March 2015 Elder Blog

The past week of warm sunny weather has been a welcome relief from a cold February. On the shore of Lake Michigan the first sign of spring is a weather forecast that includes “cooler by the lake” and we have had that. It is amazing how quickly the landscape has changed from snow covered and frozen to signs of new life. Tulips are peaking out of the ground on the south side of our house, the geese are paired up and migratory birds such as Red Wing Blackbirds have returned.

With Pastor John’s announcement that he will be retiring at the end of the year, Hope Church is facing a big change. The selection of a new senior pastor is a major undertaking that will have lasting impact on our church. The pastoral search committee has been reformed and will be led by Brian LaLiberte. Over the next few months the PSC will be working to identify our churches strengths and weaknesses to help determine what characteristics we need in our next senior pastor. The first step was the survey in last Sunday’s bulletin. Most importantly you have been called to unite in daily prayer at 8:15AM or 8:15PM as we seek God’s will for Hope Church, ask for his guidance of the PSC and pray for our next senior pastor.

Also every Sunday morning about 20 people gather in the adult classroom from 8:15-8:40 to pray for the morning service, needs of Hope Church and community as well as each other. If you are not used to praying this can be a bit intimidating but there is no requirement that you pray out loud and it is a great chance to experience different styles of prayer. The only way to become more comfortable at praying is by practicing. Hopefully you will join us at one or both of these times.

Sincerely

Mike Bauman Elder

December 2014 Elder Blog

Do you feel broken right now?  Have you ever felt that way?  As elders, we recently

considered this concept as we discussed themes for updating Hope’s mission statement.

It has been awhile since we revisited our prior mission statement of “Reaching the

Lakeshore area and the world to become fully alive in Christ.”  As a result, the pastors

and elders have been working on ideas for a revised statement that better reflects our

focus at Hope.  After a lot of prayer and consideration, we are happy to present you our

updated mission statement:

Hope Church:

“Broken people being made whole through Christ.”

Scripture teaches us that because of our sinful nature, we are all broken and have fallen

away from God’s holiness.  Even if we don’t always feel broken we always need God’s

grace and restoration in order to achieve what God created us to do-glorify Him above

all.  At Hope, we consider it our mission to help everyone through this process by using

Christ as our great example.  As Jesus said in John 10:10 “I have come that they may

have life, and have it to the full.”  It is a process for sure, and one that will continue for

the rest of our lives.  Community, teaching, worship, and prayer with other believers are

great tools as we work through this process, and at Hope we consider it our mission to

provide God’s children with those tools.

There is a lot going on at Hope to achieve this mission.  Please give prayerful

consideration to what you need to take the next step in being made whole, and we pray

that we can help you with this journey.

1 Thessalonians 5:23 “ May God Himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and

through.  May your whole spirit, soul, and body be kept blameless at the coming of our

Lord Jesus Christ.”

Scott Voskuil, elder