A Little Background....

Thanks for checking in to this portion of the Church Herald blog. Here's a little bit about me:

Background:

Raised in Oostburg, Wisconsin.... Graduate of Northwestern College (1988) and Fuller Theological Seminary (1992)...Fellowship Reformed, Muskgon, Michigan (1992-1998)....Trinity Reformed, Orange City, Iowa (1999-present).

Family:

Married to Ann (Lammers) (for almost 20 years!)...Four children (Lauren - 15, Nicole - 12, Andrew - 12, Julie - 12).

Current ministry:

Senior Pastor of Trinity Reformed Church for almost 10 years. Our congregation is relatively diverse for Dutch-oriented Sioux County. While deeply reformed in our roots and ethos, we are also committed to being missional in our community and in the world. I have been blessed to work with an incredible group of staff members and Chirst-exalting lay leaders that make ministry a joy. Some distinctives about our congregation:

•- Innovative, creative, worship

•- Began The Bridge, a transitional housing ministry for women and children.

•- Spanish-speaking language ministry, including four weekday opportunities and live translation of our 11:00 a.m. worship service.

•- A deep commitment to significant mission involvement around the world.

•- Small group ministry that includes 50% of the congregation.

You can check us out through a few web sites:

•- Trinity Church website

•- Videos of recent worship services

•- Open Doors stewardship series site.

In addition to my family and ministry joys, I'm passionate about Uganda. On a recent sabbatical, I was able to spend time in Mukono, Uganda, with Rev. Canon Captain Titus Baraka (a Western Seminary graduate and leader of Words of Hope Uganda). This has led to a deeper involvement of our congregation in that ministry. You can click here for a blog relating to that experience.

You can also look me up on Facebook; I'd be happy to be your "friend."

Comments

[Terry DeYoung]

Glad you're giving our blog software a workout, Jon, not to mention taking time to introduce yourself. I am particularly struck by the 50 percent participation in small groups. Can you say more about how that has happened?

(For our Herald bloggers: I'll be sending out a note soon about some technicalities with our software.)

[Jon O]

Yes, Terry.

Our previous pastor, Rev. Don DeGlopper (now in Oskaloosa, Iowa), began one or two groups in the Serendipty model. One gave birth to two, two to four, and so on. It didn't happen overnight, but Don kept faithfully tilling the soil. They really took off when the elders agreed to end the traditional evening service and give people the option of going to small group instead of going to evening worship first and then to small groups.

It is likely that our adult participation is less than 50% this fall. We have not been able keep up the growth of the groups while the church has grown over the last 12 months.

Rev. Jon Nelson, on our staff, does an excellent job of beginning new groups and new ways of doing small groups. Small groups have now become part of the culture of the church. We may never be a church "of small groups" but we will continue to pursue being a church "with small groups."