History

Pastor Ron and Brenda Rands

In April of 1998, another Res Life pastor asked if I felt the Lord was sending me to Muskegon. I replied to him that I would pray about it, but at the moment I didn’t think that was where the Lord was leading me. I was offered this placement before and I had no direction from the Lord at that time. I prayed that evening and greatly to my surprise, the Lord gave me a vision of a place in North Muskegon. I knew what I was supposed to do.

I wanted only one witness and that was of my wife, Brenda.  She has always been there for confirmation and encouragement. Brenda told me that the Lord was already preparing her heart for a change. She prayed and God gave us the release that this was where we were supposed to go. 

For the vision is yet for an appointed time,
but at the end it will speak, and it will not lie.
Habakkuk 2:3

This word from the Lord was soon to come true. I saw a street corner in the vision and I didn’t know exactly where this intersection was. I held fast to what the Lord showed me and proceeded to tell that pastor what the Lord was inspiring me to do. The pastor asked if I was sure and we proceeded to take a drive up north.

It was suggested that we start a church farther north than Muskegon and I was offered a church in Ludington. I replied that God had told me to start a church in Muskegon. (Until now, I had not told anyone about the vision.) I explained how He showed me a corner in a vision which I knew to be somewhere in North Muskegon. The pastor drove through Whitehall and started heading down Whitehall Road. We stopped at the Pizza Hut here in town and I could see the corner that was in the vision! I then shared the entire vision with this pastor and we drove home checking his odometer.

Pastor had an understanding that there should be a minimum of 20 miles between a new Resurrection Life Church and an existing one. God is so awesome! When we pulled into the entrance of the Grand Haven church, the odometer read 20.5 miles! If you think that is something to praise God about, there’s more.

I asked the Lord what my next step was in this endeavor and He told me to locate an office. A friend mentioned he saw space available on the corner of Giles and Whitehall Road. I was so elated, I called Brenda. We found that corner to be the same corner in the vision and it was exactly what we were looking for! Praise the Lord!

We started this church in the conference room of a small trailer park with around 25 people. Not long after that, we moved into a Reeths-Puffer gymnasium along with the small office space on Giles Road. Toward the end of November 2000, with renovations completed, we celebrated the move into this building. Two services were being held on Sundays by 2002 and the Saturday night service began in 2006.

Since that time, this ministry has found favor in the Lord’s eyes in so many different aspects. People’s lives are being changed, ministries are expanding, and we are reaching out to the community more and more. We are truly excited to be able to serve the Lord in this beautiful area.

Lord, we give You all of the glory!