Segaar-King August Update

Remnants of the ping-pong sized hail that totaled our car while we were on vacation in July.

Our children at Custer State Park in South Dakota

Dear Friends and Family:

On this Friday before Labor Day weekend, we reflect back on this summer and what God has done in our lives and ministry.  We give thanks that God allowed all four of our children to successfully complete their first full school year in the United States.  I (Zach) had an opportunity in June to travel to Costa Rica and see the tremendous work Resonate Global Mission is doing in developing leaders all around Latin America through the Faith and Life training program, based in San Jose (Costa Rica).  Our family had a wonderful vacation driving (and tent-camping) cross-country to the Black Hills (South Dakota), Yellowstone and the Grant Tetons (both in Wyoming).  By God’s grace, we survived a terrible hailstorm that totaled our van!  Finally, we give thanks that school has started again and we have officially begun “Year Two” of life after Haiti!

Please pray for:

1.       Resonate’s Leadership Team Retreat next week.  A big part of Zach’s work building strong leadership in Resonate!  Resonate will also be having a Grand Rapids (MI) and Burlington (ON)-based team retreat on September 27.  Pray that we would grow together for God’s glory.

2.       Haiti and Nicaragua:  Two of the most economically challenged countries in Latin America have had separate incidents of civil and political unrest this summer.  Pray that our mission staff and national partners in these two countries would be Christ’s light in difficult times.

3.       A successful school year for our children.

Please give thanks for:

1.       God’s grace at the Synod (annual assembly) of the CRC back in June.  Resonate presented a document calling the CRC to focus on prayer and spiritual renewal as the first step to making the CRC’s church planting and evangelism efforts more effective.   Pray that this would take root!

2.       Resonate’s first birthday as the CRC’s new mission agency.  We give thanks for the members and churches that have supported the work of mission through Resonate faithfully despite many changes!

3.       Sharon has been accepted into Grand Rapids Symphony Chorus.  We give thanks that she will have an opportunity to sing this fall, winter and spring.

Thanks for your prayers and support,

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

Serving with Resonate Global Mission

Using the Right Tool

A large part of the Costa Rican population, including the capital of San Jose, is located in a beautiful valley in the center of the country.

If you are like me, you often try to make due with whatever tool is at hand when you need to make a quick repair.  So, when I need to tighten a Phillips-head screw, I will just try to manage with a flat-head screwdriver.  The problem is, I often strip the screw and make life a lot harder.  The same is true in the area of theological education.  Often we use a didactic, lecture-orientated presentation style to train adult students who really don't benefit at all from this approach.  Recently I was in Costa Rica where I spent a few days with Resonate missionaries, Jim and Ruth Padilla-DeBorst.  Jim and Ruth do theological education through a program called Faith and Life in English or CETI (Comunidad de Estudios Teologicos Interdisciplinarios) in Spanish.  Instead of trying to communicate a defined body of information didactically, CETI focuses on inviting dialogue, asking the right questions, and participative learning.  Experience has shown that this method of learning provides better results for adult learners--the kind that Resonate often engages in theological education.  Like many of the other training tools that Resonate uses, CETI focuses on application of learning and reflection on experience.  This means that theology doesn't remain theoretical.  It actually gets used in everyday ministry and the results become opportunities for further prayerful reflection and learning.  We at Resonate are very thankful to have the opportunity to use CETI/Faith and Life in our theological and leadership training ministries.  It is the right tool for the job!  For more information, see http://www.ceticontinental.org/portal/

A Place to Call Home

Resonate's Director (Zach) and a CRC Finance colleague battle to remove some rotted fence-posts.

Weeding the sandbox and repainting the playground equipment make a more attractive place for Resonate's missionary children to play.

Moving from host country back to home country for deputation and support-raising is challenging for Resonate's missionary families.  We know that well from our many years of work in Haiti.  Resonate owns four duplexes in southeast Grand Rapids where its missionaries and guests can hang their hats for several months at time during their visits to Michigan.  As you can imagine, however, the duplexes need plenty of repairs and cleaning so that they can accommodate our missionaries.  This week, the Grand Rapids-based staff of Resonate took an afternoon to serve our missionaries by cleaning and repairing the duplexes.  We replaced a fence, pressure-washed the siding on several units, weeded, painted, cut-down brush and did some interior cleaning.  It was a blessing to enjoy a beautiful summer day together as a staff.  If you would ever like to bless the missionaries of the CRC, please consider volunteering to help us maintain and clean the duplexes.  Thanks!