October S.E.E. Blog

Dear Frontline family,

The FBC Board of Directors have continued to work behind the scenes to carry out the mission and vision of Frontline Bible Church through the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Despite the challenges the pandemic has presented for being able to meet, we are grateful for our church family’s continued commitment over the past several months, whether that support has been from home or in-person.

During the past month the board has put a few things in-place that are in action as we speak:

Mask seating options for the Worship Service – After many discussions the board voted last month to have a mask required (East section) and mask optional seating sections (West sections) for our Sunday services. Masks are still required when moving throughout the building, but are now optional once seated within West sections of the Worship Center. Social-distanced seating and dismissal by sections still remains in place at this time. The board asks that attendees be respectful of everyone during this time and encourages our church family to worship in a setting that best fits them as we continue to navigate this pandemic.

Building use – Meetings held at Frontline Bible Church in addition to our Sunday Worship Service are open to our church family. However, rental groups and non-FBC sponsored events will not be permitted in the building at this time. Masks are optional for these meeting times as well, but are still required when moving about the building. We ask that all small groups continue to use the disinfecting stations to sanitize their areas of use after meeting.

Pastor Appreciation Month – October is “Pastor Appreciation Month.” Please take time to thank Pastor John Lowder for his leadership and continued commitment to Frontline! The board plans to recognize him this Sunday.

WIFI Update – JD Dulinsky and the Technology Team continue to work towards upgrading the church wifi through the installation of fiber optic lines! This is a big project, so we hope to have the upgrade completed later this fall.

Financial Update – We are pleased to announce that God has continued to provide during the pandemic and we are incredibly thankful for your financial giving! Since the start of the new fiscal year, we have met 95% of our budget, even after an increase to the budget during the pandemic. We are so grateful for your continued prayers and faithful giving during this unprecedented time!

We are excited to see how God continues to push Frontline forward to grow His Church in the world.

Jesse Campbell, secretary 
on behalf of the FBC Board of Directors

How is it that we can “Be thankful in all circumstances“ or “Give Thanks” in everything (1 Thess. 5:16-18) when we see so much chaos around us? Is it even authentic of us to be happy (glad) when times of hurt & pain are so evident? Lately, I’ve found freedom in learning the difference between performative happiness & gladness: One is reputation-based; the other is a state of being. One is exhausting; the other is real and restful. Whatever happens next in our nation and here at Frontline, my prayer as we close out 2020 is that this playlist: 

• is a breath of fresh air
• puts a song in your heart
• adds a skip to your step 

 Prayer:
“Lord, remind us that every day is a gift. Teach us the value of the little things in life, & help us see all Your hand has provided & is providing. Thank you that because of Your provision, we can pour out our “Echoes of Gladness” to You. Amen. 

Summer Update: This summer the youth group had a slow start due to the Covid pandemic, but we were able to have a few meetings at a couple different parents’ houses. Some of the highlights included playing volleyball at Dwayne and Tiffany Huff’s house, throwing cups of water at each other at Corey and Gretchen Johnson’s house, eating hot dogs with extra mustard at Brian and Amanda Johnson’s house, and the wonderfully warm pool at Rom and Andrea Campos’ house. Thank you to all of these couples for hosting.

Fall update: Our youth group meetings currently have a heavy emphasis on hand sanitizer, individually wrapped snacks, activities that cut down on close physical interaction and lots of bonfires! Although there are some changes to how youth group looks compared to the past, our focus and structure remain the same. Sunday night meetings consist of an announcement time, a small game to get the middle school and high school students moving, laughing and interacting with each other and then a separate activity/team builder time for each group. We close with a lesson and then break into small groups to discuss what was taught and how it applies practically to each student’s life. The goal for these small groups is to create an atmosphere where the students feel more comfortable being open and honest with each other and have deeper discussions than what occurs in a larger group setting. I encourage the leaders to share their own life experiences to facilitate the discussion. Finally, the students enjoy a snack handed out by Veniis Matthews or Laura Weirckz. (Thanks Frontline Women for organizing snack time!! Click here to sign up to help provide snacks)

Our topic for the high school student’s lesson time is “Our Identity in Christ”. So far, we’ve touched on: we are loved in Christ, we are forgiven, we are redeemed, we are reconciled, and we are blessed in Christ. Joseph Craesmeyer is a new high school leader this year and taught the lesson on reconciliation. I am very excited for his addition to the group as well as Haley Pilka. Both John Mattias and Aubree Domsic are returning leaders for the high school students along with myself. Ben Moore is currently teaching the middle school lesson time about Daniel, and Jared Lowder will also teach in the future.  We have three new female leaders joining the team this year. Their enthusiasm and new ideas bring much excitement: Olivia Weller (Tanis), Meredith Holton and Dana Boyum. My goal is to invest in the lives of the leaders in order that they may invest in the lives of the students inside and outside of youth group. My desire andprayer is to cultivate an effective team that is able to disciple and mentor the students of Frontline Bible Church. Read more about our Leadership Team at frontlinebible.com/fym.

Overall, it’s been exciting to see some of the more reserved kids get out of their comfort zone by simply acting silly and getting into the activities or by opening up and sharing something vulnerable in our small group time. I have high expectations for what God can and will do in our youth group. It is such a blessing to work with the Frontline students and get to know them all better and build a strong unified group of young men and women who are trained to live out their lives glorifying God. 

Thank you,
Tina Post
Director of Frontline Youth

Outreach Team Update:
One of the Core Values of Frontline Bible Church is to BE the Church. So how can we be the church to our neighbors immediately surrounding FBC? This is the question currently driving the Outreach Team. The goal and focus of the Outreach Team is simply to build God-reflecting relationships with those outside of the church. Eventually, we will reach beyond our immediate neighbors to the city of Byron Center and even beyond to the greater Grand Rapids area.

There are many different experiences that people have with Christians and the church, and some of those are not so great. In my own experience, I thought of the church as just a building because I never really had someone come alongside and choose to do life with me or to really show me the love of God and who Christ is. Our goal is not to get people to just come to the church and fill the seats. It is to build long-lasting relationships with people that need God and be the best example that we can of what that looks like.

Another goal is that through the outreach ministry events, we will give those inside the church some experience with reaching out, building relationships, and ultimately sharing the gospel. We hope that you, the church, will be excited to invite your family, friends, co-workers, and neighbors.

The passion and desire for this comes from my experiences of doing life alone, without God, and without other believers. We aren’t made to do life alone. Romans 10:14, NIV –“How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?” This challenges me to reach out to those around me and grow relationships with others who have never heard of Jesus.

Recent and Upcoming Events:
In September, we hosted our first official outreach event. The Disc Golf Tournament was a great success. This event took place at the Grace Christian University Disc Golf Course. It was publicized within FBC, but also a Facebook Event was created and shared on Disc Golf pages. We had several people from FBC, as well as several that do not attend church. During the lunch break, I shared how Christ has made an impact on my life through people coming alongside me and doing life with me, and that this is what we hope to do with those who participated. We want to do life together with them. We have had at least two people visit and regularly attend FBC since that event!

Our next outreach event is October 31 and is called SERVE & TREAT. We will serve our neighbors in the Byron Garden neighborhood by raking leaves and helping with fall yard clean up. We have a great team and anyone wanting or willing to be part of it is welcomed. There is still time to sign up to serve our neighbors in this way. You can sign up in one hour blocks (multiple blocks are welcome). Bring your own rakes/gloves and join us. Sign up here.

We are excited to see what God is doing and how He is going to use the church to not only reach the community around us, but to also strengthen and equip each and every person involved to be doers of the Word and share the gospel. We will conclude the time with a TREAT tent where we will have apple cider, donuts, and treat bags for kids that come by.

November 7^th we will host our second Disc Golf Tournament, or DGT 2.0. We want to be intentional about continuing to build the relationships that began in September. Please consider joining us. Sign up here to participate.

– Anthony Beaulieu
Outreach Team

See and celebrate how God IS moving: 40 Days for Life
On Saturday, October 17^th twelve of us from Frontline Bible Church had the privilege of following God’s calling to pray for the unborn by standing, sitting or walking in front of the Heritage Clinic in Grand Rapids. The Heritage Clinic is the last abortion clinic operating in Kent County and they perform abortions Wednesday thru Friday each week. There is also a Planned Parenthood Clinic several blocks away that refers to the Heritage Clinic while it provides other services including the morning-after pill.

40 Days for Life is an active, peaceful prolife initiative that is both national and international in scope. It is a separate but complimentary organization to Right to Life, and the organizations support each other. 40 Days for Life is a biannual event with churches and groups from across the Grand Rapids area participating each year.

As you may guess from the name, participating churches select a day to participate in praying outside the clinic during a designated 40-day period. This fall it began on September 23, and the day we selected was Saturday, October 17^th. We selected a Saturday hoping there would be fewer conflicts with people not being able to participate due to their work schedules. The national organization typically has printed signs available to purchase communicating that our purpose is to gather peacefully to seek God and pray for an end to abortion-on-demand. Unfortunately, we were unable to purchase these signs because they had been sold out for several weeks prior to our event. This seemingly indicated that participation was very high this year.

This was the first time our Frontline family participated in this event and we were pleased with the number of individuals that joined us. The event runs from 7 am to 7 pm each day for forty days and we were able to fill six of the 12 one hour time slots. Everyone participated in pairs which gave us a total of eleven persons participating in our first year joining this initiative. There were two participants who did not have a partner sign up with them, so as the event coordinator I had the privilege of praying for two hours, one with each of the participants. Prior to the event several potential participants expressed concern that they wouldn’t know what to pray for or didn’t feel qualified to pray, so we provided a list of suggested things to pray about during the hour.

All the volunteers that participated said they felt the experience was worthwhile and would do it again. This event happens twice each year, in the spring and fall, and the next opportunity to participate will be announced early next year. Here’s what some of the participants said about their experiences:

Veniis Matthews said “I thought today was awesome. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience and would love to be part of it again… I believe this is my way of doing my part without being too much out of my comfort zone. I would love to see our church get behind this …and be the church.”

Kathy Campbell said “I think stuff like this is good. How are we going to stand up for our faith if we can’t stand on a sidewalk and pray? It was a really good exercise in doing the uncomfortable. I’m glad I did it.”

In fact, all those involved said it stretched them and said they would do it again. While we may never know the impact our prayer has on influencing women in unplanned pregnancies or choosing life for their unborn child, across our nation 40 Days for Life says that 290 children have been saved from abortion since the initiative began on September 23^rd of this year. If you would like to follow the results of this 40 day campaign, click here: https://www.40daysforlife.com/. Please feel free to ask any of the participants listed below about their experience, and consider joining them in the spring as we hope to fill all 12 time slots.

Participants:
Bob and Vicki Dolsen 
Pastor John 
Anthony Beaulieu 
Rose Holben 
Dawn Orr 
Brandias Bergsma 
Kathy and Randy Campbell 
Veniis Matthews 
Tiffany Huff

— Tiffany Huff

We would love to hear and celebrate how God is working in your life. Leave you comment below if you don’t mind sharing publicly. Or if you would like to send to marketing@frontlinebible.com (Attn: Vicki) we would love to include in next months November (Thanksgiving) Blog.