Sunday Schedule
Children: 9:00a.m. and 10:45a.m.
Youth: 10:45a.m. and 6:00p.m.
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Trinity Fellowship History
In June 1981, a group of about 30 believers began meeting with the intent of seeking God's will for starting a new church. In August 1981, Trinity Fellowship was incorporated as an Evangelical Free Church in the state of Michigan. Enoch Olson, then Director of Spring Hill Camps in Evart, served as the first preacher. Starting in September, worship services were held at Riverview Elementary School in Big Rapids.
In May 1982, Bill Jones came for a one year internship from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. In July 1983, Gerhard (Gary) deBock was called as the first full-time pastor. The new church stabilized and grew as the members of Trinity Fellowship formulated their values based on Scripture and began to put them into practice as various ministries within the church were launched.
Property on Woodward Avenue was purchased on a land contract in 1982 and was paid in full less than one year later. In Spring 1987 construction on a church building began. The first two weeks of July families used their vacation time to help frame the building. The building was completed over the following year with the congregation contributing many hours of volunteer labor. The first worship service in the Woodward Ministry Center was held on October 2, 1988 with almost 200 people in attendance.
Don Hancock came as Pastor of Student Ministries in June 1994, following two previous Youth Pastors (Tom Tock and Dan Brown). Gregg Shewan was hired the following year and served as Pastor of Care and Outreach until 2006.
As Trinity Fellowship grew in numbers, it became apparent that the facility on Woodward Avenue would no longer be adequate. In 1996 a campaign was launched to generate resources that led to the purchase of property at 220th Avenue and Fifteen Mile Road (then M- 20), which is the current location of Trinity Fellowship.
The next few years brought another period of stabilization and growth. Medical missions trips, as well as other short-term missions trips, became a regular part of Trinity Fellowship's vision to reach other countries with the Gospel, while giving people within the congregation an opportunity to experience missions first-hand. As attendance grew, different strategies were implemented to provide enough room for worship and Sunday morning classes for children. In September 2000, worship services were moved to Crossroads Charter Academy.
In 2001, a building was constructed at the 220th Avenue site. Although the building would eventually become the youth ministry building, in 2001 it was used for different "sweat equity" projects for the new church building. In the fall of 2001, construction on the new Ministry Center began. Much of the construction was done by a contractor, but in keeping with the Trinity Fellowship tradition, church members volunteered their time and talents in doing finishing work. On September 8, 2002, the first Sunday morning worship service was held at the new Ministry Center. During this same time Jim Folk was hired as Pastor of Church Ministries. In 2007 the Folks moved to Florida where Jim pastors an Evangelical Free Church. After a couple years of searching and waiting on God, John Angell was hired as Senior Associate Pastor in July 2009.
The recent years have been a time of focus on our core values and vision and living them out as a body. The development of "Healthy" has given the congregation an easier way to remember key elements of being a healthy Christian through the 6 W's of the Word, Worship, Warmth (life-on-life relationships), Works of service, Witness and Wisdom (living under the Lordship of Jesus Christ) in how we use our resources. "Vision 2013" is a focus on simplifying our lives and ministry so that we are praying for and deliberately seeking those who do not yet know Jesus.