E-FREE CHURCH
Letter From Pastor Scott
2025 has been another amazing year of MEETING as many people as possible right where they are and MOVING them to where God wants them to be. If I were to give all the highlights of the past year this would be a very long writing so allow me just to showcase a few of the things that God has done. This was the year of the "ice storm of the century" in Northern MI which resulted in our Gaylord Campus being the only emergency shelter in our county. We were open 24/7 for 10 days, housing and feeding hundreds of people while helping to supply hundreds more with water, the ability to charge their phones and showers. We even received a visit from the Governor. In 39 years of being a pastor I have never seen a local church be the "hands and feet" of Jesus like we were during that critical time.
The other big highlight of 2025 was launching our new Alpena Campus. A few years back when we first put launching a new campus into our vision plan, I put a list of 10 possible cities on my office wall so that I could pray about the right location. Ironically, Alpena ws not even on the list, Yet, God clearly led us to that city and provided an amazing facility for us which we were able to purchase and renovate debt free. It has only been 8 months since we officially launched that campus and it is amazing to see the growth we have seen including a very active chidlrens and youth ministry taking place weekly. We also were able to take our annual Night to Shine and do it in Alpena as well on the same night we did so in Gaylord.
Along with that, we were able to see all of our regular ministries thriving at all of our campuses with so many coming to Christ and getting baptized. We also stayed laser focused on the teaching of God's Word as the central part of everything we do as a church as we literally have tens of thousands of people who are part of our Sunday worship and preaching each week through our physical campuses, TV ministry, radio ministry and our online ministry that is watched literally all around the world.
To God be the glory! Great things He has done!
- Pastor Scott
ELDER BOARD NOMINEES
MATT BOOK FOR ELDER CHAIRMAN
My name is Matt Book. My wife Brittany and I have three kids- Jacob (married to Sydney), Elise, and Tyson. I am a teacher and have worked at Grayling High School for the past 26 years. We began attending Gaylord E-Free in 1998. I have served on the elder board on several occasions, and have always found it to be a privilege and a responsibility that I take seriously.
MIKE RYAN
I was very fortunate to have been raised by Godly parents who exemplified The Lord and also raised me to be a good citizen in this world. Fortunately, God protected me until I finally accepted Jesus when I was 14. He continued to look over me and keep me safe until I was about 26. I had fulfilled my military duties and married my best friend.
Together by the grace of God and and my best friend’s loving character, I started getting serious about God Himself and the local church. There I was able to grow spiritually and was allowed to serve Him.
We moved to Gaylord in late 1990. The first local church we tried was GEFC and have attended ever since except for a two year hiatus. I have been privileged to serve throughout the years here. I have also been blessed to have seen God lovingly direct GEFC. This is my church and I plan it to be so until I’m called by Him to join His heavenly church.
To summarize, I am a very fortunate man who has blessed me with grace and mercy “all the days of my life! "
JASON WOODCOX
My name is Jason Woodcox. I was born in 1957 to parents who met as toddlers at the Gospel Center at the Gaylord Fairground, sometime in the '30s, and were married in the Gaylord Evangelical Free Church on S Court Street in 1956. My dad was US Navy, so we lived in San Diego and attended the Lake Murray Evangelical Free Church in LA Mesa, California. I've been Free Church all my life. I accepted Jesus as my savior. while in Michigan, at Spring Hill Bible camp, the summer of '67. It took me until 1984 to accept Him as my Lord.
My life changed after that. I met a wonderful woman and married her a year later. Lorelei and I have had two children and adopted two more after the first to were raised and gone.
In August of '23, I developed what I thought was strep throat. It turned out to be cancer. It eventually metastasized. My life changed again. My walk with my Lord has never been so close. I do not pray for healing. I trust that my God knows what he is doing. Instead, I pray for guidance and the strength to serve. I never ever thought I would be asked to serve as an elder in His church, but I believe God is telling me to grow, further. I pray that in this new venture, I can bring glory to his name and serve his body in the Gaylord Evangelical Free Church.