Don Francis
Head Pastor
I grew up in Portage, MI with my Dad & Mom and two brothers.
I received Christ as my Savior at eight years of age at a Sunday evening service at Mapleview Baptist Church. I was baptized the following year at Bethel Baptist Church in Kalamazoo.
I was a husky kid…by that I mean that I attended Portage Northern High School (Go Huskies!).
I then went to Grand Rapids Baptist College (now Cornerstone University) where two significant events occurred. One, I met my future wife, Judi…we were married between my junior and senior years (1977) and, two, I graduated with a BA in Bible.
After college I wanted to attend seminary but with a young family to support, I couldn’t go the traditional route so enrolled in distance learning at Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary, graduating with a Master’s degree.
I had my life planned out. I would preach in churches on the weekend while running a small convenience store/gas station chain during the week. I had a “handshake” deal with the owner to buy the business when he retired.
But he sold to somebody else and I was surprised and devastated. But God used a letter from someone who identified herself as “an old lady whose opinion may not mean much but I think you should be our next pastor” to call me into fulltime ministry. I still don’t know who she was!
The next step was to find a place to minister and Bellevue First Baptist Church offered me a job.
I accepted and have been here since Easter of 1993.
I am thankful every day because we have a great group of people and I get to do what I love- teach the Word of God!
I received Christ as my Savior at eight years of age at a Sunday evening service at Mapleview Baptist Church. I was baptized the following year at Bethel Baptist Church in Kalamazoo.
I was a husky kid…by that I mean that I attended Portage Northern High School (Go Huskies!).
I then went to Grand Rapids Baptist College (now Cornerstone University) where two significant events occurred. One, I met my future wife, Judi…we were married between my junior and senior years (1977) and, two, I graduated with a BA in Bible.
After college I wanted to attend seminary but with a young family to support, I couldn’t go the traditional route so enrolled in distance learning at Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary, graduating with a Master’s degree.
I had my life planned out. I would preach in churches on the weekend while running a small convenience store/gas station chain during the week. I had a “handshake” deal with the owner to buy the business when he retired.
But he sold to somebody else and I was surprised and devastated. But God used a letter from someone who identified herself as “an old lady whose opinion may not mean much but I think you should be our next pastor” to call me into fulltime ministry. I still don’t know who she was!
The next step was to find a place to minister and Bellevue First Baptist Church offered me a job.
I accepted and have been here since Easter of 1993.
I am thankful every day because we have a great group of people and I get to do what I love- teach the Word of God!
Luke Julian
Youth Pastor
I was born in Franklin, Indiana but spent most of my childhood and young adult life in California. How did I end up in Bellevue, Michigan, you might be asking? Well, I’m still asking that myself! From a very young age I had envisioned being an overseas missionary to Central or South America. I pursued that for several years, but God seemed to continually redirect my steps to where I am today, and somehow that meant youth and worship ministry in a little village in Michigan. In addition to youth and worship ministry, we’ve also been blessed to be involved in missions, overseeing the North End outreach facility, VBS, and more. I started my college education at Liberty University, but after a semester I switched to an online learning path. I studied online for several years at Christian Leaders Institute, obtaining my Life Coaching and Wedding Officiant certification, as well as completing many of the courses for needed for a Bachelor of Divinity degree. As of 2023, I am enrolled in Kairos University and working towards obtaining my Masters of Divinity. I met my wife, Tara in 2012 and we married one year later on the anniversary of our first date. At the time of this writing, we have 3 children and we have the privilege to do homeschooling with them. We moved to Bellevue in 2017 to join the ministries of this church and have felt right at home since day one.