In his book, Gaining by Losing, J. D. Greer (current President of the Southern Baptist Convention), says many people think of the institution of the church like a cruise ship or a battle ship, but we ought to think of it as an aircraft carrier.

Those who think of the church as a cruise ship look to the church to meet their needs. They may even have a checklist of the programs and services they need the church to offer. They may even switch cruise ships to pick and choose the programming they like. Worship on ship A, youth group on ship B, and a small group at ship C. For these people, the church is a deliverer of religious goods and services and they are very willing to take their business to another cruise ship if this one stops meeting their needs.

Other people see the church as a battleship. The church is made for a mission and success is measured by how loud or dramatically it fights the battle. But it is in the institution that does most of the fighting. The pastors or staff are responsible to go into battle and the members gather each week to watch and cheer them on. For them, the programs, services, and ministries of the church are the primary instruments of mission.

He argues we should really see the church more like an air craft carrier. Like a battle ship, an air craft carrier is made to fight in the war. But, an air craft carrier is successful when it stays out of the battle and sends it air planes into the conflict. The air craft carrier is their to refuel the planes, to rearm the planes, to fix the planes if they get damaged, to support the planes in their mission to win the war, but the air craft carrier doesn’t actually do the fighting. The church should be equipping, healing, strengthening, and sending its members into the battle know that not even the gates of hell can withstand the onslaught of believers equipped but he church and empowered by the Spirit to shape a community with the gospel of God’s love.

Our vision as a church is to become more and more an air craft carrier that equips you to effectively reach the people whoa re near to you, but far from God with the gospel of Jesus Christ. We have a lot of projects going on at church. Some of them are really obvious, like thinking through a potential remodel to make our facilities more useful in training our children and youth and in welcoming new and “not yet” believers into our community.

But some of the most important work is happening behind the scenes. In the past few months, we have conducted an audit of our Outreach ministries to more intentionally align them with a vision of evangelizing our community and equipping you to be effective ambassadors of God’s kingdom. Rachel Brower is leading a team working to align our Children’s ministries with our vision. And, Pastor Jeremy is anticipating a similar effort in youth ministry at some point in the future. The goal of this work is to make sure we are all pulling in the same direction, that all our ministries are equipping our members for the mission, and also preparing us as a church to launch new aircraft carriers (churches) to send even more airplanes (people) into the field to win their neighbors to Christ.

Please hold all these efforts in your prayers as we seek to follow God in mission and life as a church community.

Connect to God
While Matthew, Mark, and Luke tell many of the same stories of Jesus, John tells many different stories and in the process give a unique theological view of who Jesus is and how he now calls us to live. We begin our study of John this year by studying the 7 signs of John. The last sign occurs in Bethany, at a tomb, as the crowd and Jesus grieve over the death of Lazarus. But then the stone is rolled away and Jesus calls Lazarus out of the tomb and back into life. Both we are the crowd are left with one simply decision: what will we do with someone who can raise even the dead?

This Sunday we celebrate with Chip and Becky Harkes the baptism of Evelyn Rebecca. As they celebrate her life, we give thanks to God for the gift of new life he has made available to all who believe. We thank God as well for the covenant he has established all the way back with Abraham to include children in his family. We honor this faithful God as we welcome Evelyn into the covenant community at Zion.

Join us for worship on Wednesday March 6 as we begin the season of Lent with both a celebration of Communion and the Imposition of the Ashes. Nursery is available for children 3 and under.

If you would like a copy of the worship service, you can receive a complete copy by contacting Tom Verbrugge or you can find the weekly messages on our website.

Grow in Community
A few weeks ago, all members of our church received a letter in their mailbox asking them to prayerfully consider their willingness and ability to serve as an Elder or Deacon. We ask that the whole congregation be in prayer during this season of discernment and that everyone remember to turn in their responses in the pink box at the welcome table by Sunday March 3.

Mike MacGraw has knee surgery on Monday and is hoping to return home today as he continues his recovery. Please hold Mike and Kathy in your prayers.

We also have many members coming from and going to warmer climes during these winter months. Continue to keep them and their safety in your prayers as well.

Serve the World
Do you know a great way to serve others? Go shopping! Seriously. Lifeline Community Church is currently planning a mission trip to Guatemala with members from the church from June 19-26. The trip will cost an average of $2,000 per person which for many of their members is a huge cost. To help defray these costs, Benefit Twice will be holding a special sale from March 20-23. This will only be at the Wyoming store in Rogers Plaza, so mark your calendars and do a little shopping for a great cause and some good deals!

Administrative Details
Our next Leaders Meeting, this Sunday from 4-7 pm, will be an opportunity for everyone in our congregation to have a voice in planning the remodel of our building. Everyone from 5th grade and up is invited to participate in this Congregational Workshop of dreaming and imagining what might be led by Elevate Studios. Child care will be provided for children 3rd grade and under. We will also provide a meal. Mark your calendar and plan on joining us on March 3 at 4 pm. Currently about 120 people have signed up to attend. If you are still interested in attending, please contact Pastor Greg.

As we continue working with Elevate Architecture to develop a plan for remodeling our building to create a larger gathering area and children’s spaces, the Consistory has formed a building remodel team. The team includes: Pastor Rick, Andy Boeskool, Brian Davis, Sandie Dunn, Kyle VandePol, , Roxie VanderHeide, and Arlyn Zoet.

Rachel Brower has begun the research portion of her sabbatical as she works with a team to imagine new possibilities for our Children’s Ministries. The team includes Rachel Brower, Sean McAnally, Heidi Ondersma, Jackie Deiter, and Megan Taylor. Currently they are doing some benchmarking of best practices of other churches as they consider the best way to position our church for both future growth and planting new churches.

We continue to thank God for his provision of all of our needs and for the generous support of our congregation with their time, talent, and treasures.
Fiscal Year to date budget: $424,132.80
Fiscal Year to date contributions: $415,114.23