Family Pastor – Author – Husband – Dad
Marty Machowski is a Family Pastor and an author of gospel-rich books and curriculum for children, families, and churches. As a faithful husband and father, Marty delights in spending time with his wife and kids. Marty is an accomplished artist, inventor, and outdoorsman, but his greatest passion is his love for the Lord Jesus Christ and proclaiming the life-transforming gospel message to the next generation.
Marty discovered the gospel and gave his life to Christ between his Jr. and Sr. years of college during a summer internship. It happened unexpectedly one morning when the television programming changed and the early morning news gave way to a TV evangelist and a week-long crusade. As a guy of routine, with only one broadcast channel to watch, Marty sat listening, munching on a breakfast of cornflakes, as the preacher proclaimed the gospel story of Jesus. Somewhere in that week, perhaps after the first day’s message, God turned a heart of stone, to a heart of flesh.
Once Marty began to read the Bible, he recognized the need to find a gospel preaching church. So one Sunday, after attending another dead church service, he prayed a desperate prayer. “God, I’m not going to church again, till you find me a church.”
The very next day, Harry, a friend of Marty’s dad, extended an invitation to attend a Christian Businessman’s dinner. Halfway through the meal, Harry lifted his hand and pointed across the table to Marty and said, “Marty, I know the church God wants you to go to.” Marty sat stunned for he had not told anyone about his prayer. Marty didn’t know the name of the church, what they believed, or where they were located, but he knew God had answered his prayer; he had found a church.
Harry took Marty to Covenant Fellowship Church the very next Sunday, where Marty now serves on the pastoral team. When Marty inquired as to how Harry came to share this word, Harry simply answered, “I was praying for you that afternoon when the Lord spoke to me. He said, ‘Do you know the young man you are going to have dinner with tonight?’ I answered, ‘Yes, Lord.’ ‘Well you tell him the church I want him to go to is Covenant Fellowship.’”
Harry attended with Marty for a couple of months and then returned to his own church, confident Marty was plugged in and connected. It was at Covenant Fellowship that Marty was baptized as a believer, felt the call to pastoral ministry, met his wife, and continues raising his six children.