ResLife (short for Resurrection Life) Church located on the corner of North 34th Avenue and Deer Road, will hold an open house starting at 1 p.m. with a ribbon-cutting at 1:30 p.m. this Saturday, Sept. 5. The entire community is invited out for a picnic lunch, tours of the building with its many renovations and to celebrate as the church makes its official debut, scheduled for Sunday, Sept. 6 at 11 a.m.
Senior Pastor Tom Austin shared why ResLife has invested so much into the Mears community, “We love the Lord and we love people.”
The church’s website echoes that sentiment, “ResLife Silver Lake Ministries is a church centered on Jesus, His word and His everlasting truth.”
Once home of the West Golden Wesleyan Church (1963-2024), then renamed as the Way of Christ Church (2024-2026), Austin shares how God has brought this congregation to this point.
As a 27-year U.S. Army veteran, Austin said he never planned to become a pastor. Yet after leaving military service, and while preparing for retirement, he and his wife Billie's home in Coopersville sold almost immediately. He needed a place where he would be able to keep all of his birds (ducks, geese and chickens), Austin laughed. They found the perfect spot on 72nd Avenue in Hart. While renovating the property, he was approached by friends Dale and Gail Zieger, also of Hart, who told him West Golden Wesleyan was in need of a pastor. They thought he ought to apply.
Throughout his military career, Austin had attended church on ResLife’s main campus in Grandville. Between two military contracts, Austin had even attended and trained at their ResLife School of Ministry. “Becoming a Wesleyan pastor was the furthest thing from my mind,” he admitted. “But when I retired, I promised God whatever He wanted me to do, I’d do.”
At the same time, ResLife had taken notice of the number of denominational churches that were declining and closing and felt God calling them to expand their reach and spread the Gospel in new places. After praying about the opportunity, Austin did apply for the West Golden Pastorate and, after going through an extensive interview process, was hired. Ironically, after Austin officially became the pastor, his son, a pastor in Idaho for a number of years, left his position there to join the U.S. military, where he is now a chaplain for the U.S. Air Force currently stationed in Africa.
Throughout the whole interview process and since becoming the pastor, Austin says he keeps going back to Isaiah 43, which says, “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.”
Becoming a pastor was a new role for Austin, but one he feels very much called to and is excited about.
In 2024, the church instituted a new name, the Way of Christ Church, and brought on Associate Pastor Justin Morrell, and both men completed online degrees with Kingswood University (formerly Bethany Bible College). While the church’s leadership hoped the new name might invigorate attendance and involvement, it did not. “We would build up attendance, then people would leave. But I promised the congregation when I came, I would not be the pastor who closed the church,” Austin said.
Through a series of events that only God could orchestrate, the small congregation took steps of faith and slowly grew in number and in faith. With a building badly in need of infrastructure updates and the funds to do so, Austin and Morrell approached the Great Lakes Region of the Wesleyan Church and were given three options: sell the building, take out a loan to pay for renovations or join the LINC (Leaders In Every Community) group, a pastor networking program for area churches sponsored by ResLife. The first two options were deal-breakers for both pastors, but they weren’t sure how the third option would work. Shortly after that meeting, they prayed something along the lines of, “We don’t know what to do, God. Please tell us what to do.”
Within minutes they received a call from their pastor at ResLife Grandville, Dwayne Vander Klok, who asked them if they were ready to start and that the church was ready to help.
With that answer to prayer, plans to move forward into the future started taking shape. Earlier this year the church began the purchase of the building from the Wesleyan Trust. And even though their first offer was countered by a much larger amount, they were not deterred. The congregation voted to accept the counteroffer and, through faithful giving, have been able to purchase the building outright.
Austin went on to say, “Neither Justin nor I have an axe to grind with the Wesleyan denomination. They are a gospel-believing and teaching denomination (like us). We are non-denominational and don’t see ourselves in competition with other churches in the county.”
Austin said in conclusion, “We preach Jesus. We sing modern praise music. We believe in the Great Commission. I’d prefer people forget me and remember Jesus.”
The church is excited about what God is doing at ResLife and invites anyone looking for a church where they can learn more about what it means to be a Christ-follower or to become more involved in serving Jesus to visit soon.
Sunday worship will be every Sunday beginning at 11 a.m. Children’s Sunday School for ages 5 to 11 will be held at 11 a.m. as well in the church’s educational wing. Nursery care will be available for children aged 6 months to 4 years. Live streaming of Sunday morning worship is available at @ResLife Silver Lake on YouTube. Adult Bible Study will be held Sunday mornings at 9:30 a.m. The youth group will meet the last Sunday of every month starting at 5 p.m. and is open to students in 6th through 12th grades.
More information can be found on the church’s website www.reslifesl.org, on Facebook at ResLife Silver Lake Ministries or by calling 231-301-8480. The church’s email address is reslifesilverlake@gmail.com.
