2024 Thornapple Year-in-Review

Julia Sandstrom
Teaching Pastor


Lynne McLaughlin
Pastor of Community Life and NextGen Ministries

get the 2025 pre-read packet

Annual meeting forms
can be downloaded
at the bottom of this page

From the pastors

Dear Thornapple,

Church Annual Meetings are more than meetings, they are celebrations. As a church, we annually gather to approve a budget, elect new leaders and make important decisions regarding the church. This may seem boring, but in reality, these assets (financial and human) are God’s provision for the next year of our work with God for His kingdom purposes. We also take this time to look back at the ways God has poured out His blessing on our collective mission and ministry.

As we reflect on 2024, we celebrate an increase in new attenders that are finding their way into our community. Our children’s ministry is growing and many of you are serving these kids, helping them discover Jesus and his love for them. Thornapple continues to be a place where we seek to love mercy and do justice. Many of you served hosting Family Promise, participated in the Global 6K for Water and purchased items during the ICCF Christmas Marketplace.

Last fall we offered The After Party, which stretched us to lean into the “how” of politics over the “what” of politics. Our congregation continues to value a posture of love for one another even as we may disagree on significant issues in our country. This is becoming increasingly rare in our neighborhoods, friend groups, families and churches. We pray that God continues to grace us with grace for one another.

We see God’s provision for our financial needs through your generosity and the sale of the Burton St. lots that resulted in paying off the mortgage giving us the opportunity to move forward on things we have put on hold in care of our facility and ministry at large. Our building continues to get used by the community in a variety of ways, which is what we desire. We are stewards of a budget and building that God has entrusted to us for his glory and neighbors' good.

Pastor Andrew’s resignation in December came at a time when Thornapple is in a place of health and vitality. We give thanks for the work God has done through Pastor Andrew’s leadership and the gifts he shared during his 13 years of ministry with us. As we look forward to the near- and long-term staffing of Thornapple, we are confident that God will guide us.

It has been said that the church advances on its knees. Prayer is the foundation of all ministry work at Thornapple. We ask that you join us in prayer asking God to give our elder board, committees, pastors and staff a clear sense of what He is calling us to next. Let us not simply sit back and enjoy the good place we are in, let us celebrate it and press on knowing that God does not intend for His blessings to simply stop at us, but for those blessings to flow through us to others.  

In Christ,
Pastor Julia & Pastor Lynne

Ministry Updates

Children's Ministry Highlights

  • 20 new families this year
  • Kingdom Kids averages 65 kids each week from 4-years-old to 6th grade with 45 adults and 20 students serving monthly as teachers and small group leaders
  • Nursery averages around 12 kids weekly from birth to 3-years-old with 30 volunteers serving throughout the year
  • Trailblazers  (4th-6th grade) sees around 40-45 kids every Tuesday night with 7 adult leaders; we average 13 kids brought as friends each week!
  • Summer 2024 VBS was 200 kids strong with 70 teen and 20 adult volunteers
  • Well-attended family lunches throughout the year
  • Birthday cards sent to kids each month
  • Summer included pool parties and a trip to Craig's Cruisers
  • Our fall retreat at Portage Lake was enjoyed by 25 kids and 4 leaders

Student Ministry: Middle School

Middle School Ministry at Thornapple involves helping students in 7th and 8th grade find a place to Belong so that they can have conversations that help them to Believe, so that they can Become who God has made them to be.  

It is our hope and prayer that students don’t just come because their parents brought them to church but that it would be a place where they can be loved, thrive in a safe community, hear about Jesus and make their faith their own. This happens on Tuesday evenings at Refuel and on Sunday mornings at Ignite along with fun experiences.

Reverse Trick or Treating at Valley Pines was a highlight along with playing Bingo and doing crafts with the residents. For the Summer Service Adventure, we served the Grand Rapids area with ICCF, The Other Way Ministries and Family Promise. We stayed at church, showered at the YMCA, enjoyed good food, candy and evening pool parties and bowling.

Our amazing team of volunteers love Jesus, model lives of faith and spend time helping students get to know Jesus during the times we meet. 

Highlights

MS Refuel (Tuesday Nights)
  • Gym Time
  • Pizza
  • Jesus
  • Serving at Valley Pines
  • Coke Clubs (Small Groups)
  • Christmas Gifting to ICCF
MS Ignite (Sunday Mornings)
  • Rock Solid and Live Curriculum
  • Donuts and Bagels 


Other events for fun and outreach
  • Tubing at Cannonsburg
  • Laser Tag
  • Summer Service Adventure
  • Pool Parties
  • Cedar Point Trip
  • The Hunt
  • Fall Retreat at Portage Lake

Student Ministry: high School

This past year gave our high school ministry great opportunities to WONDER: great questions and revelations emerged through the experiencing the beauty of God’s creation at Cuyahoga Valley and Hocking Hills on the summer trip and the Michigan lakeshore on retreats; witnessing the global church represented in worship and activities at the UNITE East conference; dreaming about walking with Jesus beyond high school through visiting and hosting college ministries; and presenting our deepest questions in our no-holds-barred “Ask the Pastors” panel.

The “big picture” is made real by our students' willingness to LEAN IN. Small groups and supper clubs continue to be a place of great conversation, vulnerable wrestling, and encouragement; Sunday mornings have exploded with students taking an active role in “being the church” through serving; and the Glenn Van Noord Short Term Urban Missions Program continues to challenge what it means to be a good neighbor.

Through our students’ invitational nature and church’s commitment to intergenerational ministry, we know full well we are BETTER TOGETHER. Small groups in all grades are growing with students inviting and including others for both the fun and the formational events; new adult volunteers are emerging amongst the host of deeply faithful and sacrificial small group leaders; student alumni and leaders reconnect over visits home; and the Amazing Race was an adventure to behold: Almost 200 students, leaders, and volunteers joined together with a foundation of the utmost significance that allowed and empowered us to embrace the most extreme silliness! Who knows how the faith journey and family tree of an individual could be changed by a simple outreach event!

Highlights

  •  Sunday Night Huddle
  • Supper Clubs (small group dinners at students/leaders/pastors homes)
  • Four baptisms (Tyler, Spencer &  Luke McGlaun and Jacob Taylor)
  • Students serving on Sunday Morning (23 students serving in Children's Ministry, Tech Both, Worship Band, Snow-shoveling, etc.)
  • Student-led “TSM FC” indoor soccer team
  • Winter Retreat (10 students,
    4 adult leaders)
  • We Love TSM Brunch fundraiser
  •  “Ask the Pastors” panel with Pastor Andrew, Pastor Julia, and Pastor Lynne
  • Senior Banquet & Senior Say So
  • Hope College Chapel visit
  • Glenn Van Noord Short Term Urban Missions Program (5 TSM students)
  • Pool Parties
  • Senior High Camp at Portage Lake
  • Summer UNITE East Conference & Adventure Weekends (46 students, 14 adult leaders, 4 weekend cooks)
  • MS & HS Cedar Point trip
    (19 students, 4 adult leaders)
  • Amazing Race house-to-house “Comedy Edition” (76 students {51 TSM, 25 invitees}, 71 adult volunteers {17 drivers, 33 first time station leaders, 18 veteran station leaders}, 41 estimated kid and MS helpers/observers)
  • North Park University Gospel Choir dinner and worship night
  • Student-led Huddles
  • Fall Retreat at Geneva Camp
    (41 students, 12 adult leaders)
  • Culver’s Fundraiser Dinner
  • “Grinch Night” buying gifts for ICCF Community Homes families
  • Huddle Christmas Party
  • TSM Alumni Dinner @ JT’s Pizza
    (24 student alumni, 14 leaders)

Adult Ministries

MomCo (formerly MOPS)
  •  76 moms and their 120 kiddos attending this year with 10 Mentor Moms and 22 MOPPETS workers 

Women's Ministry
  • Three weekly groups
  • Three Ladies Games Nights  

Men's Small Groups
  •  Four small groups meeting throughout each week 
  • Three Men's Breakfasts

College & Young Adults
  • Four Sunday post-church brunches
  • Handed out exam study/treat bags in the spring and winter
  • Attended the church fair at Calvin University
  • Sent notes and gift cards to Thornapple's recent high school grads
Spiritual Formation
  • Three prayer gatherings
  • Day-long time of prayer offered on Election Day
  • Two spiritual retreats
  • Spring Seminars on Parenting and Evangelism
  • Summer Rhythms self-guided study/videos
  • Fall: The After Party

pastoral care

Stephen Ministry
  •  We have 21 Stephen Ministers, including six newly trained Stephen Ministers
  • We’ve had 6-8 care receivers at any one time. We would love to see more people at Thornapple take advantage of the gift of having a Stephen Minister.
  • “Cancer, Now What?” books to people diagnosed with cancer 
  • Grateful the leadership team: Marian Hunt, Barb Hoogeboom, Cheri Fox, Sam Woolpert and Joyce Zaagman

Grief and Loss
  •  Supported families and spouses with Journeying Through Grief books, personal notes, and calls throughout the first year of loss and beyond.
Care Ministries
  •  Meals to families and individuals in times of crisis, illness, or grief
  • Helping find rides for people as needed
  • Regular visits to Thornapple members in assisted living, independent living, and living alone.
  • Meeting with people as needs arise and just to check-in
  • Prayers of the People each week and easy access to give prayer requests on the app

Pine Rest Church Assistance Program (CAP)
  •  We had a workshop for staff in February
  • Thornapple people used 21 sessions of counseling , financial assistance, legal assistance, and the hotline through the CAP this year. We hope there are even more in the future!
  • The CAP is available to all individuals who attend Thornapple in some way and includes three free counseling sessions per person per issue, financial advice, legal advice, and an online library full of resources.

Love Mercy Do Justice

  • We coordinated with Family Promise to host 18 homeless families
    (6 families each of 3 weeks) in the Thornapple facility.  There were approximately 24 adults and 28 children served. Thornapple volunteers totaled about 80 each of the weeks, including groups providing meals, overnight hosts, drivers, set up and tear down teams and coordinators. This opportunity also allowed us to establish a new partnership with Keystone Community Church, whose members served alongside Thornapple’s volunteers on a few days of each serving week. The Thornapple community also provided donations of needed food items.
  • We established a closer working relationship with ICCF, sending several members of our congregation to help renovate and prepare homes for their new families. This effort represented the first steps in establishing a group of passionate and skilled Thornapple members who have volunteered to provide ongoing ICCF home support.
  • The Glenn VanNoord Program created opportunities for Thornapple students to use their summers training with Degage, ICCF and The Other Way Ministries, serving disadvantaged GR residents. Five students poured their summertime productivity into this effort, serving, reflecting, and naming their growth as people and as believers.
  • We hosted the first of our family-friendly ICCF events, creating a Christmas Marketplace to provide personal care products as gifts for families served by ICCF. The market completely sold out and provided over 400 items worth $2,000 for residents in need, along with notes of encouragement.
  • Thornapple members volunteered monthly by working in the Degage Ministries dining room serving the approximately 150 homeless women who eat and stay at Degage each night.
  • We partnered with Cascade Fellowship Church in hosting 6 community blood drives. A total of 290 units of blood were donated.

international missions

The International Missions team continues to meet regularly and coordinate Thornapple’s support for our 10 mission partners, both domestically and around the world.  In addition to helping them financially, we have regular contact with and try to help out as needed, such as in the case of the Hirt family returning to the US.  

We continue to look for opportunities to serve our partners and get the message out to the entire Thornapple congregation.

Our 2024 work included
  1. Interface with Thornapple ministry leaders to integrate international missions with other Thornapple work/ministry.
  2. Interface with LMDJ to see how we can work together (e.g., Cascade 5K Walk for Water).
  3. We welcomed a new member (Diane Peneycad) to the committee, but are always looking for more interested members of the Thornapple family.
  4. Increased support for Satya Maharjan, who previously led the Bhutanese/Nepali congregation at Thornapple but has returned to Nepal as a church planter.
  5. Thornapple visits from mission partners Gary and Sarah Cross, the Hirt family.

Downloads

Proxy Form

This method is preferred to absentee ballot since a proxy vote counts toward a quorum.
Please complete a proxy form and return it to the Secretary by mail or email PRIOR to the start of the meeting.

Absentee Ballot

An absentee ballot does not count towards our quorum but does signify having your vote heard if you are unable to attend or designate a proxy. 
Please complete the absentee ballot and return it to the Secretary by mail or email PRIOR to the start of the meeting.

Pre-Read Packet

Download and review it prior to the Annual Meeting on Feb. 23. If you need to have a hard copy mailed to you, please contact Kimberly Korpak.