Recently, Jordan Genzink chose to get out of the boat. Jordan decided to join Youth With A Mission (YWAM). Volunteers with YWAM spend 12 weeks taking part in Discipleship Training School (DTS) and then 12 weeks doing evangelism work.

“I am currently in Perth, Australia doing my DTS,” Jordan said. “DTS is a 12 week lecture phase with different topics and speakers each week where we get ready for our mission. Our mission, after the 12 weeks are done, is to go to Mexico City, Mexico and do evangelism.”

Life during DTS is packed with worship, personal devotions, small group sessions and going out into the community to share the gospel.

Times of greatest personal growth and maturity are often sparked by challenges or difficult experiences. Near the beginning of DTS, the 54 volunteers took part in Forgiveness and Repentance week. “At the beginning of the week we were asked to make a list of every sin that we have committed that we feel is keeping us from forming a closer, more intimate relationship with God,” Jordan shared. “We went from 8:30 am to 2 am praying, repenting and forgiving. There was not one dry eye in the room the entire time. We felt clean of all our sins and felt like a brand new person.”

With his eyes fixed on the Creator, Jordan is choosing each day to step out of the boat. Getting out of the boat is frightening and difficult, but when we change our focus from our own inability to His incomparable ability, only God knows what amazing adventures are in store.

If you’d like to follow along on Jordan’s adventure, please visit his blog at Jordangenzink.blogspot.com

Well, he is a man on a mission. But the reporter asked that question because for most of us it is important to be home for the holidays, especially Christmas. We enter the Christmas season full of memories of Christmas past. Those memories bring with them a hope to rekindle good times again this year; words like rest, warmth, laughter and good comfort all come to the surface and we’ve often found those things at home. So the season finds people on earth traveling home, hoping not to spend the night at O’Hare airport or the days in bed with the flu, thanks to all this close contact. Newly weds and not-so-newly weds find themselves rushing from his parents to her parents. Kids find themselves having to perform and rehearse. We go shopping downtown, entering the smaller shops and smelling the air and taking in all the decorations, carefully selected to invite our good feelings and open our purses and wallets. The first semi trucks carrying Christmas trees have already thundered through Holland on southbound US 31. Ships carrying containers from China to unload onto other semi trucks have been coming to our harbors and from there to our loading docks. It is all part of the commercial side of Christmas.

But there is something alive at the core of this for believers in Christ. It isn’t just vanity and chasing after the wind. There is a place of stillness, a delicious mystery that, like a great poem, wears well. It gets better each time we visit this mystery that lies delightfully beyond the grasp of commercial marketing. It can’t be exploited by those who don’t believe. They don’t get it; more’s the pity. Yet it isn’t with any pride that we rejoice in the mystery. It is with deep and humble reverence that we rest peacefully. God made His home with us. That is Christmas.

Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home ..... as your wife... because what is conceived IN her is from the Holy Spirit. (Matthew 1:20).

That was Christmas already, you might say. Jesus was already alive, living in Mary. He was the Word made flesh. For the rest, it would be a matter of waiting a while for the Day of the Lord to come. The birthday had to come sometime. Now the day for us to be born again has come.

Beyond all question, the mystery of godliness is great; He appeared in a body, was vindicated by the Spirit, was seen by angels, was preached among the nations, was believed on in the world, was taken up in glory! (I Timothy 3:16).

In the meantime we wait. But we wait in the presence of the mystery of God with us. Jesus came on a mission. So also believers are men and women on a mission. When it is finished, we will go home for the first time. So the idea of home here on earth is not so much a matter of where we are for Christmas or what we buy for Christmas as it is a matter of who we are all the time. It is Christ in us that is our hope of glory. So the main thing is not how I feel, but who I am toward the Lord and toward others, especially strangers. Jesus became homeless so that all may feel at home.  

Matt Lehr, Community Impact Director at Calvary CRC |

1. Build Relationships
2. Bless our neighbors
3. Begin to pray for them
4. Bring the Kingdom to them

When we held our first barbeque of the summer at a local apartment complex, we pulled up 15 minutes late. A crowd had already gathered. As I got out of the church van I heard “hey, you’re late!” The tone of the person yelling at me was not one of disappointment but one of anticipation. They were eager to come together with us. Within seconds, literally seconds, we were greeted with open arms and smiles. As we set up to grill the questions began to come out. “What is this?” and “where are you from?” But the question that intrigued me the most came later in the night, “when are you going to preach?” I replied with “if you want to hear some preaching, come on Sunday.” With that answer it sunk in. They realized at that moment that we cared for them with no expectations and that we wanted to do community with them on Sunday as well as this day.  What happened next was unexpected. Our new friends started talking to us about God and Calvary Church and there was a request for a blessing of the food. You see, this was not a project; it was a blessing for all of us to share together. After this barbeque I have to add a 5^th "B" of the barbeque --  Be blessed by our neighbors.

Since our first BBQ back in May we have gone back to the same apartment complex each month. Sometimes I will cook and sometimes someone from the apartments will cook. We play games and share stories. Our friends have started to join us on Family Night for dinner here at the church. When I walk the apartments I am invited in homes and greeted with smiles and hugs. Relationships take a long time to build and we are well on our way. Praise God.

“We didn’t feel we could tell others about Jesus’ love until we were ready to love them first,” said Doug Roskamp, who runs Hockey Rock at Niekerk CRC.

This ministry geared towards children, especially those between 3^rd grade and high school, is a collaborative effort between Niekerk CRC, Ebenezer Reformed and Youth for Christ.

For six Monday evenings during the summer, an average of 140 kids gather in the Niekerk parking lot to play sports, have a good time and experience what it is like to be part of the body of Christ.

Despite its name, Hockey Rock isn’t just hockey. “We also offer basketball, volleyball, kickball, soccer, arts and crafts, supper and an occasional water fight,” Roskamp said. “Kids are also welcome to just come and hang out.”

“We provide these activities and have a great time doing so in an attempt to show our love for the kids in our community,” Roskamp said.

Each participant also gets a Hockey Rock t-shirt and Christian music CDs.

Flyers with information about Hockey Rock are mailed out in May. For more information, contact Niekerk CRC by phone (616.396.4388) or email, or visit their website.