About Lakeview
We do our best to provide a warm and welcoming place to enjoy fellowship through worshiping Christ. In addition to our regular church services, we also have kids programs, social activities, and outreach activities.
Our Pastor
Pastor Ryan Counsell with wife Marija
The Counsell Family
Pastor Ryan Counsell and Marija (pronounced Maria) started their ministry in Burma shortly after their honeymoon in 1993. Pastor Counsell graduated from Southeast Asia Union Seventh-day Adventist College with a Bachelor of Arts in Theology in 1991. He had prayed for a wife to accompany him back to the mission field. At the same time, living in Croatia, Marija had also been praying to meet a man to serve within the mission field.
After their missionary service, they received a call to the Michigan Conference in 1995 and have since raised their family here.They have three grown children, Flory, Floyd, and Ellen, who attended and graduated from Adventist schools while growing up in Michigan. Pastor Counsell also obtained his M. Div. and D. Min. from Andrews Seminary during that time.
In their 31 years of service in Michigan, Pastor Counsell has pastored 16 Michigan congregations and worked with numerous church schools. He and Marija enjoy gardening, listening to music, cooking, and spending time with children. Marija currently works as a nurse aide at the Ionia hospital. They look forward to serving the Lord everyday, and into the coming years.
About Seventh-day Adventists
The Seventh-day Adventist Church is a mainstream Protestant church with approximately 19 million members worldwide, including more than one million members in North America. The Seventh-day Adventist Church seeks to enhance quality of life for people everywhere and to let people know that Jesus is coming again soon.
Adventists believe a Trinity of three persons—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit—make up one God. They made salvation possible when Jesus, the Son, came to earth as a baby in Bethlehem and lived a sinless life in accordance with the Father’s will. When Jesus was crucified for the sins of the people of the world and arose from the dead on the third day, victory was won for everyone.
When He returned to heaven following the resurrection, Jesus left the Holy Spirit to serve as our Comforter and Counselor. He promised to return to earth a second time to complete His plan of salvation and take His people to heaven. Adventists are among the believers who look forward to that day.
Adventists believe that God is concerned with the quality of human life, and that everything—the way we live, eat, speak, think, treat each other, and care for the world around us—is part of His plan. Our families, our children, our jobs, our talents, our money, and our time are all important to Him.