Some of the Marion “Keys to Revelation” evangelism team members. Left to right: Grady Yonas, Christopher Shook, Amy Fox, Judy Brauninger, Chong O'Connor, Harmony and Pastor Fred Calkins. Photography by Eva Yonas.
On most Sabbaths, only six to 10 people attended. A couple years in, I realized we weren’t financially healthy either.
I kept asking myself: How can we grow? What will God do in this community?
The church board and I began to lay out a game plan. We decided to do the very best we could, trusting that the Lord would bless our efforts. Coming out of the COVID years, we restarted Vacation Bible School, launched a community soup kitchen and began a weekly group Bible study at the church. In 2023, we even held an evangelistic series. We did what we could with the few members willing to serve, but it felt like we were plateauing. Growth was slow and not very noticeable.
Then came Pentecost 2025.
During our summer workers’ meeting in 2024, I first heard about it and immediately felt excited. “This is our chance,” I thought, “to catch the wave—to join in momentum with other churches across North America.” We’d done conference-wide evangelism before, but division-wide? I believed the Lord could richly bless.
The very next day, I signed up—probably one of the first to do so! We scheduled a series for April and called it “Keys to Revelation.” From the beginning of the year, I encouraged the church to pray for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and for our Marion community. We ordered yard signs, set up social media ads and mailed out 11,000 invitations, the most we’d ever done. All the while, we kept bathing everything in prayer, knowing our efforts would mean nothing without God’s blessing.
But then things took a hard turn. In February, I got a call that one of our longtime members was dying. Soon after, the head elder’s wife began struggling with health issues. Then a newer member received the devastating news that her cancer had returned.
And one night, right before prayer meeting, someone rushed in to tell me: “Pastor, Judy’s house is burning down!” Judy, in her late 70s, has been the backbone of our church for years. Suddenly, she was homeless.
I asked the board, “What should we do now?” Their answer gave me strength: “We already planned for this. We know God wants us to do it. Let’s move forward.”
Friday, April 4, finally came—the opening night. I was nervous. The first night is always so important, and I wondered, Would the pre-registrants show up? How many would come? To add to the pressure, someone from the Michigan Conference had told me they’d be dropping in to see how it went.
At 6:15, my elder and I prayed: “Lord, send us Your Spirit. Bring the right people who are hungering and thirsting for truth. Use us as Your instruments. In Jesus’ name, Amen.”
When I walked into the fellowship hall, I was stunned. I started counting: one, two, three…29 people! That was double our normal Sabbath attendance:16 Adventists and 13 guests.
Night two, 30 people came. Night three, 31. On the third night, a faithful Sunday churchgoer came up to me and said, “I’ve learned more in three hours than in 75 years of my life.”
As expected, numbers dipped after the first weekend, but the Lord continued to bless. On the final Sabbath morning, 34 people attended, 18 Adventists and 16 guests, and every single visitor stayed for lunch. In a town of 700, this was nothing short of a miracle.
That Sabbath, Judy, who had lost her home earlier in the year, came up to me with tears in her eyes. “Pastor, I’m so glad we went through with this,” she said. “In the 30-plus years I’ve been part of this church, I’ve never seen it this full. God is good!”
Now, four months later, I can see the fruit of what God has done. One person has already been baptized and is going through discipleship with me. Two others are preparing for baptism, and several guests still attend faithfully every Sabbath. Our weekly attendance now averages around 25—more than double what it once was.
And God has answered prayers beyond the meetings. The member who was not expected to live through summer is still alive. My head elder’s wife is recovering. The member in chemotherapy is seeing her cancer shrink. And Judy is living in a brand-new home, fully covered by insurance. God has been so good.
Almost every time I visit Marion, a member tells me, “Pastor, I’m so glad we did what we did. The Lord is growing our little church.”
This whole journey reminds me of a statement from Ellen White: “There is no limit to the usefulness of the one who, putting self aside, makes room for the working of the Holy Spirit upon his heart, and lives a life wholly consecrated to God.”
That’s what I’ve experienced. Despite challenges, we moved forward with God’s call. We prayed, made room for the Spirit to work, and God blessed abundantly. I believe He wants to do big things not only in Marion, but across our territory this year. He’s asking us to partner with Him—and I, for one, don’t want to miss what He’s about to do.
Grady Yonas is a local church pastor currently serving in the Gladwin and Marion district in the Michigan Conference.
