The goal of Central Holland Missions is to support community partners while meeting the spiritual needs of the individual. One way is through intentional neighborhood outreach in the summer. Partnering with Holland Public Schools and six other community partners, we hosted twice-weekly programming at a local subsidized housing complex. Anywhere from 10-40 people gathered to enjoy lunch and activities provided by Central or a community partner. Through this outreach, people who are often overlooked in the Holland community felt seen and loved. Taking time to go to them instead of waiting for them to come to us was an intentional reflection of God’s love for them. Not only are we reaching the families living in the area, we are also able to care for them and share God’s love to our faith-based and non-faith-based community partners.

Summer at Transformation Church wouldn’t be complete without teenager’s camp. There were 19 girls and 12 boys through the age range from 12 to 16 who participated at the camp.

There were 2 refugee teenagers who recently relocated to Kyiv. 7 girls and 1 boy were absolutely from non Christian families and 1 girl repented by the end of the camp. Praise God!

During the camp we discussed many topics about heroes from the Bible, the character traits and flaws they had. Many vital issues were discussed, for example: lies, offends, pride and rebellion. Every morning we had mutual conversations and reading of the God’s Word together and after that there were sports activities and various events.

Every evening there was a short service where teenagers sang songs of praise, prayed and listened to the Word. Also after the program there were bonfires or sports games.

Communication with teenagers was built in teams by gender and age, there were 5-7 people in each team and 1-2 leaders were assigned for each team. By the end of the camp, the leadership team managed to build contact with each teenager and pay attention to each participant of the camp. Leaders try to support friendship with teenagers even after the camp. We are planning on organizing a post-camp meeting for all participants who attended the camp. Thank you for being part of this wonderful ministry, we sincerely thank everyone who financially supported this camp! Glory to Jesus Christ! Pray for those teenagers so they follow God’s will, make wise choices and grow into Christ’s followers.

Last year, in response to Roe v. Wade, we asked ourselves the question, "What does it mean to truly be pro-life?" We wanted to be able to help women and families in crisis by not only leading them to choose life, but also supporting them in everything that decision means. That led to the launch of our Abundant Life ministry which exists for that purpose: to help women and children in need. We do that through community service, strategic partnerships with local organizations, and by raising financial support for these causes.

This year we had the privilege and opportunity to partner with CAPS to open a new crisis pregnancy center in the La Jolla area of San Diego. CAPS Pregnancy Centers provide expecting women and families the resources, services, and support they need in order to be able to choose life for their children. Through their care and support, CAPS is able to come alongside women and families, of which 94% end up choosing life for their babies. Through the generosity of our church family, we were able to give over $100,000 to support opening this new center that will service San Diego families in La Jolla and students at the University of California, San Diego.

In the spring of 2023, our youth led the way in preparing grief boxes for those families directly impacted by the Covenant School shooting in Nashville. Each box was packed with a Bible, toys, coloring activities, bracelets, and little tools for helping the Nashville children heal from such trauma. Seeing our youth come together, prepare these boxes, and pray over them one by one led us to tears. Our students deeply care for those who are deeply hurting.

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness will not overcome it.

This year at LifeBridge Church we saw God move in our community in some awesome ways! A few highlights were our Trunk or Treat event which had a huge turnout of over 700 people! Our church set up 25+ trunks, and hosted a meal for families, creating a safe, exciting, and welcoming environment!

We saw our Coffee Shop–the Living Room in downtown South Haven–undergo a huge transformation, becoming the first WE Coffee! The conversation and environment clearly point people to LifeBridge on a consistent basis with many new people at church saying they heard about us at WE Coffee!

We baptized 18 people at our summer celebration this year! It has been amazing to see God working in our people’s lives as they commit to following him!

In April 2023, TLC hosted its first ever Serve Week, a church-wide effort to love its neighbors as Jesus would. Over the course of five days, more than 125 attendees helped local partner organization ICCF Community Homes with demo, cleaning, and painting work to prepare two properties for their future families. Several attendees who work in the construction industry served as site leaders, and many college students mobilized their sports teams to come and lend a hand together! It was an amazing week seeing Christ at work!

Overflow had a book drive in February with the hope of giving one new book to each student at a local elementary school in Benton Harbor. We knew our congregants would rise to the challenge, but we had no idea they’d do so in such a big way!

Thanks to the church’s generosity, we had enough books to share with another school in the area as well. In total, over 400 students in our community received at least one brand-new book of their own!

One of our large outreach events this year was to reach out to our new neighbors. Moving into our new location, we wanted to show love to our neighbors as we do to ourselves. We had teams assemble gift bags of a Bible, grocery store gift card, and some special treats, and personally passed them out door to door. We shared how we want to be a good neighbor, that we love them, and that we are here to help if they have any needs. We followed up with these same neighbors on Valentines Day with another gift. The relationships that have been built so far have been encouraging!

Since September 2022, we have baptized 39 people–thank God! Nine people were from Muslim backgrounds, 16 were people from Buddhist families, and 14 are new believer Christians. Christmas 2022 was held in the Hotel Ballroom, and 45 people made the decision to believe, nine were baptized. At Easter in April 2023, 15 people made the decision to believe in Jesus and seven people were baptized.

There was a young man named Oky whom we met, arranged to visit him at his home, and invited him to church. He believed in Jesus and asked to be baptized. His parents and family are still Muslim. We also met someone named Yuni and invited him to join a home cell group. After a few months, he wanted to go to church, came to faith in Jesus, and asked to be baptized. Yuni’s parents are also still Muslim. Pray for us to continue our approach so we can preach the Gospel. We have some people who attend who are fathers and mothers of young Muslims. We then visit and share the gospel with these young people. One of them named Aquila believed in Jesus and asked to be baptized.

One of our strategies is to visit and provide basic food assistance. Currently every month we distribute 30 basic food packages. We also do evangelism through a small group we call Mokjang. We call the people we reach to believe in Jesus VIP. We visit families who are new believers to try and reach their unbelieving families.

Makers Church NW has had an incredible year of outreach events. To start, we kicked off the fall season with “Waking the Dead”, our Halloween Trunk or Treat with music, candy, food trucks, and live fire performers. With 1200 people in attendance, this event was a huge success and served as a great opportunity to reach out to the community.

We continued the momentum through the winter holiday season with our Christmas Service/Event called “A Vintage Christmas Experience” which included flowing fountains of chocolate, a mocktail bar, pictures with Santa, Christmas Carols from all our Makers kids, and an incredible message by Pastor Jason.

Next up, Makers Church NW celebrated Easter at an indoor soccer arena! Two fields filled with worship, a special Easter message, followed with a baptism and a huge carnival! With 1500 in attendance this outreach was one of the biggest yet! The event was free and open to everyone, further emphasizing our mission to reach the community and build bridges between faith and culture.

Finally, we wrapped up the summer with an outdoor weekend not to be forgotten! “Church in the Woods,” our annual Family Camp, was full of s’mores, river floating, friendships, family bonding, campfires, and Jesus. With a Sunday message in the woods to round out the weekend, this camping outreach allowed the families here at Makers to grow stronger with each other and in their faith!

Overall, Makers Church NW has had an exciting year of outreach events that allowed us to reach out to our community and bring people together. We are an active and engaging church that is ready to embrace the Pacific Northwest community and show love to a city that is in desperate need of Jesus!

Over the past year, through the support of Water's Edge, a roof was added to our worship center. This was a big breakthrough in our ministry in Nigeria! Our church building is now 75% complete. We continue to preach the gospel with holy aggression; 70% of our members are converted Muslims.

We also have our orphanage with the walls rising up. This orphanage has the capacity to house 100 kids between the ages of 1 - 10 years old. Praise God for the work He is doing in Nigeria and thank you, Water's Edge, for your support.