CROP WALK - Christ Memorial Church

Dust off
your
walking
shoes!
CROP
WALK
Saturday, April 27,
and Sunday, April 28
Help stamp out hunger!
Won’t you consider
walking for a great cause
this year? Mark your
calendar! If you can’t walk
this year, would you
consider a donation to a
walker?
Watch for the sign-up
table in the mixing area.
Hand2Hand Ministries
This new CMC ministry provides healthy food to children
over the weekends, so they have a greater opportunity to
succeed academically, emotionally, and physically.
How does H2H work? CMC is partnering with Holland
West K-7 School to provide food to children identified as
‘at risk’ of going without food over the weekends. Specific
donated food items (snacks, drinks, and other non-
perishable items) are put in bags and placed in the
students’ locker every Friday while the students are in
class. The food is intended to alleviate hunger for one
child over the weekend. Each week 1,200 items are
needed to fill 100 food bags.
Some ways YOU can be part of H2H:
DONATE FOOD: Each month a few specific food
items will be requested. Lists are posted in the Weekly, at
www.christmemorial.org, and at the Missions Kiosk.
FINANCIAL GIFTS: Clearly indicate on your
offering envelope (or plain white envelope) “Hand2Hand
Fund” and note “Hand2Hand” on check memo line.
VOLUNTEER to help pack
and deliver. Contact Jenny J.
Questions? Contact Jenny
Jongsma at 616-414-2402,
jenny.jongsma@gmail.com
Thanks for your donations of over 600 outerwear
articles and over 300 underwear items! WOW!
These items were distributed to various helping agencies including
Holland West K-7 School, Holland Rescue Mission and Family Life
Center, Center for Women in Transition, OAR, Feeding America,
Breakfast with Baby, Community Kitchen, and City on a Hill. They
were very pleased to receive these and say “Thanks, CMC!”
Thanks to Faith in Action Growth Community members
for helping distribute all the items!

TURKEY PARTNERS
I.N. Network, C. C. Connections, Friends of Kardelen, RCA Field Workers
There are various ways we help reach people in this country:
1. I.N. Network works with church plants and trains pastors to do daily outreach.
They also host a children’s Christian summer camp and youth
camps.
2. C.C. Connections helps trafficked women escape bondage and leads them to a new
life in Christ through providing safe housing and job skills.
3. Kardelen provides training and support for poor families with
children who have disabilities in order to restore dignity to the
child and family. Kardelen is endeavoring to see whole families
come to Christ through community outreach and empowerment
programs.
4. The RCA works with establishing an indigenous Kurdish fellowship group.
The Kurds are the largest ethnic group in the world without their own country.
They are an economically and politically marginalized, minority people group, but seek a better life
and are given hope through the Good News.
To learn more about our outreach in Turkey, contact CMC members Jason DeJongh (jasondj@charter.net,
616-403-0441) or Keith Van Zoeren (keithvz@charter.net, 616-801-3172).
Rev. Mark, Deb and son, Zach
The Wilsons—members of our church family serving
as missionaries in Cambodia
This family returned to Cambodia in 2011 (previously working
there for nine years) serving with Reformed Church Missions and
Food for the Hungry Organization. They returned there after Mark
graduated from Western Seminary. Mark and Deb support the
ministry of their local partners in Cambodia which include the
Phnom Penh Bible School (PPBS), the Theological Education by Extension Association of
Cambodia (TEEAC), and Food for the Hungry/Cambodia (FH/C). Deb
focuses on building up the next generation of local leaders in the
Cambodian church through coaching, training, and facilitating their
skill development. Mark also focuses on leadership development with
a goal to produce materials for TEEAC, coaching FH/C staff, and
teaching at the Bible School. The Wilsons give thanks to God for the
41 students returning to PPBS and for the 23 new students joining this
year.
To learn more about their work, go to www.rca.org/wilson or pick up their newsletter at the Missions Kiosk.
Please remember the Wilsons and all our missionaries in your prayers.
2
“So deeply do we care for you that we are
determined to share with you not only the
gospel of GOD but also our own selves…”
I Thessalonians 2:8
Cambodian Christians praying together

Mari’s faith and her life as a Christian are deeply rooted in the Lutheran Church of her childhood
and in the beloved elementary school that was a part of the church’s ministry. Her faith has been
nurtured and supported by small groups that have been a part of her life, personal spiritual
disciplines which include intercessory prayer (while running long distances), and selecting a different
Bible verse as her focus each week (468 and counting). Her current personal ministry focus is
“helping others to find calm, rest, and peaceful dwelling places” as they discover the truth of
Matthew 10:7-8 that Jesus’ Kingdom is within us and in our midst.
In the governing consistory, Mari draws on her professional experience and personal ministry
commitment to keep the body focused on all of the many ideas and strategies involved in moving
CMC forward in its vision. It helps that she has been a valued “coach” for Pastor Todd for several
years (ever since serving as a consultant for the Gun Lake church.) She believes the Governing
Consistory has a primary responsibility to help distill the strategies that drive CMC’s vision into
practical steps that will be embraced by the congregation. She asks good questions and has a knack
for identifying less obvious implications or consequences of the decisions being considered.
When asked about the preferred qualities for a member of the Governing Consistory, she said:
“A willingness to listen well to others before speaking, a passion for ministry, a sound and clear
mind, a heart to bring Jesus’ Kingdom into our midst.” Many of those who have worked with her
would say that sounds like a clone of Mari Martin.
South Africa News
CMC’s South Africa team is excited about our
new partnership with Bethany Christian Services
Global (BCSG). CMC is supporting over
250 vulnerable kids through our programs at Lebone and Anna’s
House, but we are acutely aware that there are thousands more
who are equally vulnerable in the same community. We recognize
that a broader based solution is necessary that would involve
the families and churches in the Botshabelo community.
Enter BCSG! Their guiding vision is “a world where every child
has a loving family.” They have just begun to work with some
adoptions from South Africa, and they were very excited to
work with CMC and our South African colleagues
to protect and nourish kids in their
own communities.
A BCSG/CMC team worked with a large
group of our SA partners in October 2012.
We have completed a Situation Analysis Brief
and Program Recommendations that we will
develop further in our next trip to SA in a
few weeks. One of the thoughts is for a
“Sanctuary Family for Kids” program like the
model pictured here. For more information,
contact Paul or Cathy Scholten at 616-
566-0030 or pauls@christmemorial.org.
Family Identification and
Approval Process: Recruitment
Screening, Home
Study, Training, Approval
3
Sanctuary
Family for
Kids
Child/Youth Referral
Process: Screening, Psycho-
Social Assessment,
Background Investigation,
Determination of Need
“Sanctuary Family for Kids” through careful matching process