Out of His deep love for humanity, God changes our lives and asks us to move His love into our community and world. We are uniquely positioned at Andrews University to share the story of God’s love from the residence halls to the farthest parts of the earth. We accomplish our mission by engaging people across generations to be disciples of Jesus through the process of Connect. Grow. Serve. Go.
Pioneer Media supports the local ministry needs related to classroom and teaching technology. It also creates content for and manages Pioneer's online presence and produces our broadcast television program.
We have volunteer teams that help you to serve the church and the neighborhood in a variety of ways. The best place to serve is where you’re using your God-given gifts, talents, and passions the most.
Your financial gift helps support ministry here at Pioneer. From local to global ministry, keeping our facility safe and clean, to outreach and family growth activities, it all provides a space to worship, learn, and grow together. We invite you to Give Purposefully, Give Faithfully, and Give Joyfully.
Dwight Nelson served as lead pastor of the Pioneer Memorial Church on the campus of Andrews University from 1983 to 2023. During his time at Pioneer he spoke on the “New Perceptions” telecast, taught at the theological seminary and has written books, including The Chosen. He and his wife, Karen, are blessed with two married children and 2 granddaughters.
• #1—“Two are better than one” because you have someone to share the . (Financial benefit)
- “Research has shown the financial benefits of marriage. Long-term marriage offers a 77% better rate of return than staying single and total wealth of married persons increases 16% year over year. In other words, the you are married, the more money you make. . . . [I]f this was the reported returns on a stock growth fund, we’d all be jumping in.” (www.moneyunder30.com/financial-benefits-of-marriage)
• #2—“Two are better than one” because you have someone to help you . (Emotional benefit)
• #3—“Two are better than one” because you have someone to keep you . (Physical benefit)
• #4—“Two are better than one” because you have someone to help you . (Security benefit)
» A great love story most have never heard . . .
- C. S. Lewis: “We feasted on love; every mode of it, solemn and merry, romantic and realistic, sometimes as dramatic as a thunderstorm, sometimes comfortable and unemphatic as putting on your soft slippers. She was my pupil and my teacher, my subject and my sovereign, my trusty comrade, friend, shipmate, fellow-soldier. My mistress, but at the same time all that any man friend has ever been to me.” (Quoted in Saving Your Marriage Before It Starts 142)
- Les and Leslie Parrott: “If there is a lesson to be gained from this amazing love story, it must be that partners without a spiritual depth of oneness can never compete with the fullness of love that enjoy. Marriage, when it is healthy, has a mystical way of revealing God; a way of bringing a smiling peace to our restless hearts.” (142)
» The third strand
• Jeremiah 9:24—“Let the one who boasts boast about this: that they have the understanding to know [yada] me, that I am the LORD.”
• Genesis 4:1—“Adam made love [yada] to his wife Eve, and she became pregnant.”
• God takes the same word for “making love” [yada] and declares “That’s what I want in a relationship with you—the between a husband and a wife—I want you to know me like Adam knew Eve.”
• Alan McGinnis: “There can be no intimacy without .” (The Friendship Factor 105)
• Alice Fryling: “[Sex] is an expression of intimacy, not the to intimacy. True intimacy springs from verbal and emotional communion. True intimacy is built on a commitment to honesty, love and freedom. True intimacy is not primarily a sexual encounter. Intimacy, in fact, has almost nothing to do with our organs. A prostitute may expose her body, but her relationships are hardly intimate.” (www.focusonthefamily.com/faith/three-lies-about-premarital-sex/)
• Don’t miss Adventist Engaged Encounter with Jeff/Twyla Smith (Nov 1-3).
• Ecclesiastes 4:12—“A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.”
- The Third Strand—Proverbs 18:24/John 15:13-14
- #1 Felt Need—How to grow a relationship with God
Author Melvin Santos Speaking: When I was little boy, I was asked to help collect the offerings with the adult deacons and deaconesses. I wondered how we would get the money to God. My young innocent mind was trying to process this dilemma. Is there a special place we deposit the money and God sends His angels to pick it up later? Then I learned that the church represents the body of Christ on earth. So, when we give to the church, we really give it to God by faith.
God doesn’t need our money to do His work on earth. He owns the universe and galaxies. But He allows us to partner with Him so He can bless us, make us the funnel to bless others, and grow His kingdom. God’s systematic giving plan enables us to develop His character. Our great opportunity is to join heavenly agencies in the great plan of redemption.
“We cannot enrich Him with our gifts. Says the Psalmist: ‘All things come of Thee, and of Thine own have we given Thee.’ Yet God permits us to show our appreciation of His mercies by self-sacrificing efforts to extend the same to others. This is the only way in which it’s possible for us to manifest our gratitude and love to God. He has provided no other.” (Counsels on Stewardship, p.18).
Today, let’s be the blessing that blesses others. North American Division Stewardship Ministries
—North American Division Stewardship Ministries
Best Buddies Friendship Walk
Best buddies is a worldwide organization that fosters relationships between individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities with others in the community. This April there will be a friendship walk on the Andrews campus. This will help us raise money for the organization, which then helps other chapters to be opened in new schools as well as programs in schools, workplaces, and communities. If you are interested in joining us for the walk you can sign up, and if you can not join us on April 27 you can still donate. All donations are welcome and appreciated.
Memorial Service for Bruce Wrenn
The Memorial Service for Bruce Wrenn will be on Sabbath, April 26 at 5 PM at Pioneer Memorial Church. Visitation with the family will be in the Narthex from 4-5 PM.
Music Camp at Pioneer!
The Institute of Young Musicians for Christ is excited to be having a music camp at Pioneer Memorial Church! At our music camps young people ages 6-17 are offered an immersive, week-long musical experience. Our quality musical training—combined with fun, friends, and faith-building encounters— provides a truly incredible opportunity. The camp offers tracks for children 6-12 with or without musical experience and a track for teenagers with significant musical experience. To learn more and register, visit iymcsda.org/michigan. We hope to see you there!
Lamson Hall Upgrades with Maranatha
From May 11–June 8, 2025, Maranatha Volunteers International will be working at Andrews University to update the Lamson Hall residential rooms and suite bathrooms. Please consider volunteering and letting your family and friends know of this opportunity. All individuals (including local) should sign up at the Maranatha website: https://maranatha.org/volunteer-opportunities/.
