January 7, 2016

Faith talk

Remember in prayer: Erv Koop has been moved to Freedom Inn for recovery following his stroke. Pastor Chad will be out of the office January 11 – January 23, as he leads an Israel/Palestine Study Tour. Pray for safe travels for the group, and that they may see how God reveals himself in his Word, his land and his people. Thank you to everyone who bought a Faith Cadet birdhouse! We sold all 15 and raised $450. All proceeds went to provide for a family that we sponsored for the holidays (from the Center for Women in Transition). The donated items were dropped off a few weeks ago, and everyone was very excited and grateful. Thanks again, the Faith Cadets Thank you to our Faith church family for your prayers, cards and expressions of sympathy in the deaths of our brother and brother-in-law. God has been so good, and we feel so blessed. Gordon and Marilyn Grevengoed Thank you to those who contributed to our annual Mitten-Plus Drive! We collected a total of 3,719 items, setting a new record in this our 32nd year. Goods are being distributed to 15 area agencies. Thank you! Barb Vander Haak

Opportunities to Serve: Thank you to all who have contributed in both labor hours and financially to the Adams Family House Build with Habitat for Humanity. The exterior of the home is nearly completed and we will be spending more time now on the interior starting with insulating and drywall. Faith Church is scheduled to the following dates: 1/29 AM & PM 2/5 AM & PM 2/6 PM 2/12 AM & PM 2/13 PM 2/19 AM & PM 2/26 AM & PM Please stop by the table in the Fellowship Room after our worship service for more information, and to sign up to volunteer.

THIS WEEK AT FAITH

Preaching: Pastor Chad Pierce Hosea 11:1-11

Matthew 2:13-23 Sunday, January 10

9:30 AM Morning Worship

10:45 AM Refreshments – Visitors Welcome

11:00 AM Sunday School & Catechism

11:00 AM Spanish Connect Wednesday, January 13 8:30 AM Early Risers Acts 9:32-10:23

5-6:30 PM Faith Night Dinner

6:15 PM Cadets/Gems/MSM

6:30 PM Spanish Connect

6:30 PM Worship Team Practice

Info on website: faithcrc.org

SERVING THIS WEEK:

TV CREW Clay & Trent Slenk, Aidan Baggech AUDIO Nate DeMaster PPT Ross Haveman GREETERS (N) Greg & Sarah Schemper (W) Jim & Sue Shoemaker USHERS Brent & Sharon Hoitenga Ken & Nancy Haveman TODDLER NURSERY Ann VanZalen, Sue Shoemaker Kate Schemper, Michael Pierce INFANT NURSERY Michelle Kooyers, Ema Brace, Sophia Snyder PRESCHOOL Kristin Tubergan, Lilly Parker Andrew DeBlecourt, Lillian Ryden KINDERGARTEN Dave DeBlecourt, Cassandra Adams, Quinn Bouwkamp FAITH BAKERS Sandy Visser, Michelle VanNoord Ruth Lynema, Cindy Meiste, Judy DeGraaf COFFEE SERVERS Roger & Terri Lynema Loren & Connie Machiela John & Hannah Mang Peter & Lydia Mang VAN DRIVERS Jeanne Goodyke

*If you are unable to serve, please find a replacement.

Faith Finances

General Fund Offering last week $5,150 General Fund $ needed each week $15,775 Giving is currently at 32.6% of our budget

SERVING NEXT WEEK:

TV CREW Bruce Harkema, Trent Slenk, Ben Lambers AUDIO Duane Carpenter PPT Todd Lambers GREETERS (N) Jeff & Kara Schipper (W) Karl & Barb Brink USHERS Karl Brink, Jeremy Brandsen John & Mary Kleyn TODDLER NURSERY Lydia Thiam, Brittney Postma Isaac Baggech, Ellie Garcia INFANT NURSERY Michelle Commeret, Lilly Ryden, Lily Lemkuil PRESCHOOL Greg Schemper, Megan Jorritsma Rachel Mayhew, Jackson Engbers KINDERGARTEN Jodi Pierce, Sue Lambers, Aidan Baggech COFFEE SERVERS Julie Meiste Tim & Cindy Meiste Bud & Jenean Mosterd Mitch & Marisa Neubert VAN DRIVERS Sumte Thang

*If you are unable to serve, please find a replacement.

Preaching next week… Ross Hoekstra

Additional Announcements

Sunday School and Catechism classes will meet Sunday. L.I.F.T. groups are also scheduled to meet Sunday. Faith Night Dinner Menu for this Wednesday, January 13: Baked Ravioli, Caesar Salad, Garlic Bread, Pizza and dessert.

Giving Envelopes & Electronic Giving – Our new giving envelopes are located by the “Welcome Center” along with the

electronic giving forms. Forms and envelopes are also available in the church office.

If you would like to hear more and stay updated on what Shane Brandsen is doing in California starting up a church

plant, send him an email at shanecbrandsen@gmail.com He would love to add you to his update list!

You can also support Shane financially at http://localitychurch.com/

CAMPERS: It’s time to plan our summer camping trip. We would like to go on either Wed, July 20 or Thurs, July 21

through Sunday, July 24. We will plan on Hoffmaster State Park again this year. If you are interested, please contact

Connie DeZwaan by phone #616-392-6807 or e-mail: csdezwaan@att.net. Please respond by Monday, July 18.

Weather Cancellations: Cancellations will be emailed to those who are receiving “Faith Talk”. Cancellations will also

be listed on WHTC 1450 AM, WJQ 99.3, WOODTV 8 & WZZM13-TV

Parents interested in learning more about 2016-17 preschool and kindergarten at Holland Christian Schools are invited

to join us at one of our Discovery Nights on Jan. 19 at South Side Elementary and Jan. 21 at Rose Park Elementary from

6-7:30 pm. For more information, please go to hollandchristian.org or contact Courtney Lampen at (616) 820-2804 or

clampen@hollandchristian.org.

CHURCH CHILI COOK OFF – calling all chili chefs! January 20th the competition is on.

Bring a crock pot of your best chili to share for Faith night dinner. We’ll provide the sides. Competitors, email Kari before the 14th. Guest judges and gag prizes… a night not to be missed.

MISSIONARY UPDATE

Dear Friends and Family:

Greetings from Haiti. God has been good to us in 2015, protecting and providing for our life and work in Haiti. One of

the biggest answers to prayer has been renewal after a painful conflict within the Christian Reformed Church of Haiti, a

Haitian denomination with which we have worked since 2005. It is great to be able to work with the Haitian churches

and Haitian leaders of this denomination again. A second answer to prayer is the recruitment of new missionaries to

serve in Haiti. Finally, we are thankful for your continued prayer and financial support of our ministry, two things which

we will continue to need in 2016.

Please join us in giving thanks for:

1. Our new missionaries, Cory and Lynn Grimm and family. They will officially be starting with Christian Reformed

World Missions in January, 2016. It will take at least six months for support-raising before they can arrive on the field.

2. A successful Worship and Music Conference in December. Our theme was “Be the worship leader God has called

you to be.” We trained over 120 Haitian church leaders in practical and theological principles to help them become

better worship leaders.

3. A great visit from Larry and Faith Segaar, who spent about 10 days with us.

Please join us in prayer for:

1. Visiting teams in January from Second CRC of Allendale and Lakeside CRC. For the service component, the teams

this winter will be helping us put an addition on our mission office to house Perspectives Reformees, the CRC media

ministry.

2. Stability in Haiti. The Dec. 27 presidential election was cancelled. The new date will most likely be in January.

3. Zach’s final push to finish his Ph.d. The final draft is due on February 15.

4. That we would receive the metal trusses for a church we want to build. The Haitian vendor is over three months

late after receiving full payment and construction is delayed.

FOR MORE PICTURES, STORIES, AND INFORMATION ABOUT OUR MINISTRY AND FAMILY, PLEASE SEE OUR BLOG AT

segaarking.blogspot.com

Thanks for your prayers and support,

Zachary, Sharon, Hannah, Vivian, Isaiah and Esther Segaar-King

Missionaries to Haiti through Christian Reformed World Missions

MISSIONARY UPDATE

Here in the Land of Eternal Spring there is no dreaming of a "white" Christmas but we do have our share of other benefits besides the beautiful weather. As Christmas 2015 is now upon us, we wanted to take a moment to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. We cannot thank all of you receiving this newsletter enough because it is your love, encouragement, prayers and support that allow us to continue to live and lean into God's call upon our lives here in Central America. We hope you all have a few minutes during this most blessed season to look at some pictures and read a little update from the past few months since we've been back in Guatemala. It is been a whirlwind of activity but so much to be thankful for!! Joel VanDyke

Sinergy 2015 The official dictionary definition for the word "Synergy" is "The interaction of two or more agents or forces so that their combined effect is greater than the sum of their individual effects." About three years ago, Joel challenged a friend of his to consider having the annual training institute for his organization in Guatemala City as opposed to somewhere in the United States. We could not imagine at that time what the seed of that idea would birth.

During the first week of November, we hosted upwards of 200 attendees for Synergy 2015 from a half dozen global organizations who decided to use this time in Guatemala as a type of annual organizational summit. Guatemala City became the host city and a case study in urban social and spiritual renewal. More than 40 cities from around the world were represented and the week filled with plenary addresses, panel discussions, ministry sight visits, workshops, liturgical experiences, historical and theological reflections and an explosion of Guatemalan culture and the arts. Since space is limited here, we'll tell the story with some pictures but if you would like to have a more detailed report, please shoot us an e-mail and we would be thrilled to send you a larger PDF report that captures the essence of what happened that week and the exciting results of what the time has produced. An organizing committee of 15 plus Guatemalan organizations will begin meeting in January in order to plan for Synergy 2016 and there is interest now in holding a similar global event every 2-3 years in targeted cities around the world. The Synergy strategy and the success of the event has become a huge step forward in the global Urban Training Collaborative that Joel now directs.

I Am Art The week after Thanksgiving, Marilyn, Joeito and Sofia served with our friends at Athentikos for an I Am Art (IAA) camp with some incredible young women from a ministry called Oasis. Marilyn led a week long workshop on painting and drawing with Sofia assisting her. Joeito served primarily as a translator on the mural part of the project. They all stayed on campus with the girls and other artists all week. This was an incredible experience and you can learn all about the I Am Art initiative by clicking HERE. There are 3-4 similar camps being planned for Guatemala next year and we're looking for artists who would want to participate. Please let us know if you are interested or if you know of someone who might be. Joel continues to serve on the board of Athentikos and the momentum from these successful IAA experiences has been amazing. IAA believes in unleashing "creativity as mission" and building a global community of artists and creatives learning to use their time, talents and treasures to engage story through artistic medium. We are thankful to be a vital part of helping to see the IAA initiative grow both here in Guatemala as well as the United States and other targeted countries around the world. Please pray for the needed artist recruitment for ongoing IAA camps and for the further nurture and development of a Guatemalan artist guild who will engage and help grow the vision locally. We are also working on some very strategic organizational partnerships for the IAA initiative and for that to happen, a solid operating budget needs to be secured for Athentikos as the vision grows and expands.

Baseball Clinics

From December 9-15, we worked again with Unlimited Potential Incorporated (UPI) to run a week's worth of baseball

clinics and other baseball activities. The week featured the same three former and current big leaguers who came last

year (Terry Evans, Kory De Haan, and Matt Taylor). In addition, Todd Cunningham joined the team this year.

You can learn more about UPI by clicking on their web-site HERE. This year we were able to work with the Guatemala Baseball Federation to develop a week long baseball festival around the week the UPI player's came and it has now become something that will happen on an annual basis. The festival included parent/coach talk back sessions, two days of clinics at the national stadium, participation in a home run derby against players of the national teams from Nicaragua, El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala who were in town for a Central American tournament as part of the baseball festival, special exhibition games played by the children of the baseball clinics, etc. We are thrilled with the way our love for the sport of baseball has connected in such a vital way to our lives and work here in Guatemala City. The work with UPI over the past two years has opened up for us many new relationships in Guatemala across multiple levels. We enjoyed hosting these guys in our home and look forward to a continued relationship of collaboration with them.

Prayers and Praises

Support-Raising We would deeply appreciate hearing from any of you that would consider making a one time gift to our work with Christian Reformed World Missions or supporting us on a monthly basis. You can make financial gifts on-line HERE or can send a check to Christian Reformed World Missions earmarked for the Van Dykes in Guatemala and send to the address at the bottom of this newsletter. We need to make some considerable advances in our support raising moving into 2016. More on that process in the next newsletter. Please feel free to contact us directly with any questions, etc. at: jvandyke@crcna.org. Urban Training Collaborative Joel will be moving into 2016 with the new opportunity of leading a global urban ministry training initiative called the UTC uniting world class cities around the globe. The network of cities currently involved include Nairobi, Guatemala City, Johannesburg/Pretoria, New Delhi, Dominican Republic, Port-au-Prince, Denver, Tacoma/Seattle and Minneapolis with a half a dozen others very interested as we head into 2016. Speaking and Travel Joel will have some travel and speaking opportunities heading into the first quarter of 2016. These include Cairn University in Langhorne, PA, Calving College in Grand Rapids, MI, and Leadership Foundation in Pittsburgh, PA. Joel will have the chance to also connect with some of the congregations and friends that support us during these trips to the U.S. More on the specifics of these events as they approach as each is very significant for different reasons.

Family Updates

Both Sofia and Joeito completed their first school semester at home due to our extensive travels in the U.S. through October. Thus, Marilyn had double duty in overseeing their work but it has been fun to have this season with both of them studying at home and participating in different ministry events with us. As we begin the New Year, Joeito will return to his studies at the Christian Academy of Guatemala and Sofia will continue studying at home. Marilyn will again be teaching a class at the homeschool co-op that meets weekly.