07 Dec New Life in Lansing, Mich.

Phil Whipple, bishop

Lansing UB had been using reserve funds to meet the pastor’s salary and operational costs, and Pastor Scott Hergert realized they would run out of money by the end of 2010. He laid out the options he saw: go to a part-time pastor arrangement, close the church, or close with restart in the process.

I met with the board and talked about what a restart might look like. A few weeks later, they voted to move in that direction. I led a local conference in September during which they voted to close the existing church and give their assets—including the church building and parsonage–to the restart. Their final service was held October 24.

The Lead Team from Michigan, which had supported the Imagine This church plant in Grand Ledge, Mich., was looking for their next project. We had already settled on starting a church somewhere in Lansing, but weren’t thinking about the existing Lansing congregation. So I suggested to the lead team that we throw our energies together—lead team and restart project—rather than start two different things in  Lansing at the same time.

The church planter will be Tim Flickinger (right), formerly senior pastor of Fowlerville UB (Fowlerville, Mich.). In September, when the Lansing UB people made the decision to close, they had no knowledge about who the church planter would be. We had been talking to Tim about starting a church, but weren’t ready to announce anything at that time. However, a week before Lansing’s final service, Tim came to talk to the congregation to share his vision for the new church.

We took Tim Flickinger through the assessment process, and sent him to a couple church planting training events. His assessment came through very positively.

We’re looking for funding. We’re using some money which was part of Michigan Conference. Fowleville UB has signed up to be a three-year supporter. The pastors who are part of the Lead Team will be raising funds from their churches to help support the project. Whether they use the Lansing facility has not been determined. It’s an older building and isn’t handicap accessible. It would cost quite a bit to update the building to be a contemporary, community kind of church.

Tom Blaylock is serving as a church planting coach for Tim Flickinger. Tim is working on setting a vision for what the church will be and developing a core group. Some people from Lansing UB have already affiliated with the Eden UB church in Mason, Mich. However, some people from Imagine This, who currently drive to Grand Ledge from Lansing, may become part of the core group.