The open houses scheduled for Wednesday, Thursday and Friday at Pastor Greg and Jodie's home are cancelled and will be rescheduled when we have more information on the Sherman Blvd. property. The CCC council is considering our options in pursuing our "special use permit" with our attorney and Dr. Campbell. Please continue to pray for wisdom for the CCC leadership.
This Sunday Pastor Nate Visker will be preaching at Celebration Church and Pastor Greg will be preaching at Ferrysburg Community Church (FCC). FCC is our "mother" church and we are working to renew our ties. Please give Pastor Nate a big CCC welcome and give him a few "yea haws" during his message! Pastor Greg and Pastor Nate are leading both our churches to see all the exciting possibilities we have when we share Christ's mission together.
This Saturday is Super Bowling! 25 people have already signed up. Here is the relevant information if you would like to join the fun:
Saturday, February 2nd, 2008
Cost is $10 per person
6:00-9:00pm @ Muskegon Lanes on Whitehall Rd.
RSVP by Thursday Night to Rob and Amanda Dejonge 231-755-0267 pandagroov@hotmail.com
On February 10th there will be a Celebration Family meeting after worship to adopt a 6 month budget for 2008. The budget is in your mailbox at WMC. The budget focuses resources on Worship, Fellowship, and Children's ministries. The development of these three areas has been ongoing since fall. Thank you to all the servants who are making these ministries creative, passionate, and strong! The second half of 2008 will have resources focused on small group development. The Vision team will have a retreat in March to develop this vision further. A budget will then be developed that corresponds to the vision and will be presented to the Celebration Family.
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Friday, January 18, 2008
Future Dreams
One of the great things about our new facility at 1260 Sherman Blvd. Is that we can develop it in phases. This will allow us to phase in financially and it allows us to have a place to grow in numbers. Phase 1 will give us a 120 seat worship center, office space, bathrooms, and a small fellowship area. I recently read about a church, like ours, that bought a car dealership, like us, and converted it into a church...hmmm this sounds familiar. After 2 years of raising funds and developing the property they had a grand opening and 730 people attended! Phase 1 could get too small very quickly!
Another thing that excites me about the new property is Phase 3. ..I know I skipped a phase. Phase 3 plan includes developing the far end of the building that housed the body shop. This could be a great fellowship hall and gymnasium. One thing I miss that I did in previous churches is sports outreach. I have done basketball and volleyball tournaments and leagues that brought people into connection with the church. I can’t help but look at the space we have and see opportunities for sports outreach.
Another asset of the property is the huge parking lot. Not only can it house a lot of cars...after all it was a car dealership...but this could be a great place for a highly visible Vacation Bible School. Did I mention that Ferrysburg Community Church (our mother church) wants to join us at our new facility this summer and host a VBS together? We could do that car show outreach event that many at Celebration have been dreaming about. The parking lot could be the site for a 3 on 3 basketball tournament, a pig roast, an outdoor worship service, a car wash...opps scratch that...Van’s car wash is right next door...a giant capture the flag event for kids. Lots of very visible possibilities in the parking lot to show the neighbors Christian fellowship.
Okay back to Phase 2. Phase 2 is developing the future worship center. Worship is the giant front door to Celebration church. Hundreds of people have come to worship with us over the past 8 years. Thousands will come in the future. Biblical, creative, seeker sensitive worship celebrations will always be the epicenter of our life as a church. It is where we do outreach and it is where we connect deeply with Christ and each other. Deep worship, deep friendships, and open arms to others will always be a hallmark of Celebration. The development of the worship center will give us sacred space that empowers us to do powerful ministry through worship.
Praise the Lord for giving us a space to do ministry that is big enough to house our dreams for doing ministry that glorifies His holy name!
Pastor Greg
Another thing that excites me about the new property is Phase 3. ..I know I skipped a phase. Phase 3 plan includes developing the far end of the building that housed the body shop. This could be a great fellowship hall and gymnasium. One thing I miss that I did in previous churches is sports outreach. I have done basketball and volleyball tournaments and leagues that brought people into connection with the church. I can’t help but look at the space we have and see opportunities for sports outreach.
Another asset of the property is the huge parking lot. Not only can it house a lot of cars...after all it was a car dealership...but this could be a great place for a highly visible Vacation Bible School. Did I mention that Ferrysburg Community Church (our mother church) wants to join us at our new facility this summer and host a VBS together? We could do that car show outreach event that many at Celebration have been dreaming about. The parking lot could be the site for a 3 on 3 basketball tournament, a pig roast, an outdoor worship service, a car wash...opps scratch that...Van’s car wash is right next door...a giant capture the flag event for kids. Lots of very visible possibilities in the parking lot to show the neighbors Christian fellowship.
Okay back to Phase 2. Phase 2 is developing the future worship center. Worship is the giant front door to Celebration church. Hundreds of people have come to worship with us over the past 8 years. Thousands will come in the future. Biblical, creative, seeker sensitive worship celebrations will always be the epicenter of our life as a church. It is where we do outreach and it is where we connect deeply with Christ and each other. Deep worship, deep friendships, and open arms to others will always be a hallmark of Celebration. The development of the worship center will give us sacred space that empowers us to do powerful ministry through worship.
Praise the Lord for giving us a space to do ministry that is big enough to house our dreams for doing ministry that glorifies His holy name!
Pastor Greg
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
2007 A Historic Year For Celebration Church
December 19, 2007
Dear Celebration Family,
“Merry Christmas” to each of you and to each of your families. Jodie and I and the girls praise God with you that we have a Savior to adore this Christmas. We all need to imagine our lives without the birth of Jesus so that we don’t lose the incredible joy we have in knowing Him as Christ our Savior. What a great way to end the year and begin a new year remembering the true meaning of the season. Please allow me to communicate with you some of the exciting happenings for Celebration Church at the end of 2007.
1. Last Sunday Celebration Community Church made the historic decision to acquire the property at 1260 Sherman Blvd. as our next church home. We have made this ministry decision with great excitement, but also knowing we have made a decision that is way beyond our abilities and control. We will need to pray like never before, sacrifice like never before and we will have to trust in God’s provision that has always provided for us! We can now begin to plan and dream about having a grand opening at the new facility that will get us off to rip roaring, Christ glorifying start in 2008!
At the meeting many challenging questions were asked that helped us all see the magnitude of the challenge before us. I want to personally say that every question had merit and value. Many asked what specific costs were behind the need to raise $100,000 for Phase I of the facility. Dick DeBoer has a spread sheet that will be in mailboxes this Sunday that details all the estimates from contractors who have given bids. Knowing with clarity the magnitude of the step of faith that we have taken will help us see the need for us to pray and work together as one. Celebration’s council met the next day and has begun working hard to address many of the concerns raised. The year 2007 ends with an exciting and great opportunity to go out into the Muskegon community “Determined to make a difference we will boldly reach out with love to our neighbors and celebrate our relationship with God together!”
I personally would like to thank the asset management team (Ed Staley, Bob Dunning, Roger Doctor), Dick DeBoer, Jan Koens, and the Council (Linda Workman, Rog Doctor, Patti Lacy, Tom Dunning, Mary Beth Ramos, Gary Wybenga, Robin Harper, Geneva West, Ed Straley) for all their hard work. There was a great desire by Council and Asset Management team to consider the property before the end of the year for property tax purposes. Because of this push to meet this deadline not enough prayer and communication preceded the meeting. As the Pastor of Celebration I guide our ship as best I can and as I truly think best for ALL of us. In this case I made some errors. I am truly sorry that our meeting didn’t have adequate prayer and communication before hand. Please don’t allow these errors to dampen the joy of serving Christ and reaching out to seekers.
2. Last October the Celebration family met at the Grand Traverse Pie Co. for a vision presentation by the church council. A great time of pie, coffee, worship and fellowship preceded the meeting. The council asked the church to work on two things: First, help develop the Sunday morning ministries to an even higher level by focusing our efforts on worship, fellowship, and children’s ministries for a 6 month period. Wow! Since that meeting many new gifted volunteers have stepped up. These ministries are now fully staffed, more organized, have identified leadership, and a new team spirit. In the words of some visitors from last Sunday, “Wow it is really exciting at this Church!”
Second, we asked for everyone to help take the atmosphere on Sunday mornings to an even higher level. The need to see Sunday’s through the eyes of visiting seekers was discussed and 15 little things we can all do to raise the atmosphere were identified. Wow! Again a great response and effort has been made. People are arriving earlier to church and helping to create a warm and inviting atmosphere for seekers who visit. Last Sunday several people asked me if they could take the membership class. This will mean more members who help live out the vision of Celebration Church…now that’s exciting!!!!
At this meeting it was announced that we had applied for a grant from Home Missions of the Christian Reformed Church to fund a part-time worship leader. On December 9th Robin Harper announced to the church that we had received the grant and we can now start a hiring process. A hiring team has been formed and they will start seeking applicants in January. Yeah God!
3. Last September the annual Beach and Baptism Service was held. This is always an exciting service, but this year really reminded us of the joy and purpose of our ministry. The day saw 12 adults profess Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. The worship service then proceeded down to the waters of Lake Michigan where the baptisms took place. Not only was it exciting to see so many people baptized and make profession of faith, but we doubled our worship attendance as we rocked with praise and worshiped God by the lakeshore. A real live pirate was on hand to help the kids find a buried treasure. The day ended with a feast of a picnic that gave us all a chance to sit together and enjoy a truly beautiful day.
Let me use this letter to communicate to you that we will be using our budget from 2007 for the months of January and February. On February 20th we will meet and have a congregational meeting to approve a budget for the rest of 2008. The finance team now has clear picture of our vision and can help us focus our finances on ministry development as we prepare for a grand opening that will bring many new faces to Celebration and staffing a part-time worship leader with grant dollars provided by the denomination.
We go into the year 2008 with the joy of working together to glorify Christ as His church. Let me close with a few ways we can glorify Christ in 2008:
By having a grand opening worship celebration at our new facility filled with people who are far from God!
By each of us not giving equally but equally sacrificing as we seek to be a more public presence of Christ in the Muskegon community.
By having a Beach and Baptism service that once again sees many making Jesus their Lord and Savior.
By having great fellowship together that shows the depth of Christian love to the world around us.
I praise God that He has given us the challenge and the honor of glorifying Him through the church. I praise God that he has brought us together and given us this life together to enjoy Him richly together. Merry Christmas Celebration family and I look forward to our new year.
In His Exciting Service,
Pastor Greg
Dear Celebration Family,
“Merry Christmas” to each of you and to each of your families. Jodie and I and the girls praise God with you that we have a Savior to adore this Christmas. We all need to imagine our lives without the birth of Jesus so that we don’t lose the incredible joy we have in knowing Him as Christ our Savior. What a great way to end the year and begin a new year remembering the true meaning of the season. Please allow me to communicate with you some of the exciting happenings for Celebration Church at the end of 2007.
1. Last Sunday Celebration Community Church made the historic decision to acquire the property at 1260 Sherman Blvd. as our next church home. We have made this ministry decision with great excitement, but also knowing we have made a decision that is way beyond our abilities and control. We will need to pray like never before, sacrifice like never before and we will have to trust in God’s provision that has always provided for us! We can now begin to plan and dream about having a grand opening at the new facility that will get us off to rip roaring, Christ glorifying start in 2008!
At the meeting many challenging questions were asked that helped us all see the magnitude of the challenge before us. I want to personally say that every question had merit and value. Many asked what specific costs were behind the need to raise $100,000 for Phase I of the facility. Dick DeBoer has a spread sheet that will be in mailboxes this Sunday that details all the estimates from contractors who have given bids. Knowing with clarity the magnitude of the step of faith that we have taken will help us see the need for us to pray and work together as one. Celebration’s council met the next day and has begun working hard to address many of the concerns raised. The year 2007 ends with an exciting and great opportunity to go out into the Muskegon community “Determined to make a difference we will boldly reach out with love to our neighbors and celebrate our relationship with God together!”
I personally would like to thank the asset management team (Ed Staley, Bob Dunning, Roger Doctor), Dick DeBoer, Jan Koens, and the Council (Linda Workman, Rog Doctor, Patti Lacy, Tom Dunning, Mary Beth Ramos, Gary Wybenga, Robin Harper, Geneva West, Ed Straley) for all their hard work. There was a great desire by Council and Asset Management team to consider the property before the end of the year for property tax purposes. Because of this push to meet this deadline not enough prayer and communication preceded the meeting. As the Pastor of Celebration I guide our ship as best I can and as I truly think best for ALL of us. In this case I made some errors. I am truly sorry that our meeting didn’t have adequate prayer and communication before hand. Please don’t allow these errors to dampen the joy of serving Christ and reaching out to seekers.
2. Last October the Celebration family met at the Grand Traverse Pie Co. for a vision presentation by the church council. A great time of pie, coffee, worship and fellowship preceded the meeting. The council asked the church to work on two things: First, help develop the Sunday morning ministries to an even higher level by focusing our efforts on worship, fellowship, and children’s ministries for a 6 month period. Wow! Since that meeting many new gifted volunteers have stepped up. These ministries are now fully staffed, more organized, have identified leadership, and a new team spirit. In the words of some visitors from last Sunday, “Wow it is really exciting at this Church!”
Second, we asked for everyone to help take the atmosphere on Sunday mornings to an even higher level. The need to see Sunday’s through the eyes of visiting seekers was discussed and 15 little things we can all do to raise the atmosphere were identified. Wow! Again a great response and effort has been made. People are arriving earlier to church and helping to create a warm and inviting atmosphere for seekers who visit. Last Sunday several people asked me if they could take the membership class. This will mean more members who help live out the vision of Celebration Church…now that’s exciting!!!!
At this meeting it was announced that we had applied for a grant from Home Missions of the Christian Reformed Church to fund a part-time worship leader. On December 9th Robin Harper announced to the church that we had received the grant and we can now start a hiring process. A hiring team has been formed and they will start seeking applicants in January. Yeah God!
3. Last September the annual Beach and Baptism Service was held. This is always an exciting service, but this year really reminded us of the joy and purpose of our ministry. The day saw 12 adults profess Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. The worship service then proceeded down to the waters of Lake Michigan where the baptisms took place. Not only was it exciting to see so many people baptized and make profession of faith, but we doubled our worship attendance as we rocked with praise and worshiped God by the lakeshore. A real live pirate was on hand to help the kids find a buried treasure. The day ended with a feast of a picnic that gave us all a chance to sit together and enjoy a truly beautiful day.
Let me use this letter to communicate to you that we will be using our budget from 2007 for the months of January and February. On February 20th we will meet and have a congregational meeting to approve a budget for the rest of 2008. The finance team now has clear picture of our vision and can help us focus our finances on ministry development as we prepare for a grand opening that will bring many new faces to Celebration and staffing a part-time worship leader with grant dollars provided by the denomination.
We go into the year 2008 with the joy of working together to glorify Christ as His church. Let me close with a few ways we can glorify Christ in 2008:
By having a grand opening worship celebration at our new facility filled with people who are far from God!
By each of us not giving equally but equally sacrificing as we seek to be a more public presence of Christ in the Muskegon community.
By having a Beach and Baptism service that once again sees many making Jesus their Lord and Savior.
By having great fellowship together that shows the depth of Christian love to the world around us.
I praise God that He has given us the challenge and the honor of glorifying Him through the church. I praise God that he has brought us together and given us this life together to enjoy Him richly together. Merry Christmas Celebration family and I look forward to our new year.
In His Exciting Service,
Pastor Greg
Next 5 Weeks Are Exciting
Dear Celebration Family,
The next 5 weeks are going to be action packed, exciting and challenging. If you haven’t been praying daily for Celebration Church now is the time to start! Let me outline some of the key dates:
January 22nd @ 4:00pm: A special meeting of the City of Muskegon planning commission will be held at City Hall. This meeting is to gain a “special use permit” that we need in order to meet as a church and have large gatherings at the new facility. This is a critical decision that we all need to be in prayer about. Specifically, pray for the members of the planning commission, the owners of the bars that are opposed to a church being next door and for our lawyer and others who will make presentations at the meeting. Pray that a “win, win” for all would be found.
Sunday, February 10th: A special offering for the building fund will be held. The amount that we need to raise is $75,000 for Phase I of the facility development. When we are able to raise $75,000 those dollars plus monies from the building fund will enable us to complete Phase I of the facility development. Please be in prayer for this offering. Pray that there would be one person who could give $20,000, pray that there would be two people who could give $10,000, pray that there would be 4 people who could give $5,000, pray that there would be 5 people who could give $1,000, pray that there would be10 people who could give $500, pray that there would be 10 people who could give $250, pray that there would be 10 people who could give $100, pray for 20 people would could give $50, and pray for each of our kids to give from their hearts and we will have $75,000 that will allow us to begin worshiping at 1260 west Sherman Blvd. with a worship center, bathrooms, children’s ministry space, offices, and a fellowship area. We all can’t give equally to this offering, but we can all equally sacrifice. If each of us sacrifices equally, then the needed funds will be raised.
Sunday, February 3rd: Pastor Nate Viskers from Ferrysburg Community Church (FCC) will be preaching at Celebration. FCC is our “mother” church. This will be an exciting Sunday as Pastor Nate encourages us with how FCC will be walking with us as we move to our new facility.
I will be preaching at FCC this same Sunday in a “pulpit swap”. I will be sharing with them the many exciting things God is doing at Celebration and expressing our gratitude for their support as our mother church. A special offering will be taken the Sunday I am there that will go towards our building fund.
January 30th, 31st , and February 1st: On each of these three dates there will be an open house at Pastor Greg and Jodie’s home from 6:30pm to 8:00pm. The open house will have detailed information on the new facility, a question and answer time, a presentation by Pastor Greg, and a time of prayer. Everyone who calls Celebration their church home is invited and encouraged to attend one of these three evenings. Drinks and Hour devoers will be served.
Wow! There really is a lot going on over the next 5 weeks! Look for lots of new information in this newsletter each week. A big THANK YOU to Sandy Ring for publishing and editing this newsletter that will help us all keep up to speed on what is going on.
In His Exciting Service,
Pastor Greg
The next 5 weeks are going to be action packed, exciting and challenging. If you haven’t been praying daily for Celebration Church now is the time to start! Let me outline some of the key dates:
January 22nd @ 4:00pm: A special meeting of the City of Muskegon planning commission will be held at City Hall. This meeting is to gain a “special use permit” that we need in order to meet as a church and have large gatherings at the new facility. This is a critical decision that we all need to be in prayer about. Specifically, pray for the members of the planning commission, the owners of the bars that are opposed to a church being next door and for our lawyer and others who will make presentations at the meeting. Pray that a “win, win” for all would be found.
Sunday, February 10th: A special offering for the building fund will be held. The amount that we need to raise is $75,000 for Phase I of the facility development. When we are able to raise $75,000 those dollars plus monies from the building fund will enable us to complete Phase I of the facility development. Please be in prayer for this offering. Pray that there would be one person who could give $20,000, pray that there would be two people who could give $10,000, pray that there would be 4 people who could give $5,000, pray that there would be 5 people who could give $1,000, pray that there would be10 people who could give $500, pray that there would be 10 people who could give $250, pray that there would be 10 people who could give $100, pray for 20 people would could give $50, and pray for each of our kids to give from their hearts and we will have $75,000 that will allow us to begin worshiping at 1260 west Sherman Blvd. with a worship center, bathrooms, children’s ministry space, offices, and a fellowship area. We all can’t give equally to this offering, but we can all equally sacrifice. If each of us sacrifices equally, then the needed funds will be raised.
Sunday, February 3rd: Pastor Nate Viskers from Ferrysburg Community Church (FCC) will be preaching at Celebration. FCC is our “mother” church. This will be an exciting Sunday as Pastor Nate encourages us with how FCC will be walking with us as we move to our new facility.
I will be preaching at FCC this same Sunday in a “pulpit swap”. I will be sharing with them the many exciting things God is doing at Celebration and expressing our gratitude for their support as our mother church. A special offering will be taken the Sunday I am there that will go towards our building fund.
January 30th, 31st , and February 1st: On each of these three dates there will be an open house at Pastor Greg and Jodie’s home from 6:30pm to 8:00pm. The open house will have detailed information on the new facility, a question and answer time, a presentation by Pastor Greg, and a time of prayer. Everyone who calls Celebration their church home is invited and encouraged to attend one of these three evenings. Drinks and Hour devoers will be served.
Wow! There really is a lot going on over the next 5 weeks! Look for lots of new information in this newsletter each week. A big THANK YOU to Sandy Ring for publishing and editing this newsletter that will help us all keep up to speed on what is going on.
In His Exciting Service,
Pastor Greg
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