WE'RE HAVING A PARTY

SEGAAR-KING OPEN HOUSE

COME JOIN US ON SATURDAY,

JANUARY 21, 2012

FROM 11 AM TO 2 PM

AT FULLER AVENUE

CHRISTIAN REFORMED CHURCH

1239 FULLER AVENUE,

GRAND RAPIDS, MI 49506

A LIGHT LUNCH WILL BE PROVIDED

"First the Gospel Must Be Preached to the Nations"

In Mark 13:10, Jesus speaks of the signs that will come before the end--before Jesus returns to earth as a triumphant king instead of the humble baby of Christmas. Jesus says, "And the gospel must first be preached to the nations," giving purpose to the time between his ascension and his second coming. You could actually say, from a Christian perspective, the last 2,000 years of history have been granted to us by God for the purpose of mission--sharing the Gospel with those who have not heard it. Recently, Zach received permission from CRWM to begin a Ph.d. dissertation at the Free University of Amsterdam (see picture above of a street in the old city of Amsterdam). His goal will be to trace the development of mission in the New Testament as an explanation for the delay of Christ's second coming in several parables found in Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Undertaking this study has been an act of faith and obedience for us. The responsibilities of family and ministry have been very heavy the last six years and there honestly don't seem leave a lot of time for study. Also, there are no libraries for Zach to use in Haiti, which means that he will have to scan material and search for electronic resources before returning to Haiti in February. It will take at least three years (and several week-long trips to Amsterdam) to complete this study and we hope that it will better equip us to develop theological education programs for Haitian church leaders.

Good News for Villa de Woz

This year Christmas brought good news for the people of Villa de Woz (trans: Villa of the Rose) church near Cayes Jacmel, Haiti. SON-BEAM International, the West Michigan non-profit that has supported many of our church reconstruction projects, decided to fund and design a construction project to put a roof on the church. The Villa de Woz church has had a long and difficult history. The current building (consisting of a foundation and four half-constructed walls) was started with funds from a group of Haitian expatriates living overseas. However, a local community member gained control over these funds and embezzled most of the money intended for the church and an adjacent school before making a quick exit from the community. The congregation itself has struggled. For the last half-decade, the members have worshipped under a tarp. The current pastor of Villa de Woz lives forty miles away and visits only once or twice per month. Meanwhile, the church has been led by two hardy deaconesses who have literally pulled the church along by its bootstraps and the power of the Spirit. Please pray for the congregation as it will have to exert itself immensely to provide volunteer labor to build the roof. We are hoping to build a truss roof out of steel girders with sheet-metal roofing. Pray also for Edouarnis Estivil who will be overseeing the construction with SON-BEAM for the first time (Zach is trying to take a step back from church construction projects in the future).