Segaar-King April Update

Spring Break in Michigan feels a lot different than Haiti.

We spent a few cold Spring Break vacation days in a cottage near Lake Michigan.

Dear Friends and Family:

Greetings from Haiti!  This is my (Zach) first time back to Haiti since leaving on June 6, 2017.  Needless to say, there are many ambivalent feelings swirling in my soul.  We deeply miss our friends and colleagues with whom we have sweated, suffered and celebrated together for twelve years.  At the same time, we recognize that God sent us onward to a new chapter of global mission-work.  Please pray this week that God would help Zach to be a great encouragement to our mission staff in Haiti.

 Please pray for:

1.       Wisdom, grace, and good words as Zach and other Resonate staff explain some of the key changes that need to happen within Resonate to make it sustainable for the future.  Pray especially on Thursday, May 3, as Zach will be talking with some key CRC leaders.

2.       A collaborative reflection by leaders from the Christian Reformed Church and the Reformed Church of America on church revitalization that Resonate is organizing in Chicago on May 2.  We hope to clarify the characteristics of a church that God is renewing for mission.

3.       A meeting of Resonate’s fourteen Regional Mission Leaders from around the world in Chicago in May.  Pray that God would clarify strategies and goals for our mission work.

4.       A good finish to the school year for our children.

Please give thanks for:

1.       Johnny and Kim Gryglewicz, Resonate’s new missionaries to Haiti, who arrived in March to begin their ministry.  Praise God for his provision of new staff members to continue the work we left behind.

2.       Success for Calvin Theological Seminary’s church planting class sponsored by Resonate.  Yesterday Zach had a discussion with four students in the class who have said that it is their favorite class and are considering planting churches and working in international mission.  Praise God for raising up a new generation of mission leaders!

The blessing of being able to serve in mission.  Sometimes the transition to Michigan feels overwhelming.  Sometimes the task of leadership at Resonate seems heavy. Despite all this, it is a huge blessing to know God is working his will to fruition through us.

Segaar-King Open House

SAVE THE DATE:

Segaar-King Open-House

from 1:00-4:00 pm on Saturday May 19, 2018

at Fuller Avenue CRC, 1239 Fuller Ave. SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49506.

Come celebrate twelve years of ministry in Haiti and new opportunities for mission with Resonate Global Mission!

If possible, RSVP to segaarking@yahoo.com

Segaar-King March Update

Dear Friends and Family:

 When the angel appeared to Mary in Luke 1:38 to announce Jesus’ birth, she responded, “May it be to me as you have said.”  Three decades later in the moments leading up to his betrayal, suffering and death, Jesus prayed, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done (Luke 22:42).  God used Mary and Jesus’ costly obedience to save humanity.  What kind of costly obedience does God call us to this Good Friday and Easter?  The work of mission is costly--sacrificing financially to support missionaries and church planters; taking time out of your busy day to console a hurting neighbor; or serving in a situation of material poverty and human suffering.  All of these things are costly.  But God can use them for results that we never dreamed possible. 

Please pray for:

1.       Safe travel and success as Zach returns to Haiti for an evaluation of the ministry in April.  Please pray that God will give wisdom and discernment as we consider the future.

2.       Wisdom and grace as Resonate enters into its second budgeting cycle as a joint agency.  Please pray that we will be attentive to God’s will as we invest critical resources in mission.

3.       A collaborative reflection by leaders from the Christian Reformed Church and the Reformed Church of America on church revitalization that Resonate is organizing in Chicago on May 2.  We hope to clarify the characteristics of a church that God is renewing for mission.

4.       The ongoing adjustment to life in Michigan for our entire family.

Please give thanks for:

1.       Johnny and Kim Gryglewicz, Resonate’s new missionaries to Haiti, who arrived in March to begin their ministry.  Praise God for his provision of new staff members to continue the work we left behind.

2.       Great opportunities to meet key pastors, mission leaders and donors in Chicago and Florida in March.  God is doing some amazing things.  Recently, Pastor Obelto Cherubin, a key leader we worked with in Haiti, was ordained in Florida as a pastor in a Christian Reformed congregation near Orlando.  Pastor Obelto immigrated to Florida in 2007.

3.       The blessing of being able to serve in mission.  Sometimes the transition to Michigan feels overwhelming.  Sometimes the task of leadership at Resonate seems heavy. Despite all this, it is a huge blessing to know God is working his will to fruition through us.

Thanks for your prayers and support,

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

Serving with Resonate Global Mission

Renewing the Church by...Listening?

In February Zach visited Sunlight Community Church in Port St. Lucie (FL).  Sunlight connected with its community and grew as a congregation by opening a preschool inside its church.  The idea presented itself to Pastor Scott Vanderploeg when a local preschool asked to rent the church building after a hurricane damaged the school's facility.   By God's grace Scott and the other leaders of Sunlight listened to God and discerned the need (post-hurricane) for a preschool in the community. 

A major challenge confronts the church in North America today.  Many churches resemble islands in their communities with little or no connection to the neighborhoods.  Such congregations have remained the same while the communities have changed around them.  As the years pass, these churches slowly dwindle in vitality until it becomes abundantly clear that something must change or the church will close its doors.  What can be done? 
We believe that the solution to this problem is listening to God and listening to the community.  By listening to God we come to understand how our brokenness as a church had made us an island unto ourselves.  If we listen to our communities, we discern where the Holy Spirit is already at work in our neighborhoods and we can find ways to join in.  Nothing about the process of listening to God and community is easy.  Quite often it can be painful and slow.  But listening to God and community is the surest way for a church to be renewed.  When a church is obediently listening and doing the work of mission in its community, a new wave of vitality will wash over God's people in ways they cannot imagine.

The Familiar Third Ward

The Third Ward has a surprising but gritty beauty much like Haiti, which is also a place where freed African slaves for forced to inhabit by colonial powers.

The stained glass windows of a church in the Third Ward recount the emancipation of  Houston's slaves.  A union general appeared in Houston (pictured above) after the fall of the Confederacy in 1865 to proclaim release for all slaves.  Houston's African Americans were soon forced into ghettos like the Third Ward by Jim Crow and other Segregationist laws.

The future home of Square Inch ministries, a property in the neglected portion of the Third Ward.

John Eigege stands in front of a "Shotgun House"--a small house built by the Third Ward's African American population during the era of Segregation.  The "shotgun house" was so small that a shotgun could be shot through it (hence the name).  Today, the houses are museums to Houston's racial and socio-economic legacy.

A few weeks ago I had the privilege of spending the day with some amazing missionaries working in Houston, Texas.  It was uplifting to see a local CRC pastor, Andy Sytsema, who by God's grace has encouraged a movement of church planting among Hispanic and African pastors working in Houston.  I spent the afternoon in Houston's historic Third Ward, where under post-Civil War Segregation and Jim Crow, the African American population was relocated by Houston's white population.  Today's Third Ward, like a certain Caribbean country where I spent twelve years living, is an example of extremes.  On the side closest to downtown Houston, the Third Ward is "gentrifying" as residences are being torn down and/or rehabilitated for upwardly mobile urbanites wanting to live closer to their downtown jobs and avoid traffic.  The other side of the Third Ward has been completely and utterly neglected and the still predominantly African-American population has almost no infrastructure including sidewalks, streetlights, and basic services.  While human suffering is easy to see in the Third Ward, so is tangible evidence of God's grace.  For example, John Eigege, a Nigerian who moved into the Third Ward as a "community chaplain" (affiliated with Resonate), has built a robust mission network.  He hopes to build a ministry house where he and others can mentor, teach and serve the youth of the Third Ward.  John is convinced that every square inch of the Third Ward belongs to Jesus Christ (hence, he has named his ministry "Square Inch").  Pray for John, Andy, and others who are working in the challenging places of Houston to concretely share the love of Jesus.

Zach's New Reality

There are times when we have a nostalgic longing for the past.  During my last trip to Ontario to consult with our mission staff, I was enveloped by a horrifying band of lake-effect snow streaming off of Lake Huron on what was the coldest day of the season (the high temperature was three degrees F that day).  The police closed the highway between London and Sarnia, sending me onto two-lane country roads where I experienced white-outs and huge drifts blocking my way.  During this whole trip the only thing I could think of was, "I wish I was in Haiti!"

Haiti in the News

Beautiful shoreline near Jean Rabel in Haiti

Some of the wonderful Haitian people that we've served beside.

Dear Friends and Family,

Haiti has been in the news the last few days.  Yesterday was the eighth anniversary of Haiti's 2010 earthquake.  It feels very different to remember Douz Janvye (Haitian Kreyol for January 12, the unofficial name given by the Haitian people to the 2010 earthquake).  We remember the faces and personalities of cherished friends lost, but also the amazing way in which God protected and provided for our family and others.  Douz Janvye is an experience that has defined a generation and has redefined the life values for those who survived it.

Haiti was also in the news lately because of President Trump's comments regarding Haitian (and African) immigrants.  The President's injudicious characterization is nothing new--many have tended to focus on the material poverty and political dysfunction of Haiti.  However, there is much to appreciate about Haiti, especially the resilient, industrious and passionate Haitian people, some of whom have been among the hardest working immigrants in the United States and Canada, saving and sending hundreds of millions dollars of their hard-earned dollars back to family in Haiti.  We personally know Haitians in the US who work three jobs to build a life here and save for family in Haiti.  Our hope and prayer is that despite contentious politics, Christ-follows will encourage appreciation for God's image in all kinds of people, especially the beautiful people of Haiti.

Below is a statement from the Christian Reformed Church:

"The Christian Reformed Church is Haitian, Latin American, Asian, European, North American, and African.  The CRCNA believes that all people are image-bearers of God, full of dignity.  The CRCNA is against racism.  The CRCNA is pro-immigrant.  The CRCNA declares that our whole world belongs to God, and is worthy of respect.  We condemn actions and words that say otherwise."