in 2025, and five values will guide our work together.
Seek First the Kingdom – God is at work locally and globally.
Deepen Devotion – Without prayer and the Word, we are powerless.
Stick Together – We are a family united by a mission.
Think Multiplication – God’s global mission demands disciples and churches that multiply.
Engage Your City – The gospel changes lives, families, and communities.
Frequently Asked Questions?
Question: Who is welcome to join Language/Ethnic – Send Network Michigan?
Answer: Everyone is welcome to join! From English speakers to every other language/ethnic group in Michigan, we want everyone to participate. This effort is about a family of churches planting churches everywhere for everyone. We are inviting pastors, lay people, men and women.
Question: What will we do?
Answer: We will pray during Scripture-fed, Spirit-led gatherings, share best practices in open discussions, discuss current trends and innovative solutions, and invite you to participate in ministries within the state and take international mission trips.
Question: Where will all of this take place?
Answer: We will invite you to gather online and in person. We know you are busy and have many demands on your time, so we will schedule our gatherings in various ways and at multiple times to allow everyone to participate without making you travel long distances.
Question: When will we gather?
Answer: We will invite you to various gatherings until we discover a specific meeting rhythm that meets the needs of those serious about taking the Gospel and church planting from our neighborhoods to the nations.
Question: Why create this special focus group?
Answer: We are creating this unique group because language/ethnic groups face challenges, unlike English speakers. For example, how do you continue a church ministry with new generations growing up in the United States while respecting a spiritual heritage from the past?
Question: How will Language/Ethnic – Send Network Michigan work?
Answer: I will invite many into the conversations, collaborations, and the creation of strategies to help us fulfill our vision and mission. Through prayer, preparation, practice, partnership, and persistence, we will see the Lord do Ephesians 3:20 things that will exceed our requests and imaginations.
Coming First Quarter of 2025
Seek First the Kingdom – Hear from a two-year, fully-funded female missionary with the International Mission Board who lived in Europe while sharing the Gospel and discipling university students and young adults from other nations.
Stick Together – Meet a couple who are precious friends leading an English as a Second Language ministry in Dearborn, Michigan, which has the largest Arab-language population outside the Middle East. Annually, the Gospel is shared with hundreds of Muslims, and some follow through with salvation experiences or requests to learn more about the Gospel.
Engaging the Community – Listen to a Christian career woman who knows how to use resources from other readily available sources to assist incoming refugees and immigrants coming to Michigan to strengthen local church ministries.
Think Multiplication – Hear from a local pastor who created a new English church for the second and third generations whose parents and grandparents came from other countries in the Middle East. Hear how that need and vision spread throughout other language/ethnic groups.
Updates
Throughout 2025, I will share news of Language/Ethnic—Send Network Michigan on my social media sites, Facebook, X, and in emails sent out by the Baptist State Convention of Michigan. Monthly articles in the Baptist Beacon, like this one, will be helpful if you share them on your social media pages and with others in your social network. Let’s start passing on the news of this kick-off during 2025.
Final Thought
The National Championship and the Super Bowl will be over in less than six weeks, but we will continue to strive to plant churches and accelerate the Gospel movement every day. Would you please join the Language/Ethnic—Send Network Michigan movement in 2025? You may be the answer to the next big challenge or the ideal person for the next initiative.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Dr. Tony L. Lynn is the Send Network Director for Michigan and the Language/Ethnic Church Planting Catalyst. Before coming on staff at the BSCM, Tony served as a lead pastor in Michigan churches and as an international missionary, along with his wife Jamie, in the Niger Republic, France, and Canada.
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