March 2016 Echoes - Trinity Reformed Church

Trinity Echoes – March 2016
Two-Year Bible Reading Plan
Prepared by Stephen Witmer
The following Bible reading plan is designed to take you through the Old and New Testaments in two
years and through the Psalms and Proverbs four times during that period. This plan is based on the
book by Gordon Fee and Douglas Stuart, How to Read the Bible Book by Book: A Guided Tour
(Zondervan 2002). You will benefit the most if you use this plan together with Fee and Stuart’s book.
March 1
March 2
March 3
March 4
March 5
March 6
March 7
March 8
March 9
March 10
March 11
March 12
March 13
March 14
March 15
March 16
March 17
March 18
March 19
March 20
March 21
March 22
March 23
March 24
March 25
March 26
March 27
March 28
March 29
March 30
March 31
Leviticus 5:14-6:7
Leviticus 6:8-7
Leviticus 8-9
Leviticus 10
Leviticus 11-12
Leviticus 13-14
Leviticus 15-16
Leviticus 17-18
Leviticus 19-20
Leviticus 21-22
Leviticus 23-24:9
Leviticus 24:10-25:55
Leviticus 26
Leviticus 27
Catch-up day
Catch-up day
Numbers 1-2
Numbers 3-4
Numbers 5-6
Numbers 7
Numbers 8-9:15
Numbers 9:15-10
Numbers 11-12
Numbers 13-14
Numbers 15
Numbers 16-17
Numbers 18-19
Numbers 20-21
Numbers 22-24
Numbers 25
Numbers 26-27
Psalm 60
Psalm 61
Psalm 62
Psalm 63
Psalm 64
Psalm 65
Psalm 66
Psalm 67
Psalm 68
Psalm 69
Psalm 70
Psalm 71
Psalm 72
Psalm 73
Psalm 74
Psalm 75
Psalm 76
Psalm 77
Psalm 78
Psalm 79
Psalm 80
Psalm 81
Psalm 82
Psalm 83
Psalm 84
Psalm 85
Psalm 86
Psalm 87
Psalm 88
Psalm 89
Psalm 90
March Birthdays & Anniversaries
SUNDAY
Ϩ
MONDAY
ϩ
Loren & Darlene
Van Zanten
TUESDAY
WEDNESDAY
THURSDAY
FRIDAY
SATURDAY
ϣ
Ϥ
ϥ
Ϧ
ϧ
Ellie Kane
**Jake Moss
Cole De Jong
Verla Hoekstra
Mike
Branderhorst
Claire Van Wyk
Jacob Vaverka
Jim De Jong
Gage GiŌ
Howard Vander
Pol
Ϫ
ϫ
ϣϢ
ϣϣ
ϣϤ
Sydney Namminga
Jim Vande Voort
Mary Vaverka
Ruth Hulleman
Arlan Van Wyk
Hannah Enyart
Janice Rankin
Josh & Sam Mick
Kurt De Jong
WyaƩ De Jong
Gene & Linda Vos
ϣϥ
ϣϦ
ϣϧ
ϣϨ
ϣϩ
ϣϪ
ϣϫ
Danielle De Jong
Wayne Van Dyke
Paul & Sue
Brackin
Jim Blom
Jim & Kim Vande
Voort
Lukas Steenhoek
Liz Van Gorp
Ken & Phyllis
Kooyman
Jessa Bokhoven
Bob Vander Waal
Andrew
Coƫngton
Jonathan De Haan
Tyler Kerger
LaMar & Marlene
De Jong
Jesse Jablonski
Lauren
Oppenhuizen
ϤϢ
Ϥϣ
ϤϤ
Ϥϥ
ϤϦ
Ϥϧ
ϤϨ
Brady Vande
Voort
Duke & Mindy
Reynolds
Eileen Hiemstra
Carol Van
Engelenhoven
Wendy Crase
Roger Van Vark
Ilda Van Zee
Dee Wassenaar
Chris & Debbie
Mock
Zylie Hoekstra
Rachel Schwab
Dylan Van Dyke
James Van Gorp
BarreƩ Bosscher
Francene Hugen
Alexa Klein
Sam Mick
Linda
Oppenhuizen
Ariel Sponsler
Ϥϩ
ϤϪ
Ϥϫ
ϥϢ
ϥϣ
Nicholas Nardini
Jessa Van Gorp
Bob & Jo Pippel
Lucas Kiser
Ralph Klein
Mary Wineland
Kody Beller
Doug & Linda
Oppenhuizen
Lisa Fyfe
Isabella Riddle
Kayleen Van Dyke
Janna Boyd
Doug Kane
Craig Wassenaar
Butch & Sharla
Kampman
Special Birthdays & Anniversaries
Ilda Van Zee
Dee Wassenaar
Francene Hugen
March 22
March 22
March 24
Gene & Linda Vos
Paul & Sue Brackin
Ken & Phyllis Kooyman
LaMar & Marlene De Jong
Bob & Jo Pippel
85 Years
85 Years
91 Years
March 12
March 13
March 16
March 18
March 27
March Nursery Schedule
8:30
Date
53 Years
52 Years
62 Years
50 Years
63 Years
Discovery Time
10:45
March 06
Wayne Van Dyke
Norma Van Dyke
Heidi Ernst
Maryann Hutchinson
Kent Oppenhuizen
Renae Oppenhuizen
Addi Bosscher
March 13
Karl Rozendaal
Linda Rozendaal
Nancy Van Wyk
Shane Van Waardhuizen
Sarah Van Waardhuizen
Micaela Veenstra
March 20
Justin Van Steenwyk
Ruthann Van Steenwyk
Jay Van Roekel
Toni Van Roekel
David Hoekstra
Jessica Hoekstra
Rebecca Piersma
March 27
Jason Van Gorp
Angie Van Gorp
Sue Van Gorp
Trina Collier
Joe Michmershuizen
Leisa Michmershuizen
Marijka Michmershuizen
Cindy Piersma
Thank You!
I would like to thank you for your prayers, cards and condolences in the passing of my sister, Wilma Blanke.
Joey Vander Linden
Friends at Trinity – Thank you so much for the special gift for the ministry here at Riverside Community
Church. We plan to use some of the funds to buy a much needed projector for the sanctuary. We continue to
reach many broken people here and I thank God for the support and prayers from my home church and family
of God. We continue to follow Christ in mission together. Thank you!
Pastor Bruce Rietveld
Congratulations to Cole & Shelly Vos on the birth of their daughter, Rowyn Kay, on February 10.
Congratulations to Leona Ter Louw on her 100th birthday! Leona turned 100 on February 27. Her family is
hosting a drop party here at church on Saturday, March 5 from 1 -4 pm. Please join them in celebrating this
milestone!
Ladies Day Trip – December 1
The van was boarded by 9:00 am by 8 ladies –
Marlene De Jong, Eleanor Rietveld, Joey Vander
Linden, Wilma Beyer, Nancy Spoelstra, Ilda Van
Zee, Erma Nunnikhoven, and Ella Kool – left the
parking lot for Hope Ministries to deliver quilts and
to do some shopping in the Thrift Store. When
done shopping, we drove to Perry and had lunch
at the historic Hotel Pattee in a beautiful woodpaneled dining room. After lunch we did a selfguided tour of two rooms, the library, gym, 2-lane
bowling alley, etc.
The Hotel Pattee is one of the few hotels where 40
rooms and suites are individually decorated and themed to tell its own story; celebrating the people and
memories of small-town America.
March Missionary Updates
News from Rowland & Jane Van Es
Dear Friends,
As we are beginning a new year we are hoping to be more regular in sharing our prayer requests. Not so sure
how well we are doing since it is almost the end of January...but hopefully earlier this month you saw our
Christmas letter (or did that actually come for Christmas) and our end of year report.
Here are a few things that you can be praying about:
A new semester has begun at St. Paul's and by next week I think all students and faculty will be settled into our
new schedules. Pray for us as we dive into new classes and responsibilities. This semester Rowland is
coordinating the fellowship program for the faculty of theology. It is a weekly time for mentoring students and
forming connections between students and faculty.
Pray also for peace and security for Kenya. For several years the Kenya Defense Forces have been based in
Somalia in an effort to fight terrorism by Al-shabaab (the group has been responsible for many kidnappings
and terror attacks within Kenya). Two weeks ago Kenya's base near the border was over-run and more than
100 soldiers killed. Yesterday they had a memorial service for all those who died but many families are not
even sure if their loved ones are safe, missing or dead.
For us personally, Jane's Mom has been having trouble with her back and leg which has been causing her a lot
of pain and seriously limited her mobility. It was determined that it was unsafe for her to be alone in her
apartment. Since she was not hospitalized it was not easy for her to get space in a nursing home. Thankfully
our daughter Jenna is not yet employed and was willing to stay with her. She has been staying there for about
two weeks. Our daughter Michelle who is studying at Hope has been coming in on the weekends to give Jenna
a break. Pray for healing for my Mom and patience on everyone's part.
We are enjoying summer here so I am sitting on my back porch enjoying the birds in my garden as I write.
Blessings, Jane (and Rowland)
2015 Report to Mission Engaged Churches from Brian Renes:
OVERALL GOAL: Translate the Bible, making it available to everyone in a language they understand.
Tell us about your Mission Partner and how they believe your mission work has impacted their ministry and
the lives of the people they served this past year.
The primary goal of the United Bible Societies is to share the word of God with everyone in a language they
understand. Since thousands of people groups do not yet have the Bible in their own language, we assist
national Bible Societies with their translation program. We work with teams to help them understand the
complexities of translation as well as give them the resources to achieve a high level of quality and
consistency.
Describe how an engaged congregation’s involvement and prayers enhances this ministry and what are
some of the other ways a church can be effective and supportive.
Bible translators are on the “front line” of the spread of the Gospel. They suffer hardships and at times that
jeopardizes the ongoing work. They need prayer for encouragement and protection. We don’t want to see
projects stall. At the same time there is a significant financial cost to supporting teams, giving them both the
tools and training that they need. My travel each year is significant but is necessary to ensure teams move
forward towards the goal.
Share a story about a life directly impacted and/or transformed by your ministry with our partner.
The Central Africa Republic has gone through times of civil war in recent years. The Bible in their national
language (Sango) needed to get completed. For a few weeks I was able to go in and help them finish.
The translator wrote this:
We are very glad and thankful that Brian was able to help us with this. Without him, we would only have been
able to clean a very small part of what now has been done; now it is done thoroughly. We have learned a lot.
He, too, was able to find much more, and in a more precise and comprehensive way, because he had Simon
and me at his side who know the language and have worked with it for more than 20 years. Thank you very
much. This was a very productive time for the Sango Bible.
How are new leaders being prepared and nurtured in hopes of empowering our Mission Partner to grow
and become more self-sufficient?
Our primary focus is training others. This past year I (Brian) participated in training events from Thailand to
South Africa, Central Africa and many places in between. In the process we worked with more than 300
translators. These training events are held in many different countries throughout the world and they
empower translators. A strategy that we have is to invite a person as a guest to one event with the condition
that they go back and lead training events in their own area.
Share how you are directly involved in preparing a leader who might succeed you in the future?
We conduct both global and area workshops which train others to do the work they need to do in their area.
Each of these workshops is an effort to give them locally everything that they need to do the work before
them. Some translators or support people are more skilled and we invest in them by giving more time and
attention to their development.
Help us to understand how we can continue to be in prayer for you, your family, our Mission Partner and
the people of God.
Praying effectively requires being informed. Reading prayer letters and monitoring web pages for mission
organizations helps to better understand the current situation. Some churches regularly put announcements
in the bulletin and others have a different focus each month, putting pictures on the screen with prayer
requests. It takes work to gather information and then it takes discipline for someone in the church to share
that information so that the church can pray effectively.
There are two ways to get updates of our work in Bible translation. If you or your church would like to stay
informed, please sign up at the addresses listed below. We look forward to hearing from you.
Your partners in mission,
Brian & Donna Renes
2015 Report to Mission Engaged Churches from Pat and Harry Miersma:
OVERALL GOAL: Provide counseling, consulting, crisis intervention and other professional mental health
services to the global staff of Bible translators and their hundreds of partner organizations working toward
Vision 2025….”until every people group that still needs it will have a Bible translation in progress by the
year 2025”. 1,700 languages to go!!
Tell us about your Mission Partner and how they believe your mission work has impacted their ministry and
the lives of the people they served this past year.
Wycliffe Bible Translators believes that our professional counseling/consulting work is essential to the
effective preparation and ongoing support of its global staff of thousands of Bible translators and support
workers and their families living and working in some of the most remote, challenging and dangerous areas of
the world. Harry is engaged full time as the senior counselor for Wycliffe US . He sees individuals and families
before, during and following field assignments. He also trains and supervises other counselors learning the
unique skills of counseling with missionaries. He regularly works ‘internationally’ with globally assigned
counselors in Africa, Asia, the Pacific, and elsewhere via skype and email.
Pat is the SIL Global Trauma Healing Consultant for SIL International which is internationally recognized as
responsible for over 85% of all applied linguistics in the world, and as producer of the internationally
acclaimed Ethnologue, the comprehensive catalogue of the world’s 7,102 living languages. SIL is composed of
the linguists and support staff who do most of the Bible translation, literacy and Scripture engagement work
among those languages still needing Scripture. SIL is the leader in Bible translation and these related tasks.
SIL considers the Trauma Healing Scripture Engagement materials and workshops to be the most relevant
Scripture Engagement materials and effort now being used globally…in over 50 countries by over 200 partner
organizations. This partnership effort with American Bible Society and Wycliffe, is the most sought after
Scripture engagement tool currently in use. For the second time this winter, a documentary about this work,
titled Hope Rising, will be broadcast nationally on PBS and other stations.
Describe how an engaged congregation’s involvement and prayers enhances this ministry and what are
some of the other ways a church can be effective and supportive.
Churches who give and pray for God’s work around the world are critical and we are grateful to them…beyond
words. Additionally for us, churches which invite Pat to speak seem to grow in their understanding and
support for Bible translation and Scripture Engagement. Sometimes they choose to give to a special RCA
Trauma Healing fund to support this effort through Pat’s work. This is extremely important. Much of her
most critical work internationally has been made possible through the gifts and prayers of these churches. So
speaking opportunities, as well as the support for Trauma Healing work globally from these and other
churches and individuals enhance our ministry more than we can say…God works through their prayers, we
are encouraged, and hundreds we serve are helped and overwhelmed by the love of our churches.
So our churches can help not just by giving but by inviting a visit from Pat to learn about how their partnership
is impacting real lives in some of the world’s most traumatized areas…from Iraq to Myanmar to Syria and
Jordan to Indonesia. We believe visiting with our churches stirs them to pray more effectively and God honors
their love and concern.
Share a story about a life directly impacted and/or transformed by your ministry with our partner.
In a very sensitive area of the world, near the war we see on TV, there are Christians from many ‘traditions’
and ‘denominations’ who ordinarily do not speak to one another. In this way, the enemy keeps them
discouraged, broken and weak. Through a recent Trauma Healing workshop in an area where thousands of
traumatized Christian refugees have fled, members of about 6 or 7 different Christian ‘groups’ opened God’s
Word together, drew comfort from Him, shared their personal experiences with each other and were
encouraged and then enabled to minister to others. All we did was show them what is in God’s Word…and
they did it together…a new experience for them. Afterwards, one of them told us, “This is amazing. Where
did you learn these things? Where did you come from?”
How are new leaders being prepared and nurtured in hopes of empowering our Mission Partner to grow
and become more self-sufficient?
Harry trains new counselors and supervises ones being oriented into mission counseling. Pat runs Scripture
engagement workshops to train church leaders and mission partners around the world who serve
communities in trauma. She is also preparing other mission counselors and Wycliffe missionaries to be able to
take the leadership in this huge Scripture Engagement effort. In 2015 churches and other partners in
Indonesia, Ukraine, Kurdistan, and Myanmar requested and then contributed to (with the enormous help of
our RCA churches) funding the travel of Pat and her colleagues and to organizing local trauma healing
workshops because they believe Healing the Wounds of Trauma: How the church can help, encourages
unprecedented use of mother tongue Scripture, heals wounds of the heart, and builds the church in their war
torn areas. Pat also coordinates a training program for all SIL international counselors to become equipped to
provide staff support for Trauma Healing workshops around the world where SIL or its partners have this
need. She also runs training workshops in the U.S. for other missions and local churches.
Share how you are directly involved in preparing a leader who might succeed you in the future?
I recently stepped out of my 7 year leadership role as the SIL International Counseling Coordinator in order to
have more time to devote to the growing requests in SIL and among its partners for Trauma Healing Scripture
Engagement efforts globally. I also stepped out of my Counseling Coordinator role to help the domain
transition to new (and younger) leadership. I have continued on as mentor and consultant for the interim two
leaders that took my place. And I am currently working with the anticipated next Counseling Coordinator
preparing to take the full role in September.
Help us to understand how we can continue to be in prayer for you, your family, our Mission Partner and
the people of God.
The requests for us to consult, counsel, train and coordinate are many. We really rely on God’s wisdom to be
discerning in which requests we fill ourselves. Each year seems to have had an accelerated travel schedule for
Pat as she responds to urgent requests for Trauma Healing training. Thank you for praying for wisdom for this
area for us.
We are concerned about our undersupport. I would like to visit more churches in the fall. Please pray that
churches will have a desire to hear about Bible translation and our role in that effort.
We value your prayers as well for our supporting churches: that they would be given a growing passion and
vision for reaching the least, the last, and the lost…through Bible translation; that they would be passionate
about how Scripture Engagement can transform lives and change communities; and that they would welcome
opportunities to participate through giving and praying.
March Calendar of Events
SUNDAY
Ϩ
MONDAY
ϩ
8:30am Worship
9:45am Discovery
Time
10:45am Worship
11:00am Lunch
Bunch
6:30pm The
Network
TUESDAY
WEDNESDAY
THURSDAY
ϣ
Ϥ
ϥ
9:15 am CBS
6:30 pm Cadets
12:00 pm
Women’s Brown
Bag Lunch
5:30 pm Families
First
Ϫ
ϫ
9:15 am CBS
6:30 pm
Deacons/Elders
8:00 pm
Consistory
FRIDAY
Ϧ
ϧ
ϣϢ
ϣϣ
ϣϤ
6:00 pm Cadet Car
Races
12:00 pm
Women’s Brown
Bag Lunch
6:30 am Men’s
Bible Study
ϣϪ
ϣϫ
ϤϨ
ϣϥ
ϣϦ
ϣϧ
ϣϨ
ϣϩ
8:30am Worship
9:45am Discovery
Time
10:45am Worship
11:00am Lunch
Bunch
5:00pm Chill
6:00 pm Prayer
Service
6:30pm Live Bait
6:30pm The
6:30 pm Bundled
BoƩoms
9:15 am CBS
6:30 pm Cadets
12:00 pm
Women’s Brown
Bag Lunch
Ϥϣ
ϤϤ
Ϥϥ
ϤϦ
Ϥϧ
9:15 am CBS
7:00 pm Love
Bible Study
9:00 am Joy Bible
Study
12:00 pm
Women’s Brown
Bag Lunch
1:30 pm Hope
Bible Study
7:00 pm Maundy
Thursday Service
6:30 am Men’s
Bible Study
ϥϢ
ϥϣ
ϤϢ
8:30am Worship
9:45am Discovery
Time
10:45am Worship
11:00am Lunch
Bunch
6:30pm The
Network
Ϥϩ
ϤϪ
Ϥϫ
8:30am Worship
9:45am Discovery
Time
10:45am Worship
11:00am Lunch
Bunch
6:30pm The
Network
5:30 pm End of
Month Meal
9:00 am Sewing
Bee
9:15 am CBS
6:30 pm Bundled
BoƩoms
7:00 pm Mary &
Martha Bible
Study
SATURDAY
12:00 pm
Women’s Brown
Bag Lunch