Calvary Church Annual Report CalvaryChurchAnnualReport20152016-REV | Page 9

Worship ministry
Worship Ministry Staff (8/31/2016)
Andy Crowder, Mark Grevengoed, Cynthia Haas, Katie Mateer, Christie
Thompson, Scott Sommerfeld, Mark Welling
Over this past year we have had
front row seats to witness God
working and moving in powerful
ways. We entered into our 2015-
2016 year continuing our study
in the book of Joshua, where God
has called us to have the Courage
to Obey. It has been amazing to
see those in our own ministry who
have been courageous in answer-
ing God’s calling. Aubrey Vander-
Woude (Orchestra) has been serv-
ing in refugee camps in Greece and
Marlene Schutter (missionary in
Papua New Guinea) gave free mu-
sic lessons to kids while home in
Grand Rapids.
As God has called others to serve
in distant places, we also feel God’s
strong calling to minister here at
Calvary with the skills and talents
that He has blessed each of us
with. This past year we tried some-
thing different from our tradition-
al Festival of Lights program and
offered A Calvary Christmas to en-
courage our church family during
the holiday season.
We’ve been greatly encouraged in
our worship services by hearing the
testimonies of fellow believers who
have been courageous to follow
God’s call on their life. It has been
a blessing to share in communion
and celebrate together in baptism.
The Courage to Obey also carried
into our Grace Beyond project, in
which we transplanted our Sunday
services to Calvin College’s Van-
Noord Arena for a season.
During our time at Calvin, we have
seen God continue to use our Cal-
vary Choir, Orchestra and Praise
Band to help lead people in worship.
This process was a daunting task
and hasn’t always been the easi-
est transition, but we are praising
God that He is faithful in our time of
need. Our sermon series during the
latter half of the 2015-2016 year is
in the book of Romans and calls us
to live by faith. We have the privi-
lege of being reminded each week
from God’s Word that our righ-
teousness and worth is not found
in or earned through our actions
but as Romans 1:17 says, “For in
the gospel the righteousness of
God is revealed—a righteousness
that is by faith from first to last, just
as it is written: ‘The righteous will
live by faith.’” Our hope is that as we
continue to be presented with dif-
ficult journeys that we will remem-
ber God’s sovereignty in all things
and believing and trusting in Him,
so as to truly live by faith.
creative arts
We began a dance ministry this
year, the team performed for var-
ious ministries in the church and
expanded the understanding of
worship through the art of dance.
We also embarked on our first
creative arts worship camp this
summer for students and we had
a wonderful response of students
growing in their understanding of
worship through the arts as they
learned drama, dance and art as
worship.
Fun facts
•
•
•
•
180 Choir Members
Choir sang on 25 Sundays
14 new choir songs shared
3 Calvary Christmas
performances
• 21 praise band members
• 10 new praise band songs
• 40+ regular orchestra
members
• 27 preludes led, plus
orchestra accompanied
worship, Calvary
Christmas, the Palm
Sunday musical and the
Choir/Orchestra Finale
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