We don’t get a lot of wildfires around Michigan, though there was one in Newaygo last night. But, when Rachel and I lived in Colorado, there were wildfires every summer. When we visited 5 years ago, there was a significant fire south of Denver and many people lost their homes. I remember further back, almost 20 years ago driving with a friend to help him move out to LA and being amazed by small little fires along the side the highway. People just drove by like it was no big deal.

Unlike the people in LA, I have never gotten used to wild fire. Fire is dangerous. It moves in unexpected ways. It consumes and destroys. And yet, it also leads to new growth and health and life. When a fire goes through a pine forest, as it burns, it unlocks all the pine cones and sends millions upon millions of seeds out into the world, already beginning to replace the trees that have burned. According to foresters, most forest trees need to be exposed to fire every 50 to 100 years in order to invigorate new growth in the forest.

I think the same is true for churches. Not that churches need to burn, but that every few decades churches need a revival, a fresh influx of the fire of the Holy Spirit, a renewed passion for God and evangelism and seeking after the kingdom of God. I sense God may be doing something like that in our midst. May we fan the flames and catch fire ourselves.

Connect to God

On Easter Sunday, God begins a re-creation of the world beginning with the resurrection of Jesus. While we are still waiting for this creation to be fully formed, we as Christians are called to live a Jesus shaped life so that our lives point people both to Jesus and this new world God is making. This week, we consider the need for wisdom as we seek to live according to the ways of Jesus’ kingdom.

From the Sunday after Memorial Day through Labor Day, we take a break from our regular children’s programming. This gives our teachers a much needed break from prepping as people are in and out for vacations. In its place, we will be showing the children ages 3 through 3rd grade a Christian video each week (during the worship service), such as Veggie Tales, or Hermie and Friends.

You can sign up here to work in our summer Children’s ministry.

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

Our Young at Heart group invites everyone at Zion to a “Peace of Mind Seminar” where you can learn how planning for your final wishes can shield your family from an unnecessary emotional burden. This informative seminar will be held on May 9th at 6:30 pm at church.

This Saturday is a church wide spring clean-up. If you are able to use a rake, pull a weed, shovel mulch, or help us eat some donuts (I assume there will be donuts), you are invited to join us on Saturday at 8 am.

We received a gracious note from Chelsea Reynhout recently I wold like to share with you:

“To our family at Zion –
I can’t thank you enough for your love, support, and encouragement over the last 3 years. From the very beginning, you did more than just generously share your space with me, you invited Eric and I into your family with open arms. You helped God plant the seeds of confidence and desire in me to become a pastor. My new congregation and I are eternally grateful! I experienced yet again your generosity and love in your hosting of my ordination service. Everyone worked so hard to make it one of the best moments of my life. Thank you to the band for blessing my soul and to everyone who worked so hard on the details — from the powerpoint to the cake! Thank you for being you — a place where a lost seminary student can find a home. Sending our love from Newaygo! Visitors welcome! Chelsea”

If you are up in the Newaygo area this summer, I know Chelsea would be blessed by your encouraging visit. She is currently serving Newaygo Family of God Church.

Serve the World

Our summer staff for Camp Zion have been hired. The high school staff this year will be: Makaylee Kempema, Luke Austin, Brad Sanders, and Kim Verbrugge. We had many great applicants and appreciate the enthusiasm and gifts of each. We are excited to see how God will use these teens, our many volunteers, and Director Rachel Verbrugge to bless our neighbors this summer.

Administrative Details

Our next Leaders Meeting will be on Sunday, May 20 from 5-7 pm. We will start the evening with a meal and then talk a little about the vision and direction of Zion, breakup into ministry teams, and end the evening with some training by Pastor Jeremy. We have a great night planned. If you volunteer in any capacity, you are both invited and strongly encouraged to attend this evening of community and ministry. If you do not yet serve anywhere in the ministries of Zion, but would like to get involved, please join us as well and we will get you connected that night. Sign-ups for the leaders meeting will begin this Sunday May 6. Childcare will be provided for children 5th grade and under.

Our annual Congregational Meeting is this Sunday following worship. We will be approving our annual budget and electing our new Elders and Deacons. In addition, we will review this past year and look ahead to where God is calling us next as a community.

The following people were nominated for the office of Elder:
Kyle VanderWall, Josh Sanders, Brian Davis, and Mike Knott.

The following people were nominated for the office of Deacon: Jerrod Holzgen, Chip Harkes, Mark Radcliff, and Aaron Huizenga.

Our new Elders and Deacons will be chosen by lot at our congregational meeting on May 6 from these nominees. Pleas be in prayer for each of our nominees.

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.

Year to date budget: $509,515.68
Year to date contributions: $505,838.11

Zion E-News (4-19-2018)
When I served New Hope Community Church in Colorado, we had a youth intern named Amanda who had grown up in the church and was a college student. Over the years, I have stayed in touch with her as she started seminary, joined the Presbyterian Church, became ordained, and served a church for several years in the Atlanta area. I have been so proud to see the great pastor she has become.

But, on Tuesday, she posted a letter to the congregation informing them that she had accepted a new call to a church in Denver. She would be doing similar work, but she would be home again near her family. The sadness of her leaving was evident in the letter. She clearly loved her present congregation But, you could also sense her joy in going home. Transitions are like that. Often filled with both joy and sorrow, excitement for the new and grief as we say goodbye to the old.

I have been spending a lot of time these week with people who are also getting ready to make a transition. Madonna Chappelle continues to receive care under Hospice and the decline in her health is very obvious. And then, this morning, I visited with Jack Heuvelhorst who also entered Hospice this week. In both cases, I have no doubt where they are headed after this life ends and neither do they. They have both expressed a confident trust and hope in Christ and the resurrection to come. And, over the 20+ years I have known Jack, I have seen all sorts of evidence of a life shaped by the generous gospel of love we find in Jesus.

This morning, I accidentally woke Jack up while praying with him. Since he was awake, I asked if we could read scripture and he nodded his assent. I read John 14:1-6 about how Jesus has gone ahead of us to prepare a place for us in his father’s house. As I read, Jack gave me the thumbs up sign and started clapping. His joy at the hope we have in Christ was evident to me and his sister and brother who were also in the room.

I am reminded today that we do not grieve as those without hope. We do not face death as some giant mystery. We grieve as those who know death does not get the final word. And, we face death knowing it is not the end, but simply a transition to a reunion with our heavenly father. Or, as Paul put it even better in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18.

“Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage one another with these words.”

This Easter season, may we all live in the promise of Jesus resurrection and in the hope of the resurrection to come!

Connect to God

On Easter Sunday, God begins a re-creation of the world beginning with the resurrection of Jesus. While we are still waiting for this creation to be fully formed, we as Christians are called to live a Jesus shaped life so that our lives point people both to Jesus and this new world God is making. This week, we consider Jesus call to be a people defined and shaped by an ethic of love.

From the Sunday after Memorial Day through Labor Day, we take a break from our regular children’s programming. This gives our teachers a much needed break from prepping as people are in and out for vacations.

In its place, we will be showing the children ages 3 through 3rd grade a Christian video each week (during the worship service), such as Veggie Tales, or Hermie and Friends.

You can sign up here to work in our summer Children’s ministry.

Adults 18 years and older must go through Keeping Kids Safe training before volunteering with kids. If you didn’t go through training last fall, there will be one on May 20 after church.

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

Madonna Cappelle continues under hospice care and is regularly surrounded by family and friends. Short visits are still appreciated and she especially wants to thank our deacons (Sarah McAnally and Rachel Eriks) for their many visits and prayers.

Jack Heuvelhorst entered hospice care this week. The family asks for prayers of peace and comfort during a difficult time.

Bob Baar continues receiving chemotherapy and asks for prayers for minimal side effects and healing.

Serve the World

Jodie DeBoer, and her husband Marcus, are preparing to adopt their daughter from Korea, bring their family up to three wonderful children. As part of this transition Jodie will be stepping away from full-time ministry with Youth for Christ. She sent us the following note of thanks for our support over the years:
To all my friends at Zion,

By now you have received my letter informing you of my transition out of Youth for Christ. It is certainly bittersweet and I leave with so many blessings!  YFC has been such a wonderful part of my life – the mission to reach lost young people is still something I care deeply about. I am thankful to

God that He called me to YFC and I will be faithful to obey as He leads me now out of YFC for this new season of my life. As I reflect on the last 12 years of ministry, I think of all the wonderful people and partnerships I was able to encounter. Thank you for cheering me on, supporting the mission, and inviting me to share. You have encouraged and inspired me. I am blessed because of you!  Thank you! Jodie DeBoer

Administrative Details

Our next Leaders Meeting will be on Sunday, May 20 from 5-7 pm. We will start the evening with a meal and then talk a little about the vision and direction of Zion, breakup into ministry teams, and end the evening with some training by Pastor Jeremy. We have a great night planned. If you volunteer in any capacity, you are both invited and strongly encouraged to attend this evening of community and ministry. If you do not yet serve anywhere in the ministries of Zion, but wold like to get involved, please join us as well and we will get you connected that night. Sign-ups for the leaders meeting will begin on April 29. Childcare will be provided for children 5th grade and under.

The Consistory of Zion met last Tuesday night to approve a budget recommendation for the fiscal year of 2018/19 and to nominate our slate of new Elders and Deacons. The budget will be available in the Narthex on Sunday morning for your review prior to our Congregational Meeting on May 6 following worship.

The following people were nominated for the office of Elder:
Kyle VanderWall, Josh Sanders, Brian Davis, and Mike Knott.

The following people were nominated for the office of Deacon: Jerrod Holzgen, Chip Harkes, Mark Radcliff, and Aaron Huizenga.

Our new Elders and Deacons will be chosen by lot at our congregational meeting on May 6 from these nominees. Pleas be in prayer for each of our nominees.

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.

Year to date budget: $488,285.86
Year to date contributions: $476,991.08

Last week Monday, Jeremy and I had the privilege of eating lunch with Wes Granberg-Michaelson. While likely unknown to most people in our church, Wes is something of a legend in our denomination. In the early part of his career he was a chief aide to Senator Mark Hatfield during the Watergate scandal, spent the rest of his career working for the World Council of Churches of finally the General Secretary of the RCA for 17 years. In those roles, he was instrumental in beginning Christian Churches Together that brought Protestants, Catholics, and Orthodox Christians all to the same table for the first time in history. He also helped start the Global Christian Forum that includes Catholic, Pentecostal and Evangelical churches from around the world. He seems to know just about everyone in the Christian world and many in the political world as well. 

On Ash Wednesday this year, Wes was on a retreat with retired leaders of the CRC (Peter Borgdorff), the Episcopalian Church, several Methodist denominations, and evangelical leaders. Together they wrote a joint Confession of Faith in a Time of Crisis. I offer it to you to read and reflect on, not because I either agree or disagree with their statement, but because i think it wise to listen to our elders, especially those from across the Christian spectrum and with hundreds of years of leadership between them in the church. You can check out their statement here.

A couple of weeks ago, I had the privilege of meeting with our Middle and High School students to talk about faith, the Bible, human sexuality and other questions on their minds. It was a truly great night to get to know our students and think with them about important issues in their life. As I thought about their questions, I was reminded of a Catechism recently written by Branson Parler for the Regional Synod of the Great Lakes on Marriage and Sexuality. It too is a great resource. So, if you are thinking through issues like marriage and sexuality and how the church should be engaging these issues in our culture, you should check this Catechism out. You can find it here.

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
Teresa Beute’s  open heart surgery went well. Continue to pray for her as she begins the recovery process.

Barb Peterson is scheduled for a cardioversion on Tuesday to get her heart back in rhythm. Pray that the procedure is successful and that her heart will stay in rhythm.

Gert Brink went to be with her Lord and Savior on Wednesday, April 4. Funeral services will be held on Saturday, April 7, 2018 at 11:00 a.m. at Zion Reformed Church. Visitation is scheduled for Friday from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. at Matthysse-Kuiper-DeGraaf Funeral Home (Grandville)  and Saturday from 10:00 to 10:45 a.m. at church prior to the service.

Serve the World
As CityFest kicks off a 6 month period of serving our community and training churches, there is a great opportunity for members of our church to learn more about evangelism and how to share our faith with others. On April 17, Mark Mittelberg, author of Becoming a Contagious Christian, will offer a free training at Fairhaven Church in Hudsonville at 7 pm. If you are interested in attending, you can sign-up through the Connection Card on Sunday.

The names of those willing to serve as Elders and Deacons were recently distributed to members of Zion. We encourage you tp pray for God’s guidance in choosing our leaders and then prayerful fill out a nomination ballot and turn it in through the pink box in the narthex. These nominations will be considered by the Consistory as we determine the final slate of Elders and Deacons of our congregation meeting in May. Nominations are due this Sunday.

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.

Year to date budget: $467,056.04
Year to date contributions: $469,112.08