Sunday night, I watched the Super Bowl. Not much happened in the game, so my mind began to wander a bit. There is a nice rhythm to the game. First the players gather in a huddle and the quarterback tells them the play, then they go the line of scrimmage and  run the play. Then, they go back to the huddle to be told a new play, and then back to the line of scrimmage, and over and over it goes. When the teams score this rhythm is way more interesting to watch than it was on Sunday.

It occurred to me that this is the same rhythm of Jesus’ ministry. First he teaches his disciples, then he sends them out, they come back to talk about what happened, and then they go do ministry again. Jesus never got very excited about the crowds gathering to hear him teach. In fact, he often flees the crowds or drives them away by his teaching. But he was very excited to see people respond to his teaching by living new lives.

Jesus developed an “Equip and Send” ministry, but if you look at most churches we develop a “Come and See” ministry. It is all about getting people to come to our activity, whether it is a worship service or youth event or some other program. We measure success by the number of people who showed up. (There is some value in this because, if these events are worth doing, we should want people to be a part of these activities.)

But, if I am honest, a lot of church activity is really like a football team meeting in a huddle. We talk about how God has called us to live. We talk about the importance of loving others. We talk about sharing our faith. But none of that actually happens in the huddle. The important work of the church happens after the huddle when you go home and you live out your faith in your neighborhoods, schools, and workplaces. Now, don’t here me say what I am not saying, we need to gather in a huddle. We need to know the play. We need the encouragement of the team. We need a little inspiration. We need to be reminded of the goal. We need the huddle.

But, the temptation for many of us can be to stay in the huddle. We can structure our lives so we spend as much time as possible in the huddle by filling our lives and our church schedules with one program and activity after another. We can even make church about enjoying the huddle and not winning the game. We do that anytime we put our comfort and convenience ahead of the mission of making more and better disciples. Sometimes our traditions and our relationships matter more to us than running the play and making the first down and scoring the touchdown.

Imagine how frustrated a coach would be if the players never left the huddle. If they told stories of great plays from the past, but never ran any of their own. If they were so focused on getting along and being nice that they never held anyone accountable for actually running the play. The coach would be furious and might start looking for a new team because that one clearly didn’t get the point of the huddle. They made the game about the huddle instead of using the huddle to play the game better.

At Zion we long to be a church that Equips and Sends its people as missionaries into their communities. The ministry of our church does not primarily happen through programs and activities in our building, but through you in your relationships: you loving your neighbors, you actively sharing your faith with those who don’t yet believe, you discipling a friend who just came to Christ, you embracing God’s call on your life to live and love like Jesus. We want to help you be more effective, more competent, and more courageous in following God as he leads you in ministry today, tomorrow, and every day until you final stand before the throne of God and he says to you, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

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 fourth sign occurs once again near the time of passover, but this time Jesus is in the wilderness on the far side of the Sea of Galilee. The crowds gather again looking for signs and wonders in order to believe. But there is no food for the crowds. Jesus takes 5 loaves and a few fish and turns them into a feast revealing himself as the new Moses who can lead us to the true promised land of resurrection and eternal life with God.

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
Agnes Beukema has been diagnosed with acute leukemia. She and her family are meeting with Hospice to determine care options. Continue to pray for those in our congregation who deal with ongoing health issues.

Next week Sunday, February 17, is “Say It Day” for those attending Sunday School. If you have a child from pre-school through 5th grade, don’t forget to help them review the verse to they are reading next week.

Our new members class, beginning today, will meet in the Library following worship. This class is for anyone interested in joining Zion or who simply wants to learn more about our church and its life and ministry.

If you signed up for a 729 group, you should have been or will soon be contacted by your group coordinator. If you are not contacted by next Thursday, shoot Pastor Gregand e-mail and he will get right on it.

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, on March 3 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 4th 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. Please sign up today on the back of the Connection Card.

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: $391,507.20
Fiscal Year to date contributions: $380,630.23

It’s been a little cold this week. And, in my house, the children and parents are beginning to climb the walls just a little bit. There are only so many games you can play, books you can read, and movies you can watch before you just want to get back to school and see your friends and get out of the house.

But, there is something good about slowing down once in a while. We live in a society that values doing, achieving, getting things done. We often can be tempted to find out value and worth in what we do and how well we do it. We focus on games won, grades earned, and promotions received. But there is always another game, another test, another task to conquer at work. 

God told us to take one day off out of every seven, to take one day a week, to simply be with God. A day to rest. A day to worship,. A day for community. We aren’t very good at taking this day. We prefer to check things off the to-do list, to make some progress on a project, to push ourselves just a little more.

Something important happens when we slow down. We listen to our souls a little more. We enjoy the silence and in the silence begin to hear God. We connect with people more deeply when there isn’t the pressure to get to the next thing. We discover we do have the time for deeper connections if we are willing to stop once in a while.

I’ve been enjoying more time in scripture, started a new devotional, had some great conversations with our kids, lost badly at some games, and been reminded my true worth does not come from what I do, but simply because I am a child of God. And, I am blessed to be Rachel’d husband and my kids dad.

May you find time to slow down and remember again from where our true worth and value comes.

Connect to God
Zion is a place where our youth are encouraged to serve regularly in important ways throughout our church and in worship services. But today, our youth ministry is getting even more involved in leading worship. Various students will be involved in the worship band and the liturgy. Our middle school students have spent time crafting prayers based on pictures they have taken. Our high school students have prepared a skit that summarizes the life of Jesus in less than six minutes. And our Youth Director has prepared a teaching from Luke 4:14-30 when Jesus was rejected in his home town. Our prayer is that you would be encouraged, inspired, and find renewal in your call to share the Good News of Jesus Christ.

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
Due to the Youth Service, there will be no Sunday School this week. Sunday School will resume next week on February 10.

Our next new members class will begin on February 10. This class is for anyone interested in joining Zion or who simply wants to learn more about our church and its life and ministry. You can sign-up this Sunday on the Connection Card.

If you signed up for a 729 group, you should have been or will soon be contacted by your group coordinator. If you are not contacted by next Thursday, shoot Pastor Gregand e-mail and he will get right on it.

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
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: $380,632.00
Fiscal Year to date contributions: $373,457.23

On Sunday, we will be talking about Zion’s 2025 Vision. In 2025, Zion will be 70 years old and we believe God has much he still wants to do in and through our community. 

While we will be talking about the vision during the worship service, as I have been finalizing the sermon, I realized I will not be able to share as much detail as I would have liked. The text is so rich and worth study that I don’t want to take away from our text for the day to talk nuts and bolts of vision and mission at our church. 

But, I, the rest of the staff, and Consistory are really excited to talk about where we believe God is calling us as a church. (My extended family may be tired of hearing me talk about our vision and all God is doing at Zion.) So, we will be having a Zion 2025 Vision discussion during the Sunday school hour in the Sanctuary. This will be time to learn some more detail, ask some questions, and pray together for God to raise up workers for his harvest. 

Join me this Sunday to dream a little about the future and seek our generous God’s blessing as we follow his Son’s command to go into all the world and make disciples, teaching them to obey everything he has commanded us.

Connect to God
This week, we join Jesus at the Samaritan well as he meets a rejected woman and sends her out as a missionary into fields ripe for the harvest. As we look at our church and community through the lens of this story, we are challenged to embrace the vision of our church to saturate our community with the gospel of Jesus Christ by developing Jesus shaped leaders to go out into the field and join the Lord of the Harvest. The fields are ripe. Are we ready or getting ready to join the harvest work?

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
We express our Sympathy to Rick and Nancy Steenbergen, Mark & Kim Steenbergen, and Mike and Julie Bond and their family as they mourn the passing of their mother and grandmother, Marge Steenbergen who went to be with her Lord and Savior on Saturday, Jan. 19. Funeral services will be held on Friday, January 25, 2019, at 11 a.m. at Matthysse Kuiper DeGraaf Funeral Home in Grandville with Pastor Rick VanderWall officiating.

Throughout this fall, many people in our church have participated in a 729 Group. These groups commit to meet together for a meal once a month for three months. It is a great way to get to know some new people in church. I have heard numerous people tell me how much they have enjoyed getting to know people in their group. If you are looking to make some new connections over the winter, new to Zion, or wondering who some of these new people are, sign-up through the Connection Card on Sunday for our next round of 729 Groups.

Our next new members class will begin on February 10. This class is for anyone interested in joining Zion or who simply wants to learn more about our church and its life and ministry. You can sign-up this Sunday on the Connection Card.

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 January 23-26 and 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
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: $369,756.80
Fiscal Year to date contributions: $361,629.23