Making a statement about how much God cares about the poor, the film pointed out that He had his only son, our savior and Lord, Jesus, born into poverty. God is calling all of us to minister to the poor.

58 showed poverty close up, the true human condition of poverty in a very real, relatable way. It was similar to going on my first mission trip and realizing that we are all the same, we are all the same in God’s eyes and we want the same things; safety, love, health and a better life for our children. When someone can’t provide these basic needs for themselves, let alone their children, fear, hopelessness and loss of joy rule the days and nights. Darkness takes over their lives. I think we can all understand from this that the Gospel needs to be spread with word AND deed.

Compassion International highlighted some promising statistics showing that the church is having an impact, people are making a difference one at a time, building relationships, spreading the Gospel and empowering the poor. The point is that there is progress, but much more needs to be done.

Jesus gives us all hope, strength and courage and it starts with stepping out of our comfort zones and doing something. Please join Christ followers everywhere and start by doing something, even if it is something small. Upgrade your life. See live58.org for ideas, join the Spring Lake Justice Team (contact Dave Horne) or move forward on what you feel God is calling you to do.

If we see someone oppressed and do nothing, we ourselves are oppressed.

Skip Westmaas

Spring Lake Wesleyan has just invested $20,000 to continue the construction project we began a year ago with Global Partners.  We plan to send a team to assist with the project in about 12 months when there is a openning for a team.  If you are interested let me know – dhorne@slwc.org

Dave

58:The Film is an amazing yet brutally eye-opening look at extreme poverty in our world. It helped me to realize the depth and grasp that poverty has on millions of people. The film also reminded me of God’s love for the poor and the instructions he left for us regarding them.

Live58: is not just another plea or cause; it’s a world-wide initiative whose only aim is to end extreme poverty in our world. I believe extreme poverty will end in our generation.

I challenge you to read Isaiah 58, visit www.live58.org, and watch 58:The Film on January 15. Your life will be radically changed. Mine was.

~ Erin VanStelle

Anyway, we went down the river for about an hour and saw this area of huts on the top of a hill with some people gathered there. We pulled up but it was very muddy so some of their men waded in knee deep mud to scrape mud off the stairs so we could come up the side of the hill and visit their village. By the time we all got out and up the hill a crowd of about 75 people had come to see what was going on. Fortunately our leader knew Bengali, so we could talk to them. We made a big circle and everything was so orderly. About 10 boys, all about 5- 10 years of age sat right in front.  I have to tell you this …on the way down the river our leader had asked me to tell the villagers a Bible story. I didn’t have a problem with that and decided to tell them about Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.  So..just as I was about to be introduced I asked our leaders wife how many of the people knew about Jesus. She looked at me kind of strange and said “Becky, they have never heard about Jesus…ever”. Immediately my heart started pounding and I felt completely inadequate.  It was too late to back out…I was getting introduced at that moment.

Well, I walked into the center of this group of people and looked back at all these faces staring at me and suddenly I felt this peace wash over me, truly the peace that passes understanding.  I then told them the amazing story of those 3 brave boys of long ago, doing my best to keep the attention of those boys sitting in the front…about the same age as my grandsons. When the story was over I looked up and saw the moon, even though it was still light. I think God showed me the moon so I could tell them that the same God who rescued those boys in the fiery furnace created the moon. I tried to explain about Jesus as best I could but I honestly don’t remember much. It was such a surreal experience. Come on God; am I really in this remote village sharing YOU with an entire village of people who have no idea who you are?  I am shaking as I write this, still overcome by it.  After this, our leader spoke to them, probably filling in the HUGE blanks I left, we prayed, and passed out tracks to the adults and candy to the children.  What will now happen is someone from Big Life will go back and try to find what they call the Luke 10 man of peace. It is someone whose heart was receptive to the gospel. I’m pretty sure I know who it is…the men who helped us up the hill by wading in the mud. I don’t know his name, but I am praying for him to become the first leader of a fellowship. If not, God has someone else picked out…He does the work.

As we pulled away, all the people lined the crest of the hill and waved to us. I will never see them again, but I hope and pray that someday maybe one person will come up to me in heaven and say, “Hey, you look familiar. Aren’t you the woman who told the story of the 3 brave boys in my village?” What a day. What an amazing privilege God gave me. And yet HE told the story, not me.

Dave Horne

This class opened my eyes to the path of God’s love in every culture, in every place, for all people.  How when God created us He had this path in mind for the salvation of the world.  It shows us how to be like Him, to love unconditionally, to go and reach all nations.  A great way to start this awesome adventure we call life.

I learned that the Bible was a whole book, and not just stories linked together, like I’ve taught for many years.  I learned that the Bible really has two parts, not Old and New Testament, but Genesis 1-11 and Genesis 12-Revelation.  The first part sets the stage, and of course man messed that up, so God started over again and the real story begins with Abraham and shows God’s plan to unite and reach the nations with the promise of salvation through the redemptive power of his Son.  Each book transitions into the next and we see the whole story.

This class showed how you are able to work where you are, all levels of skills and non-skills can be used to reach others.  You don’t need a Masters in Bible teaching to go to the mission field, you can pray for relationships, pray for missionaries or go on short term trips or go and sip tea, learn about a culture by living there.  Then when trust is established you’ll be able to minister.

I became more aware of how I see others who are different from myself.  I saw firsthand how my fear and nervousness could keep me from seeing others as God’s children.  “God reveals His glory to all nations in order to receive glory from all nations.” God meets every culture where they are.  It’s not up to us to change them.  We just need to show them God’s love and his redemptive story.  All cultures have a story that leads to redemption; it just takes someone willing to learn about them, to know them and then be able to show how this works for them, and towards the glory of God.

I am excited about helping when and where I can.  I want to be plugged into the network currently in place and to use what skills and talents I have to bring glory to God’s kingdom.  Welcoming others, administration work, organizing are gifts I see in myself.  I’m doing bits and pieces all over; I’m currently involved in Kid’s Hope, the food pantry, helping Tana Anderson with the guest registration for the food truck, and helping Jen Boerema with extra office mailings.

I’m also the secretary of Casa de Esperanza Ministries, Inc.  We are a non-profit organization based in Grand Haven, Michigan who currently works in Honduras.  Our ministry is a faith based Christian organization that seeks to bring Hope to those in need by promoting self-sufficiency and spiritual growth through supportive housing, training and skill development and to provide medical, dental and construction services.  We have been around since 2004.  Through trial and error we now have 4 girls in college.  I wish I had known of this class years ago, it would have made quite a difference.

When I read this it sounds like I’m already involved in a lot, but I really want to do more.  I’m at a time in my life when I need to set up a new “bucket list” and what could be more exciting than reaching others for Christ!

For more info on the Holland class contact Bev Daugherty. The first session is free for anyone who is interested.

Thanks to each of you who did your part, for your hard work, for your pursuit of Jesus and for your willingness to live out what we call everyone to be and do here. What a great Christmas!!! ~ Peter Yoshonis

Want to make our guests feel welcome? Follow these hints:

• Park at the back of the lot.
• Sit toward the front and move to the center. Guests like to sit near the back and on the ends.
• Say hello and Merry Christmas.
• Invite them back for our next series, “Upgrade.”

Remember: if you don’t know someone, they’re probably a guest.

~ Jen B.

A couple years ago, we began to feel this conviction of the spirit saying. “You have more resources than most of the churches around the world, which gives you the responsibility to give more away.” Out of this came the Christmas Eve Offering tradition of capturing the year-end giving not for ourselves, but to give it away.

Ecclesia is one of the three places our Christmas Eve offering went to last year. Without your generosity over the last two years, this new church plant in the inner city of Muskegon would have ended. The fact that we said we are going to give money away, has sustained them and allowed them to grow, doubling in size.

As we approach Christmas Eve, please pray how God would have you give to help those around you globally (Haiti), locally (Food Truck and pantry) and regionally (Ecclesia).