Workshop Descriptions
& Leader Bios
1. Bringing the Learning Back Home: Short-Term Missions
We'll explore short-term missions experiences as a "journey" in our lives rather than a "trip" that lasts a week or two then fades into our memory banks of years gone by. We'll see how this change in understanding opens us up to be learners in our host community, and gives us a different lens through which to view our own lives and church ministry in our own communities.
Steve Van Zanen - Director for Missions Education & Engagement, Christian Reformed World Missions
For six years Steve, his wife Chris, and their three children served with World Missions in Eastern Europe. Steve trained teachers of religion for the public schools in Romania. Later, the Van Zanens moved to Lithuania where Steve taught Bible and Christian worldview courses to nominal and non-Christians. In early 2003 they transitioned to Michigan where Steve is currently serving as Director for Missions Education & Engagement. Steve is a graduate of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and obtained a Th.M. at Calvin Theological Seminary.
2. Business as Ministry for a World Without Poverty
In this workshop we will share stories of how Christian business people view their role in business as their primary area of ministry for sharing the love of Christ with others. You will also learn about the importance of creating sustainable jobs as a key part of the solution to alleviating global poverty.
Greg Elzinga - Director of Marketing and Membership Development, Partners Worldwide
Greg is responsible for managing the strategic planning and implementation of marketing initiatives as well as leading the membership development program. He develops and utilizes new and traditional media to mobilize the Partners Worldwide affiliates, members and donors, to grow our business ministry in order to make a significant difference in God’s world. Greg has a B.A. in Communications from Calvin College and a MBA from Nova Southeastern University. He has spent the last 15 years in a variety of sales management and business development positions for three Fortune 500 companies. Greg’s passion is to encourage and equip businesspeople to maximize the impact of their role in helping to build God’s Kingdom through the global marketplace. Greg and his wife Jacqui have three children.
3. Equipping the Sending Church for Missions
Have you ever wondered how your church can support your mission teams and volunteers? Is the time, effort and finances invested into short-term mission trips having a healthy long-term impact on your church’s character? Join together with church members to plan for short-term and long-term impact within your missions program.
Mary Dykstra - Volunteer Opportunities, Christian Reformed World Relief Committee
Mary is a wife, mother and grandmother. She has worked with volunteers in different capacities for over 20 years. She enjoys working with volunteers to identify opportunities that cultivate an ingrained desire in God’s children to serve, and to provide encouragement through life’s challenges. Mary received certification in Volunteer Management from Washington State University Extension programs. She has used this knowledge to enhance the Service Learning program of CRWRC and each individual that touches her life.
4. Finding Your Roseland: Turning Your Short-Term Mission Trip into a Long-Term Relationship
Mission and service trips can be a huge part of a church or youth ministries programing for the year. Many times they are seen as the fun or exciting trip to someplace special. However, many times our missions and service work can turn into miscommunication, wrong intentions or hopping from the next "cool" location from year to year. Finding your Roseland looks at addressing the importance of long-term relationships that lead to trust, understanding and mutual ministry when your church is looking for mission and service opportunities. It's about long-term investment in people and understanding that the "work" of missions is the means to the relationships that matter.
Ty Hogue - Student Ministries Director, Harderwyk Ministries
Ty has been the youth pastor for Harderwyk Ministries since 2001. Their team runs not only weekly youth groups but a neighborhood student drop in center and a community middle school dance for 500 kids. Ty discovered Roseland Christian Ministries 12 years ago and is currently on the board of directors. Ty, his wife Dawn, and 17 month old daughter Ella live in Holland, MI.
5. Fundraising Ideas for Short-Term Missions
Do mission trips light your fire but the prospect of fundraising turn you cold? Join us to learn how fundraising is ministry, and discover practical and creative ideas that you can use with your missions team.
Trish De Jong - Missions Resource Consultant, Christian Reformed World Missions
With a background in urban planning and environmental assessment, Trish De Jong joined the ministry of CRWM thirteen years ago. During most of that time Trish served as the Canadian Church Relations Coordinator, assisting new missionaries, volunteers, and churches to build healthy and dynamic partnerships. As a traveler and missions mobilizer at heart, she has led a summer team to Kazakhstan and a short-term missions team to Nicaragua. In the new position of Missions Resource Consultant Trish has the opportunity to focus on the part of ministry she is most passionate about - seeing churches become more involved and strategic in their cross-cultural ministry.
6. Generational Fragmentation within the Church: Marketing for our Future or Selling Out?
Our churches are becoming more specialized as we poise ourselves to meet the needs of each generation. This seminar will explore the extremes between creating effective outreach ministries and establishing silos of individualized ministries. Can the church meet the needs of various generations, while building up the body of faith in unity?
Lynn Barger Elliot - Youth Ministry Adjunct, Calvin College
Lynn currently serves as the Instructor of Youth Ministry at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan. She also serves as a Lead Consultant for Youth Ministry Architects, a consulting group that helps churches build sustainable youth ministries. Lynn graduated from Wheaton College (IL) with a degree in Philosophy and from Princeton Theological Seminary with a Masters of Divinity. She has taught at the Institute for Youth Ministry at Princeton Theological Seminary. Lynn lives in Grand Rapids, MI with her husband Mark and their three children. Lynn and her husband are both ordained Presbyterian ministers.
7. Launching & Landing a Successful Mission Team
Planes usually don't crash when cruising 35,000 feet but when taking off or landing. The same goes for short term missions – once you’re “in country” most things are out of your control, so it’s best to buckle up, be patient, and enjoy the ride. The danger of crashing though, lies in the orientation (launch) and the re-entry (landing). This workshop will cover the basics in how to launch and land a team successfully.
Carol Sybenga - Program Manager, ServiceLink
Carol Sybenga is the Program Manager for ServiceLink, the Volunteer Program of the Christian Reformed Church in North America. She has led a number of mission teams with her church as well as provided orientation sessions to many teams through the ServiceLink program. Her passion is to see lives transformed through opportunities of service.
8. Life Changing Missions Trips
Making sure a short term trip becomes part of a life journey takes strategic planning. Seven basic best practices outline a Standard of Excellence that is achievable and essential for our church mission trips. You'll leave this workshop with concrete principles to work on and questions to share with your leadership team.
Jerry Meadows - Missions Program Director, Youth Unlimited
After 17 years in local church youth ministry, Jerry spent 6 years advancing short term missions for CURE International (an international medical mission) and now works for Youth Unlimited as Missions Program Director.
9. The Missional Church and the Changing World of Young Adults
"Young adults live in a different world than young adults did a generation ago," states Robert Wuthnow in After the Baby Boomers. In this session we will look at key trends that may help us to grasp the changing life worlds of younger adults. Several of these trends, such as "delayed marriage" and "loosening relationships," have a direct bearing on the way in which the church needs to shape its mission in the world today.
Ben Becksvoort - Great Lakes Team Regional Leader, Christian Reformed Home Missions
Whether serving as a campus pastor in Minnesota in the 1970s or leading a thriving church in Michigan in the 1980s, Rev. Ben Becksvoort has always had the same motivation. “My heart’s desire has always been to see people come to Christ, and to sharpen the missional edge of the ministries I served,” he says. Ben, who has led the Great Lakes team since 1997, lives in Grand Rapids, MI, with his wife Bev. They have two grown children, Brian and Beth.
10. Tips for Starting a Mentoring Program in Your Church
Connecting young people to people with wider experiences in a mentoring relationship can benefit people from both generations. Explore ideas for implementing a mentoring program in your church.
Nalini Suganandam - Placement and Training Manager, Christian Reformed World Missions
Originally from South India, Nalini was born and raised in East Africa (Ethiopia and Kenya) for 18 years where her parents served as missionaries. She came to the U.S. in 1992 for college, and then worked in the Higher Education/Student Life arena for 13 years, with the last eight years being at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, MI. Her educational background is in Biology, Psychology, and Christian Education.
Christy Carlin Knetsch - As the Director of Youth Ministry, Christy is privileged to oversee both the Middle and High School Ministries. She also supervises the Grand Rapids Initiative for Leaders (GRIL U) Program, which prepares students for leadership and service in the church and world. Inspiring and equipping adults to invest deeply in the lives of students in grades 7-12 is her passion. She loves to be a bridge builder by connecting students to God, each other, their mentors, their church, community, and world.
11. What is Social Justice and Where Do I Fit In?
How does social justice fit within our call as Christians to tell the world about Jesus Christ? What does the Bible mean when it says "Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy" (Prov. 31:8-9)? What does it mean to do this in our modern context? How can we be a voice for those who are destitute in our churches, community, country and world?
Thyra Van Keenen - Intern Congregational Justice Mobilizer, CRC Office of Social Justice
Thrya works with the CRC Office of Social Justice to provide the materials support and encouragement churches need to become voices for justice. She is currently working on her Master’s of Divinity at Calvin Theological Seminary. Thyra is from Edmonton Alberta, but has called Grand Rapids home for the last few years. She is passionate about working for justice, as we are called in Proverbs, to “speak up and judge fairly, defend the rights of the poor and needy.”
12. Why Give a Tweet?
The web can be one of the best tools to use for outreach and keeping in touch with your church members. But in the constantly changing world of Web 2.0 it can be tough to know what technology to use and how to utilize it well. This session will take a look at using Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and other social media outlets.
Jerod Clark - English Language Producer, Back to God Ministries International
Jerod heads up a new project for Back to God Ministries International called Church Juice. The goal is to energize church communications by helping individual congregations use media better. That can be anything from marketing and public relations to website development. Before working at BTGMI, Jerod spent six years as a local TV news reporter.
13. Young People, the Church ... Where are They?
Where are they? Did they fall down the rabbit hole? Why do they leave the church after so much has been invested in them? Young people leaving the church is not a new phenomenon. In this session we will wrestle with the current research on young people, and the roles of mission trips and church communities in fostering a lifelong commitment to Christ and His Church.
Darwin Glassford - Associate Professor of Church Education, Calvin Theological Seminary
Darwin K. Glassford has been involved in youth ministry for over thirty-years and currently serves at Calvin Theological Seminary as Associate Professor of Church Education. When he is not teaching or working with young people, you'll likely find him riding motorcycles with his daughter or hiking.
<< Back to the NEXT! Conference page
