Middle School Ministry

God is so great!  He deserves all the glory!  When God called us to minister at Gold Avenue Church we really didn't know what he had in store for us and what ministries would be started.  After much prayer and searching for where God was leading, it became apparent that there was one group of kids in the neighborhood who really didn't have anything going on for them - middle schoolers.  They are at a critical time when they are forming views and opinions that will affect how they live the rest of their lives, yet no local organizations had a specific ministry for them.  We felt like God was really leading us to focus on them for our newest ministry.

First we were able to partner with The Bridge Street House Of Prayer to host an arts camp at our church.  This was specifically for middle school youth since many of the other VBS programs of the summer were only for elementary kids.

We started with a group teaching, speaking about how God created each one of us with a purpose, with unique gifts, talents, and abilities.

Then we broke into smaller groups - the most sought after one was cooking.

There was also an "Art Around the World" class, where we got to learn about other culture's art and make some of it.

One day we made Ukrainian dyed eggs.  It was a fun process and it was neat to see how these are made, especially because we found them in Romania each year around Easter.

Another project was painting Henna, an art form from India.

There was a dance class too where they got to learn multiple types of dancing.  Arts Camp was really fun and we hope to do it again next year.  We are praying that more youth will come as it is a great entry point into other ministries.

Two weeks ago we had the privilege to start a middle school youth group.  Our first meeting we had 13 kids and last week we had 16, with more potentially signing up in the weeks leading up to school starting.  With a great team of volunteers we planned what it would look like to really focus in on creating a safe place for the kids to grow in their relationships with Jesus.

We first pick the kids up from around the neighborhood.  Only a small number of them go to our church, some others have been referred to us by The Other Way Ministries or BSHOP, and a few others from Arts Camp.

We play some games, then transition to worship.  After that we have dinner and then the lesson.  After the lesson we split up into small groups to discuss the lesson and share prayer requests.

We are so blessed to be able to minister to these kids at such a critical time for in their lives.  Many of them come from broken homes and live in situations that are hard to imagine.  Some of them shared about the racism that they face on a daily basis.  They are being bombarded with messages everyday that tell them to live for themselves and that God doesn't exist.  We are inviting our Lord Jesus to come and intervene in their lives, to heal their hurts and to be their comforter.  We can't do any of that on our own, but we can point them to the one who can.

In order for this ministry to be successful we need a lot of prayer.  We would like to form a prayer team that covers the youth, their families, the volunteers, and this neighborhood in prayer.  If you are feeling a tug to do this on a regular basis please let us know.  We appreciate your prayers and your support and are excited about how God will work in this ministry!

FairHaven Project and Fireworks

It has been almost a month since our last post, and there is a reason... we have been spending all of our free time working on our 96 year old home!  The day after the last post we took possession and immediately started working; getting it ready for us to move in.  This has kept us busy and it seems like time has evaporated.  We will post more about our work there in a later post, since there have been some other cool things going on that we wanted to share about.

We had a group come and help us with landscaping from FairHaven Ministries in Hudsonville.  FairHaven is one of our supporting churches and they offered to send a work crew and the supplies to help us beautify our church grounds.  The group consisted of middle and high school youth who were participating at a camp at FairHaven called Youth Week.

We had a few areas where there were supposed to be flowers but they got overrun with weeds, so the group transformed them...

...into beautiful flower beds.  What an amazing difference!

Here you can see the weeds, they were growing very well there!

This looks a lot better!

Even though our time was short, we were able to share a bit about what God is doing here on the West Side of Grand Rapids.  They also joined us for our weekly prayer meeting where they were challenged to pray for God to work here.  We ate local food for lunch and everyone was amazed by these enormous pizzas from Fratelli's. We enjoyed working with them a lot and our whole church is thankful for their help!

Another thing that we were able to do was go sailing with our friends John and Karen for the fourth of July!

It was a beautiful day and evening!  Since we returned home we had been looking forward to getting out on the boat with John and Karen, it is always a nice relaxing time.

At dusk many boats anchored to see the fireworks.

We had a great view!

It was a very nice time and we are grateful to John and Karen for sharing their holiday with us!

This picture of a moth doesn't really go with anything, but i thought it was so cool!

Lots of things are still going on, many of which we will be writing more about soon.  Would you please continue to pray for the middle school ministry we are gearing up to launch in the beginning of August?  Pray not only for the planning but for God to call many youth to come and to be blessed! Also, please pray for wisdom and discernment about prioritizing house projects and getting them done in a timely manner. Thanks for your prayers!

Kids Games!

Last week we had the privilege of being a part of a VBS program in our neighborhood.  The Bridge Street House of Prayer (BSHOP) put on this VBS at a local school and invited kids in the area to come and learn about God.  

Many kids came and enjoyed the worship, skits, bible lessons, and special classes called Tracks.

 The high school youth group from Caledonia CRC came to help run the program as they learned about the West Side and served there each day.  We served along side of them as small group leaders and were able to share the gospel with many kids who had never heard it before!  This was an eye opening experience as even in Romania most of the kids we worked with had at least heard of Jesus.

We were delighted to teach a special track on the topic of photography. I (Mark) created lessons on the computer using outlines created by Rebecca.  We were able to borrow cameras from another local church so that each child would have their own to use.

Though this class we wanted the kids to learn how to capture the beauty of God's creation in pictures.  We taught simple but important lessons like how to frame the picture, using different types of lighting, and how to take artistic shots.  All of our kids were VERY excited to use the cameras and they did a wonderful job learning to take great pictures!

Here are some of our students.  Below are examples of the pictures that the kids took:

At the end of the week we printed off some of their pictures and had them make a photo collage to take home as a souvenir.  We all really enjoyed working on these and presenting them in front of all of the other kids.  

We had a really great time helping out and are thankful for the partnership that we have with the BSHOP.  We know that many lives were touched, kid learned about Jesus and had a blast doing it.  We pray that the seeds planted will grow and ask God to continue working in the lives of these kids.

We are now looking forward in a few weeks to hosting a middle school arts camp at Gold Ave Church in partnership with the BSHOP.  Kids will be able to learn about many neat things and we will again teach photography.  Would you pray for God to work out the details and to call many youth from the neighborhood to himself?  Thanks for continuing to pray for us and these kids!

Spring 2015 Newsletter God is working in our midst Since beginning to work at Gold Avenue Church on the West Side of Grand Rapids, things have been happening at a breakneck pace. We are thankful to God for how he has been working and hope that the following stories inspire faith and trust in God who guides and provides.

Children's Worship We started our first new ministry at church and it has been a great blessing.  Young children go downstairs during the church service to hear a Bible story, worship, practice listening to what God is saying to them through scripture and to practice praying for each other. One parent recently shared that they are seeing fruit already and greatly encouraged us that God is working through this ministry.  Please pray that God continues to build up the faith of these children and continues to bless this ministry and all those involved. Romania Trip We had the privilege of traveling to Romania to take part in the baptism of one of our closest kids - Marius.  It was such a joy to spend time with him and to witness him publicly proclaiming that Jesus Christ is his Lord.  We also were able to go to many of the places we used to work and to see the kids there.  We were greeted with many hugs, kisses, and tears of joy for the very short but sweet reunion.  We enjoyed seeing the kids again so much! Please pray that God will strengthen Marius' faith and help him get through the trials he faces.  Pray that God will watch over all of the kids we love in Romania and that they will be safe and well cared for. New (Old) House Since returning to Michigan we have been living with family and friends.  Even though it has been a huge help to us, we have been asking God to provide us with a place of our own.  After only three weeks of searching we found a wonderful 1919 bungalow with five bedrooms and lots of character.  We are in the process of buying it and are excited to move in soon.  We are praying for help with furniturebecause we don't have much left since going to Romaina. If you or someone you know has gently used furniture that you have been meaning to donate somewhere, please let us know. Please pray that we will be able to move in soon and that living there will bless us and the neighborhood.

Support Update: God has richly blessed us by providing in amazing ways.  In just a few short months we have reached 66% of our needed monthly support. Added with one time gifts we are nearly fully funded for the rest of this year! Please pray that God will raise up more partners so that we can reach 100% of our long term support commitments. Other Happenings:  We are planning to start a Middle School Ministry soon as an outreach to the kids of the neighborhood.  We will also be partnering with other local organizations for several VBS Programs and Block Parties throughout the summer.  We will run a Summer Reading Program for elementary students.  We have already been blessed with some great volunteer teams but there is still a great need for many more workers, especially in Nursery and Sunday School ministries.  Please pray for God to send more workers, and prayerfully consider if He may be calling you to come and use your gifts with us at Gold Ave Church. Please check out a list of ministry opportunities here: Ministry Opportunities List Thank you so much for your love, support, and prayers.  God is doing so much and we are glad to be a part of his work; we trust him to lead each step of the way.  We are so blessed to be surrounded by so many wonderful people who desire to build us up and support us, and we pray that God richly blesses you as well! With Love, Mark & Rebecca Essenburg