Conversation - with Pastor Bryan about 70 Years of Church of the Lakes

Welcome to the Church of the Lakes Campus Conversations Podcast.

At Church of the Lakes, our mission is connecting all the critics to become healthy and common and courageous in love.

Today's podcast highlights our faith family's history as we uncover 70 years of faithful fellowship and service to the Greater Canton area.

To help us uncover and discover the history of Church of the Lakes, it's Pastor Brian George, who has over 30 years of leading and serving Church of the Lakes.

Welcome to another Kingdom Conversation.

I'm Pastor Robbie Strock, and today we are highlighting a monumental achievement.

Church of the Lakes is turning 70 years old this year in 2026.

And to help us explore this faith family's history is the longest serving pastor.

I'm not saying he's old, I said he's the longest serving pastor in this faith family.

It's Brian George.

Brian, thanks for coming in today and sharing with us a little bit about the history of this faith family.

Robbie, it is a joy to sit here with you this today, my friend.

Oh, Brian, I'm so excited to do this.

You know, we're getting ready to celebrate this milestone.

And, you know, we were kicking around some ideas of who should come on.

And you know what?

Someone who loves history and someone who loves to tell it in a narrative format.

I couldn't think of anyone better.

So let me thread the needle a little bit here at the beginning because I want to just read some of the initial things that's not only just found on our websites, but it's found in the historical stuff of our church.

Uh the church began, our faith family, Church of Lakes, back in 1956, right?

And as many know, it happened in the basement of Bill and Marilyn Melvin's home.

Now, the church was formed to meet the needs of the growing Lake Cable area in Jackson Township, which was really a farm town at the time, uh, through the support of Reverend Hugh Grant at uh Firth Methodist downtown.

However, you know, the congregation would outgrow the Melvin's basement and move to what many people know as the Lake Cable Clubhouse.

And then in 1960, they dug ground brick and mortar and they built uh an education wing and the sanctuary soon followed in '64.

Now, Brian, looking back at the early years of the church, whether it's from the first gatherings of the Melvin's basement or to the clubhouse to the first building, what do you think those early members were dreaming about and praying about when it comes to Church of Lakes would become, especially now that we've got 70 years under our belt?

Well, you know, Robbie, as you kind of not only dig through the documents, but in conversations with some of those uh charter members, sure.

I think one of the first things that just kind of jumps out, especially in the documents, of how they wanted this uh congregation to be kind of a community hub, really frankly, centered around Lake Cable, because you know, now we pull from a wide range, but at that time, you know, they were really looking kind of at the Lake Cable area.

But what they really wanted to stress, they did not want this to be just a club for the members.

Right.

They wanted to be a community hub.

And and as you kind of go through some of the documents of the church, you'll see over and over again how it's really served a variety of community groups and service organizations.

For years, we hosted a Kwantas group.

Uh, we've done groups of recovery like uh AA, which has been for many years, um, you know, probably about 50 years on that end, um, you know, to things like hosting uh childcare centers for the community to use.

And what we see here is even for special events like Red Cross, Blood Drives, uh, the church has always been active in that.

Things like, as we've seen um with uh voting, where we've always been very open to having the community come in and utilize our facility uh to cast ballots.

Things like what we now offer through our divorce and grief share groups.

And I think to a large extent, things that we are known by with our Little Lamb's closet, which has been a significant outreach and uh moneymaker for children's charities all over Stark County.

You know, we've the Little Lambs Ladies, which is you know, not just from our Fay family, but from you know a wider group.

You know, they've raised what I think they're somewhere in the range of about a million seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars.

Wow, incredible.

Yeah, which has been awesome, the difference they've made.

So yeah.

Well, I love the idea of a community hub because certainly it has to do more with just uh as we go through our current sermon series, Kingdom Relationships, you know, we've talked about what it looks like to be a kingdom citizen, whether that's in your marriage or at work or with your friends, family, so on and so forth.

And a hub, a hub is brings that type of element, you know, all types of degrees and locations.

Well, Brian, I'm curious.

If you could sit down perhaps with anybody who was gathering in those early years in the Melvin's basement, what would you want them to know about this hub, this church, this faith family that they helped start?

What do you what do you think you would want to tell them about?

Yeah.

You know, Robbie, that's the beautiful thing about being here this long, is that over 30 years I've been blessed to actually sit down with many of them.

Oh, that's who I started the church.

Yeah.

I mean, I I sat in the home of Bill and Marilyn Melvin, uh, glanced down at their basement where they first started.

Uh, you know, I was there before they went to their kingdom graduation uh with the Lord.

Also I had a chance to sit with Inga Graning, uh Barb and Bob Graham, Ev Garrett.

Uh, and what they always communicated to me really was joy, a sense of joy and accomplishment for all the energy, the sacrifice, and the time that they put into making this faith family possible.

And how much uh satisfaction I would say they really felt in watching people really come to a saving faith, in uh, you know, really kind of living out what is our mission statement of connecting all to Christ, become healthy in God and courageous in love.

It's really making a gener difference for a generation of five or five uh different generations of Jesus followers.

And and I kind of laughed, I'll never forget talking to Marilyn Melvin and uh, you know, how the many meetings they had, and she kind of said that her kids would say meetings, meetings, meetings, and uh that they had so many uh gatherings just to get the church up and running and the satisfaction that they have felt in seeing how the difference it's made for the cause of Christ in this community.

Just incredible.

Uh you know, Brian, you came on board in 1996, so you were on board for the 40th anniversary, but like, okay, so certainly as a clergy person as yourself, you know, there's an appointment structure of the denomination that costs you, but to some extent, you would have interviewed back in '96 or '95, right?

For okay, so there had to have been something attractive other than Andy Jacobs being on SBR at the time to make you want to come on board back then.

There had to have been something special, something that you noticed.

Can you tell us what 30 years ago Church of Lakes even looked like to you as someone who knew like uh you'd been in a couple places already.

I knew you were at Lorraine previously before that.

And what was special about Church of Lakes?

Why did you decide to take an appointment here?

Well, I I didn't have so much choice in that regard.

But but no, what was exciting for me at that level was uh I had uh my interview for Church Lakes came uh it was in like either late January or early February at 96.

But that previous Christmas, okay, I had actually attended here.

Oh, really?

Uh yes.

Um, because at that point my dad and mom uh they had both retired, you know, they dad had retired and they had settled um in Jackson Township, and they stated that this was a congregation they were checking out.

And so we came the Sunday after Christmas, and one of the things that I still have very deep memories of was that at that point there were like very few children uh involved.

Hey, I was here.

Come on, I was a child here, Brian.

Yeah, but not not my kid's age, not nursery category.

No, in that nursery category, and uh I'll never forget when we came in uh Lisa Wright, she was actually running the uh nursery.

Wow, and she swooped in and took um our son Luke and our oldest daughter Joelle and just kind of took them and they felt both so comfortable.

And so that certainly left let an impression for me.

Um, but that I think that was the thing that did stand out to me um was there was you know a genuineness here.

Uh people really wanted to kind of grow.

And uh I could sense a strong foundation, but they also wanted to be stretched.

And and in particular, it kind of my marching orders uh that first year or so when I came in '96 was maybe to look at how we could reach uh new people through a different worship style.

And when I first came here uh 30 years ago, the the first thing we did was organize a set of home meetings.

And I went around and I just asked some real three basic questions.

One of those questions was, you know, money were no objects and you knew you could not fail, what would you have church lakes do?

And at that point, I Amy took meticulous notes and I mostly listened and people went around.

And most of them was this hunger to uh, you know, grow as a congregation to make sure we could reach uh, you know, new people as well as younger people with the gospel.

And they felt that things like a different style of worship would be doing that.

And so within that year uh we started a kind of task force that kind of ultimately came within a year of having what was we called it our casual blue jeans or contemporary um or um uh uh contemporary bagels and juice.

C V Just C V J C V J And we started that service within a year, and I think there was a lot of new energy in that.

And you know, not only that, in regards to worship style, but I also felt a sense to be stretched when it came in terms of mission.

And even in that early season when we were challenged, uh, because that was when we were beginning the uh uh first building project, which culminated in the activity center, uh as well as the choir room, but and the whole, you know, the parking lot was gone because they had it all torn up for the new building.

And we felt it was really important at that moment to make sure that we didn't get so inwardly focused, but that we would reach beyond ourselves.

And so we actually um did our very first Habitat for Humanity project build that we were the sole sponsor of that in 1999.

So even though the church was being built, we felt you know it was important to be involved in the community with Habitat for Humanity.

It was really in '99.

Yeah.

Wow, Brian, that is such a a lovely depiction of although we're building here, we're building outward too.

I'd never heard that from the history.

That's pretty incredible.

Yeah, that was something very important because otherwise we would have gotten so angry or angsty because the parking lot was a nightmare.

It was because it was so few spaces.

I don't think we were growing so rapidly at that time.

And you know, we had this new worship service and we had our regular service, and we didn't want anyone to, you know, lose interest in us.

So, you know, I saw that as an important aspect to make sure that we did we got stretched in regards to our mission with you know, doing a habitat for a humanity project.

You know, I also saw in those early years a real interest in investing in the youth of our community.

Okay.

You know, within a year, uh, we kind of took a leap of faith and we had gone from a kind of a part-time coordinator for youth ministry, it was very part-time, uh, to saying, you know, this is important and that we needed to up the hours, get somebody to make this more of a full-time role role.

And we then went out and hired Kara, who then served our church for the next 25 years in that capacity.

And you don't get youth pastors for 25 years.

And she certainly was uh a vital piece of that puzzle early on.

But you know, beyond that, I felt a sense they wanted to invest it not only in the youth, but in the children of our community.

And at that time, uh the the church had been renting space to kind of uh a privately run uh just preschool program only.

But but there was really a hunger to make sure that we were sharing Jesus uh because the previous one it had no kind of Christian Christian affiliation.

It was just it was just a nursery school.

And we felt it was important to share Jesus with even the youngest of kids.

And so, you know, we started our uh child care center, which uh was not more than more than nursery, it would actually help service the community by providing quality child care for the kids, and then expanded ultimately to include after school and before school care.

And you know, that's been 28 years that that that group has been in existence.

So I I thought very early on we saw this hunger for missions, this hunger for worship, this hunger for youth, this hunger for uh children in our community.

What's so exciting is, and you say this all the time, Brian, you say the five generations, and I'm sure people can kind of envision what that looks like, but I'm so grateful for um the later generations to look back and prioritize the younger generation, and and that's so evident.

And then, like just in our conversation so far, Brian, you've talked about um Kara, a youth leader who I know personally so well, um, who served for 25 years.

I mean, Lisa 28 as childcare director, right?

Yeah, and you for three second my Diana served for 25 years as our secretary.

I mean, uh I I'm smiling here because, like in today's present day, people jump jobs quite frequently.

Yes, they do.

Um, and I think people notice how special things happen and that the spirit was encouraging people to stay, even through hard times.

And and Brian, certainly in the 30 years that you've been here at Churchill Lakes, there have been big challenges.

Um, you know, what what were some of the biggest challenges I think uh that you perhaps encountered over your 30 years of ministry here at Churchill Lakes?

Because no one does this alone.

Certainly, uh, oftentimes uh we put the weight of the world on your back as the lead staff member here for many, many, many, many, many, many years.

But what have been some of the challenges perhaps uh as you reflect on this season of life, now that you don't necessarily have to to be the head of the snake anymore?

Well, you know, I think certainly there there have been different challenges, some related to like personnel, but one particular one that just kind of jumped out was back in like oh seven, we had been growing rapidly, but what we sensed immediately after the activity center was completed that we were running short on a couple of things, such as uh space for small groups uh to meet during the week here at the church, uh, as well as um you know, we wanted to do some sanctuary expansion.

We felt that the youth needed uh an area kind of revamped a little bit.

And so we needed to kind of start another building project, even though we had just finished one.

Eight years prior, right?

Yeah, and uh even uh you might even say seven by the time we had made that decision.

And at that point, we did another capital campaign, we kind of stretched our people uh again financially to do that, and you know, things were proceeding along, and uh what happened in 2008, bro.

I can't remember significant uh Lehman Brothers collapsed.

Yeah, yeah.

Uh it was a difficult uh time.

And at that moment, we'd been heavily invested, you know, we were all in, uh and you know, and yet we had you know to stretch the people and say we gotta have faith that the Lord is gonna provide a way forward at the same time when recession's happening, when people's you know, finances have really hit a a big brick wall.

And yeah, that was a season that that was pretty challenging in 08, 09, and even in the 10, you know, financially, we were I mean we were doing okay.

I mean, it wasn't like we were in the red, but in previous times we'd been you know healthy in the black.

And this was that season when it was more challenging.

And at that point, you know, uh when you're in pastoral leadership, it's not just you know, yourself that you're concerned about.

You you got staffing by the time we had our child care center operating, and you know, you're concerned about the well-being of the families who are dependent upon you know that for their livelihood.

So that that was a a challenging season.

Um, yeah, and there's been some others related to personnel decisions, but you know, that kind of comes and goes.

But through the highs and the low, I mean, whether it's been building projects, capital campaigns, new worship styles, church planting, COVID, Brian, all all the highs of the highs, or perhaps the lows of the lows.

How about for you personally?

What has been something that has shaped you personally as a pastor?

Which of these seasons perhaps left the biggest imprint on your your life?

And let's not, I mean, I don't want to be ignorant either.

Like, certainly you're not doing this in a vacuum.

You were doing it with with the amazing Miss Amy, as many people know here.

You're doing it with your children um as they would grow in this faith family, whether that was through confirmation age, youth, onto graduation, so on and so forth.

Uh how about that, Brian?

What what has shaped you most personally, perhaps in the in your seasons here?

Well, you know, Robbie, I I I would have to kind of evaluate that uh that word season is a good one because I think in the course of 30 years there have been four very different seasons of my pastoral ministry, things that have shaped me.

Um I think certainly that first uh chapter of the journey, uh you know, it was really busy.

Yeah um rapidly growing.

You know, with all these new people coming and trying to keep up with them and running.

membership classes and trying to remember names.

Um it was it was it was energizing but exhausting.

Just like when you're you know a new parent.

Right.

Yeah you're you're just exhausted.

Now not to not to pause you or to interrupt your flow but like when when did you have a full-time associate on staff as a pastor as a clergy member what year would that have have really come to fruition because I don't think people understand how the only full-time people here in 96 I mean your dad was on staff at some point right time but he visitation per purpose is very and our secretary Diana um and even Char before that was on I don't even know if Char was full time way back in 96.

Not quite full-time close like 30 hours.

And I'm sure we had you know the custodial staff and so on and so forth that that helped support in that way.

But like you were you were flying a little bit solo there on the clergy side right?

Yeah I think finally when we got uh Nancy okay to come on her first uh you know she's kind of different she's still on staff right amazing Nancy's on staff and came back later on yeah but um I think that I don't know what year that was I'm gonna guess it was like oh seven okay okay okay somewhere around there okay around there oh seven but yeah I think that first season I I frankly I I over functioned if I if I look back on it okay I think I could and people could say I might have been at the point of burnout.

Okay.

And what was truly a wake up call for me was my diagnosis of multiple sclerosis uh twenty years ago.

And you know I I needed at that point to kind of take a step back and say I cannot continue at this pace and then I needed to both trust some fantastic staff people uh that we had you know either presently on board or we we would add uh as well as some of the lay leadership to help share that vision.

I think that was certainly a a a first season.

The second season I think it was really kind of filled with raising funds uh you know to help keep the budget going to do the different capital campaigns endeavors yeah uh and I think that was a time of learning to kind of challenge people to give sacrificially you know that it's more than just putting a nickel in the plate.

Um you know it's it's about digging deep and I I I had uh a capital campaign consultant actually um Scott McKenzie who did our our first one and then finally our our most recent one and he really was the one that helped me in that endeavor to kind of say Brian you know this is part of you know how people can live as disciples of Jesus Christ.

It's not just you know you're begging for money.

No you're trying to stretch them to see what it means to you know to live sacrificially for the cause of Christ.

And so I think that was a good thing.

That was another season of my ministry.

I think a a third season was really uh kind of envisioning um kind of a new vision frame which really culminated in uh you know forming our vision frames involved staff making decisions uh you know certainly bringing Jared on board was huge in that process uh and then and part of that of course was uh disaffiliation from our previous uh denomination and so now I'm kind of in this final season of my journey here uh where it's all been about putting people in position but my goal has been to kind of position Jared to use his immense gifts to take the church kind of on its next and better chapter of its journey um in that season and and that's something that's been very satisfying and joy filled for me is kind of putting people like you on board um you know Tony and starting kind of this next season of uh pastoral roles I step away from full time into kind of replicating what my dad did all those many years ago as a visitation pastor.

So yeah Brian thank you for your authenticity and your honest answer because uh you know in the current workforce and I can only say this in my own personal reflection uh but not everybody cheers for everyone to succeed all the time and I think everyone here on staff would say that you've always been a cheer.

Now sometimes you have to cheerlead by telling people the truth in love right and sometimes that's hard that's hard yes but honest to share.

Yes.

So okay so let's let's look forward all right so we look back at 70 years we especially look back at the 30 years since you've been here but also let's look forward okay so 10 20 70 years down the road what gives you the greatest hope yeah for this faith family in the future yeah that's a great question Robbie and for me it's an easy answer okay um which is uh come to this church on a Wednesday night in the fall oh yeah yeah and uh there's so much energy and joy with the kids being downstairs involved and connecting with the Lord and worship you know we serve comedian to the kids and you know I get I literally have to kind of get on my knees to reach down to their l level but to see how our kids bring their friends it's so awesome and how they get shepherded around by some you know uh people uh who are now parents themselves who when I first came here they were kids you know and and it's fun to see them shepherding the kids around the place.

And then you go into our youth gatherings uh on Wednesday night in our activity center and how encouraging it is to see the teenagers uh of this church gather to sing God's praises study his word and grow in leadership you know I think certainly one of Tony's great gifts is his ability to identify and equip people to kind of come alongside and and raise up a new generation of praise team leaders uh you know you go into our educational wing on a Wednesday night and you're gonna see classrooms and they're filled I mean one classroom is filled with young parents uh going through an alpha study and bringing in food and then you go down the road and you see our college age kids in yet another room and then you got my guys you know my ordinary guys in the back room and they're they're hooting and hollering and laughing and you got in the mom's group in yet another room.

And you know I've often heard people in the community they drive by here on Wednesday night and they see the parking lot is packed.

It is packed.

It is packed and and they say what are you doing there on Wednesday night and I just smile and I talk about you know we're church living on its mission to connect all to Christ to become healthy to God and courageous in love.

Oh that's amazing it certainly is a legacy I think people can understand why you say five generations Brian um yeah thank you so much for your time Brian uh and this reflection you know um I want to emphasize that uh we are so grateful to partner with what the Holy Spirit is doing in this community um and certainly as a church we uh church in Jackson Township many of us we're all we're all on the same team maybe a little bit of different flavor and you've had a great relationship with many of those people in the community Brian so thank you for all your your service to our faith family to this community and and certainly it's not over yet we don't get to kick you out the door and say goodbye.

But uh you know Robbie I can like you know uh old ministers don't retire they just go out to pastor oh man that's up there with the dad jokes that I read every morning to my kids well thank you once again Brian we're so excited to celebrate uh the past and future of Church of Lakes 70 years down and who knows how many to go and certainly we're gonna do that in our all church worship which will be on September 13th at Jackson High School.

I hope everybody can set aside some time for that 10am special time worship where we're gonna be all of our services together at one time and if you're interested in learning more about this wonderful community of believers I just ask that you shoot me an email at robert at churchthe lakes.org or podcast at churchthelakes.org I'd love you to be able to connect uh with you and to tell you more and how you can join alongside the mission of connecting all to Christ to become healthy in God and courageous in love and until next time God blessed thanks for listening to this episode from Church of the Lakes Kingdom Conversations podcast.

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