Dear RRC family,

As many of you know, our Youth Group is gearing up for another mission trip departing on Sunday, July 21 and heading to Wilmore, Kentucky for a week of service projects with AdventureServe Ministries. 

These service projects are designed to ignite a passion for service among our youth and volunteers, fostering a connection to those in need and to each other. My prayer is that during this trip, God will cultivate in us a heart for service and a keen awareness of our capacity to make a meaningful difference wherever God puts us. Additionally, I pray that God will give us a deeper understanding of how the Holy Spirit is at work in those we serve. 

Service, however, is about more than meeting physical, emotional, or even spiritual needs. It’s about growing in Christ-likeness. Just as our love for God and others grows as we grasp the depth of His love for us, demonstrated so beautifully in Jesus and His sacrificial work for us on the cross, so we are enabled to serve others by recognizing that Jesus, the Suffering Servant, served us first. 

Jesus says in Mark 10:45, "For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." Paul echoes this truth in Philippians 2:6-7, "[Jesus], though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men." Jesus, the eternal God, Creator, and Word, humbled Himself to serve and ultimately to save us. 

As the Youth Group prepares for this journey, please join me in praying that our students will see, for the first time or anew, the depths of God’s love—His willingness to lovingly serve and sacrifice even for those who were His enemies by nature. Pray that our youth will grasp the humble, servant heart of Christ, and that God will transform them into joyful followers of Jesus who eagerly display His love in action.

This Sunday, July 14, we will take a moment to recognize those going on the mission trip and invite the church to pray over this team. We encourage all volunteers and youths attending to join us up front briefly for this special time of prayer, believing that when we unite in prayer, God works powerfully.

God bless!

Tim VanderZwaag