Greetings from Pastor Fred!
My life has always been in the Father’s hands, as He has faithfully, lovingly, and relentlessly drawn me into a life-transforming relationship with Him through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. I was “exposed” to the Gospel through a variety of people and situations during my well-loved and parented childhood and teen years until, in response to my heart’s cry as a freshman in college, I was ready to receive God's forgiveness and surrender to His amazing love. I was wrestling with my “emptiness in the midst of abundance” and daily sighing, “God, there has to be more!”, when, through the ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ, He answered me with a resounding, “I AM!” My life was changed forever on that day.
I am a lifelong resident of the Lansing area – having attended area schools K-12 and graduated from Michigan State University in 1968 with a B.A. in Elementary and Special Education. I received my academic training for the ministry in the Master of Divinity program at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois, and following that was a doctoral candidate in Educational Administration at M.S.U.
During my three years in Seminary, I started and directed an association of ten North Shore park districts and municipalities which provided after-school, weekend, and summer recreational activities to over 800 adults and children with a variety of disabilities. This was the first “special recreation” association in Illinois, and among the first in the country. NSSRA now serves over 5,000 registrants in over 700 special programs and activities.
I invested several years as a teacher, special education administrator (Marvin E. Beekman Center), and elementary principal (Maplewood School) in the Lansing School District, and entered the vocational ministry as superintendent of St. Matthew Lutheran School in 1977. I began serving as the foundation layer and first superintendent of New Covenant Christian School, a ministry of New Covenant Christian Church, in 1984, and have served as Senior Pastor of the church since 1991.
I have served in a variety of church and community service and leadership capacities, and carry a particular passion for preparing the generations (of all ages!), building unity in the Body of Christ, reviving local pastors’ prayer networks, and working to break down ethnic and cultural barriers wherever they hinder the building of relationships of substance and Kingdom significance between people from diverse backgrounds and perspectives.
My greatest accomplishment and joy is my marriage of over 40 years to my wife, best friend, and love of my life Jamie (also a lifelong area resident), and enjoying a rich relationship with our "thirty-something" daughters, Elizabeth and Rachel, and their families. Between the two of them they have blessed us with five wonderful grandchildren.
Please feel free to contact me at: fbmcglone@comcast.net or 517-323-8180!
