al shjarback - pastor of operationszarephath christian church 2018 ministry reports al shjarback -...

ZAREPHATH CHRISTIAN CHURCH 2018 Ministry Reports

AL SHJARBACK - PASTOR OF OPERATIONS First, I would like to say how grateful I am to so many that Minister, Lead and Serve within the life here at Zarephath Christian Church. This past year has allowed me to serve alongside many of you as we go deeper and draw closer to God. These past 12 months have seemed to go by faster than ever, yet during that time much has been accomplished not only here at ZCC, but in lives around NJ and beyond.

My wife Donna and I continue to work with many married couples though a variety of programs with the ZCC Marriage Ministry. This year the Ministry held (2) large group sessions where more than 75 couples participated in multi-week journeys as we went deeper into God’s purpose for marriage and how to apply that in our daily relationships. On the women’s side of the Marriage Ministry, we hosted the Second Annual Harvest Tea with over 100 attending with Jen Butwill as their special guest speaker. It was a wonderful time of building relationships and hearing more about God’s work in Liberia. The Marriage Ministry has also been at work coming alongside couples for mentoring and counseling as well. Last fall we hosted the Les and Leslie Parrot “FIGHT NIGHT” simulcast where over 65 couples learned ways that we strengthen our marriages through understanding how to fight the “Good” fight. In addition, this past year we had a number of couples participating in marriage specific Growth Groups. Many of these groups will continue as Life Groups, and we want to encourage you to “Join Up!”

This past year was also a time for completing many of the Campus Projects; here are some of the highlights:

- New Steps to the Children’s Ministry Center from ZMC

- Conversion of the CMC Heating System to Natural Gas along with a High-Efficiency Control System

- Installation of drainage in the ZMC front sidewalk

- Ongoing work to complete the Kitchen

- Carpeting the ZMC second floor

- Installation of Permanent Audio/Video Equipment in the second floor ZMC Ministry Room

In the Security area, we have continued the review and updating of the Security Operations Guide and as well as sending leaders to several training seminars. We also continued our in-house training in the areas of Medical Response with most of our team now certified at Basic First Aid, CPR and use of a Defibrillator as well as on-going training in church specific security practices. We are so thankful for the men and women who serve in this important area of ministry with a heart to ensure the safety of everyone who comes on campus.

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Our work in the facilities area has grown over the past year as we have seen a number of our ministries move to ZMC for their events and meetings. We are so fortunate to have such a beautiful home that allows us such a wide variety of uses for our resources. We continue to collaborate with STAR99 for listener events and meetings here at ZCC as well as groups such as Bright Co-op Home School, Faith Center Home School, Players Development Academy (PDA) and Raritan Valley Community College ESL Programs. These partnerships offer an entry point into the lives of many who may never step foot in a church or have a relationship with God. Our Prayer and Hope is that many will be touched and come to know more about God through their exposure to His Church here at ZCC. Our facilities folks working behind the scenes are doing a great job keeping up with these changes and the ongoing facilities maintenance challenges as we continue to provide resources to meet our needs today and in the future.

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RICH DUGAN – PASTOR OF YOUTH, YOUNG ADULTS & LIFE GROUPS

1. Weekend Hospitality

Hospitality is rooted in the gospel and our weekend teams take that seriously. All weekend teams strive towards a ‘Culture of Hospitality’ that consists of competency, courtesy, connection and compassion. This type of excellence isn’t done to make ZCC look good, but to put the love of Christ on display for all who join us to feel comfortable, welcomed and loved.

Weekend Hospitality Teams:• Info Hub, led by Lucy Droege• Parking, led by Freddy Rosario• Greeters, led by Jane Soffer• Ushers, led by Jon Boczar

Volunteers Needed: All of our Weekend Teams need more help! This is an ongoing issue. Our teams are integral to what we do on the weekends and make a tremendous impact on those who join us every Saturday and Sunday. This is far from a ‘fill this spot’ type of volunteering! All of our weekend teams have the opportunity to put the gospel on display and point people to Jesus.

Special Thanks: To our faithful volunteers who serve selflessly, even when we are short staffed – you’re appreciated! This year, Randi Jennings stepped off of the Greeters leadership team after leading for the past sixteen years! We are grateful for you, Randi!

Young Adults

At Zarephath, we recognize the immense pressure that culture puts on young adults to conform to the status quo. We aim to renew a passion in the hearts and minds of those in colleges and in their twenties for the gospel of Jesus Christ and its extreme relevance in our day-to-day lives.

The young adult leadership team consists of Jesse Dunn, Nickole Dunn, Ifeoma Ejiogu, Joarlynn Fernendez, Joy Paul and Dani Erickson. They lead a couple young adult Life Groups and also plan large young adult events. This leadership team creates great events and opportunities for young adults to connect outside of weekend services. They bring a tremendous amount of dedication and excellence to our young adult community here at Zarephath.

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2. Life Groups

Before the foundation of the world, community existed within the Godhead. In the first human relationship to ever be created, God’s intention was unity. Since then, sin has entered the world and mankind has been broken, but the original intent of mankind has remained the same. We have been created for togetherness to the glory of God! In fact, community is where Christians grow and thrive; where skeptics and new believers can experience vibrant, loving faith; and where disciples of Christ can lean on one another through thick and thin. Biblical community looks like broken people, coming from different backgrounds, struggling with different things, all joining together with one common purpose - to pursue Jesus together.

A great number of those who attend ZCC on the weekends are not sharing life together in some type of relational context throughout the week. This isn’t good. Relationships are the indispensable element for disciple making and sanctification (spiritual growth). So therein lies a question: what do we do about this problem at ZCC? In order to be a catalytic church that continues to see conversions but also helps followers of Jesus to grow deeper in Christlikeness, what should be done to encourage this type of community? We believe that Jesus effectively modeled the method for effective ministry by selecting a small group of twelve men whom He discipled (see Luke 6:12-14). His strategy involved building relationships and investing Himself in these men over a certain period of time to equip them to do the same. We have implemented this model at ZCC with something called Life Groups.

In the fall community at Zarephath shifted. We had 44 groups across central NJ, with 502 people involved in small communities. Those are 502 lives that are going deeper in Christian community! All of these groups serve the simple purpose of Pursuing Jesus Together through:

• Time Together• Time in the Word• Time in Prayer

This started with a post-Easter 2018 six-week semester: For six weeks after Easter, we relaunched Life Groups with 32 groups meeting weekly in homes across central Jersey.

We use sermon-based studies: Most ZCC Life Groups are using sermon-based studies that are developed on Monday morning and sent out to leaders for their meeting that week. These studies are based primarily out of the Scripture that was preached on the prior weekend, to expound more from that text and for everyone to talk about what God is teaching them through it.

We created an easy avenue for signing up to join Life Groups: All Life Groups can be found on Zarephath.org, including group information like leadership names and picture, town they meet in, when they meet and a small description of the group. Those who are interested can email group leaders from Zarephath’s website, which

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syncs up with CCB (our church database), allowing for the church office to make sure no one is falling through the cracks! We also created a permanent location at the Information Hub for anyone to sign up for a group whenever they’re at the Zarephath Ministry Center.

Accelerate! New Jersey: In partnership with Saddleback Church in California, Zarephath is hosting a Small Group Network Seminar in May 2019 to come alongside area churches in order to help them develop small group community.

Special thanks to all of our Life Group Leaders, C-team, including those who have just committed to joining the Life Group leadership team!

3. Media

Jon Mihail, our former Media & Communications Director, left in November after receiving an opportunity to do ministry at a church in Indiana. For the time being, Collin Fitzgerald has assumed most of these responsibilities including managing Zarephath.org, all ZCC social media, and all designed material that is printed, in the building and online.

STUDENT MINISTRY (GRADES 6-12) – REPORT BY COLLIN FITZGERALD, YOUTH MINISTER

Zarephath Student Ministry has a ‘Big Win’ which is how we measure success. We ‘win’ when a student begins to own his/her faith in Jesus and joins God on His mission to reach every man, woman and child with the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We do this while partnering with parents and discipling young people to love, live and serve as Jesus did.

Here is a quick glance at the past year:

1. Curriculum: In an effort to better resource our small group leaders and parents, we began using Grow Youth Ministry curriculum. This allowed us to have all social media and series graphics pre-done, all small group questions given out to our small group leaders well in advance, ideas to connect with and disciple students, event and game ideas, and ways to connect with and resource parents. Further, these resources have freed me to focus only on message prep when it comes to our Middle and High School gatherings each weekend.

2. Parent Equip Newsletter: In an effort to partner with the parents of our students, we began a weekly email newsletter for parents only. This email includes three sections: (1) recap of the past week’s teaching with bible references, summary, and follow up questions for parents to ask their children;

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(2) 3 Big cultural insights from the past week and how they impact youth/family culture; and (3) Smaller cultural insights to keep parents informed of teen and pop culture. This has already received a lot of positive feedback from our parents.

3. Splitting Middle and High School Groups: Even when something is being done well, it doesn’t always mean it’s being done best. This is why we made this change last year: In an effort to point students to Jesus in the best way possible, focusing in closely on where they’re at in life and allowing for a small group setting. We have seen tremendous success with this change. We have intentionally continued some of our larger events together so that younger and older students can have the opportunity to experience one another.

a. Middle School meets on Sunday mornings and is thriving. We continue to find that we are reaching more middle school age students than ever before, and we are also discipling in a deeper way since this setting allows us to focus more intentionally on this specific age group.

i. We officially moved upstairs to the large meeting room. This has been hugely beneficial for our time as it allows us to be more creative with our ice breaker games and gives us enough space for small group breakouts.

b. High School moved to Sunday nights for two primary reasons:

1. Friday nights were not succeeding in reaching as many students as we’d like due to many school and sporting events occurring on Friday evenings.

2. Friday nights were difficult for volunteer commitment

ii. Since this move, we’ve seen a handful of new leaders able to commit to serving as Small Group leaders.

iii. While the group size has not grown significantly since the move (we average around 30-35 students per week, up from about 25-30 last year), we have seen that students who could not make it out on Fridays are coming regularly on Sunday nights.

iv. This has also allowed leaders to plan outside-of-church events with their small group students on Fridays and throughout the week, as well as allowed me to take part in Friday events at schools in the area.

4. Student Bands: The middle school worship band has continued to grow. We have two ‘coaches’ who help organize the students while discipling them in their role as worship leaders. Our high school band has grown healthier this year, with more students stepping up and leading. While not as organized as our middle school ministry worship band, it has taken steps in that direction and leaders are

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being put in place as coaches similar to the middle school band. A theology of worship has been created for students and leaders to adhere to and learn from.

5. Fall Retreat: 142 students and many leaders had a fantastic weekend away at Camp Orchard Hill. This is the most students we’ve ever had at our retreat! Our theme was “Distinct” as we taught our students what it means to live the life of holiness in Christ that God calls his people to live.

6. Summer Camp: Rich and I led a week of middle school summer camp at Delanco Camp in South Jersey. We invited our middle schoolers to register and come out, and roughly 35 were a part of the week. We also had several of our weekly student ministry volunteers as teachers, counselors, and worship leaders. We are set to lead the same week of camp again in the summer of 2019.

7. Student Missions:

a. Global: ZSM will be looking into cross cultural missions partnerships for the summer of 2020. The Nicaragua trip planned for last summer was cancelled due to civil unrest within the country.

b. Local: ZSM partnered once again with City Service Mission this summer in Philly. 33 total students came on this trip. A trip to Washington, D.C. is on the schedule for 2019.

c. My Neighbor’s Ministries: During the month of March, ZSM will be serving on Saturdays with My Neighbor’s Ministries. We hope for this to occur twice a year, once in the spring and once in the fall.

8. Future:

a. Continue to strengthen our Small Group leaders through coaching and training.

b. Recruit more adult male leaders. This is the clearest need of our small group leader team.

c. Deepen Partnership with Parents: In 2019 and beyond, we plan to make a strong effort to partner with parents in a new way. We are planning a Parent/Leader lunch for later in the spring to allow parents and our volunteer leaders to get to know one another, as well as our ministry as a whole. This will then be implemented as a yearly event in the fall before we kick off for the school year.

d. Bible Studies for students: in an effort to have an avenue for students to go deeper in their faith and understanding of God and his Word, we are looking to implement some form of bible study ‘class’ for students to sign up and be a part of. This would be outside of our regular weekly gatherings and would not occur every week of the school year.

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e. More local service opportunities: The first step is partnering with MNM. This March, small groups will be serving in the Pantry every Saturday morning of the month. The next step is to get involved with local organizations to serve those in our surrounding communities

f. More involvement in local schools: I’m beginning conversations with Young Life representatives in surrounding schools (two of which serve as volunteer leaders in our middle school ministry). The goal is to be able to reach more of the public/secular school youth in our area.

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MARK AVERY - DIRECTOR OF MISSIONS AND OUTREACH This year, a resounding theme is that God moves in spite of the storms around us. From renewal during leadership changes, to an unexpected adoption, to a lost and then restored agreement on food salvage with a food provider, to churches planted in the midst of growing persecution, the statement “Jesus is Lord” rings true! Here are some highlights from this year:

1. Local Outreach:

Alpha

Alpha is led by Josh and Linda Tiner, and serves as an ‘on-ramp’ to learning about Jesus-- a place where those with honest questions about faith and life can join in small groups to learn and discuss the claims of the Bible. This year we ran Alpha with approximately 85 people participating, and continue to see the Lord calling people to Himself in this wonderful ministry!

Prison Ministry

This year, 2 more ladies were added to the prison ministry team! Several of the inmates that we met with on the inside have come to ZCC to attend church and/or to get help, and it has been a joy to walk with them on this side of the wall! There is still a real need for translators in both men’s and women’s outreaches—those fluent in both English and Spanish, so please hold that in prayer with us! We would also love to see some people stepping up to be mentors for those who are recently released!

Food Pantry:

Our pantry team, led by Aixa Katz, has continued to serve over 300 needy families in our community with food each month. Our partnership with a key provider, US Foods, was recently restored under a new arrangement and continues to be a great blessing to many families. We had a special Mother’s Day event pampering and honoring Moms, giving out 300 gift bags! The backpack drive gave out 250 packs to kids this year! Our Garden and Farmers Market continue to provide fresh fruit and veg!

Clothing Boutique:

Our boutique is a clothing outreach now led by our newest member, Vivian Meza! We serve needy families with great quality donations, and also have clothes for sale which support our work at My Neighbors. We are still in the midst of our winter coat drive, so please join us in helping needy families stay warm! We are also chronically short of men’s clothing, so if you have jeans, suits, shoes, shirts or trousers, please consider donating what you can!

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Senior Home: Spring Hill

David Tarantino’s team is building following Mission Fest this year! The team goes once a month after church to the Spring Hill facility where they share the Word, songs and fellowship with elderly people who stay there as residents.

A-Teams

Affinity groups (A-Teams) are simply groups who gather around a shared interest or skill set and ask, “How could we use this in outreach?” We currently have groups focused on Home décor, HandyMan repairs, Performing arts, Fairs, and local blood drives. Both A-teams envisioned last year are now formed! See website for details on joining or starting a group.

Evangelism

We were privileged to have Don Sunshine back to lead our Evangelism training classes in 2018. About 40 people were trained in how to share their faith, and at least one person reported recommitting their lives to Christ during the training!

MissionFest:

This year was MissionFest, and we had a wonderful time connecting directly with many congregants who were looking for ways to plug in! Ministries, partners and groups had an average of 7 signups a piece, some well over 15! Pray that the Lord enables the follow through on this interest.

Miriam’s Heart (Orphan Care)

Miriam’s Heart is a grassroots network, staffed entirely by volunteers, that radically supports adopted and foster children and families. We have mobilized $113,000 in matching funds supporting 19 families with adoption grants. In 2018, we saw a 50% increase in families reaching out to us, with over 60 families supported via our emergency intake form, mentoring, training, and adoption funding. We advocated for 15 children (adoption, fostering, family intervention), and hosted 32 events (including Adoption and Foster 101, Orphan Sunday and Into His Fields concert). See miriamsheart.org!

Zarephath Health Center

The Zarephath Health Center provides free health-care to the poor and uninsured. The World Health Organization defines 'health' as a state of physical, emotional and spiritual well-being. Our goal is to work on all three levels. We are always in need of workers to help our outreach to become as effective as possible. At the moment, we are seeking physicians who are willing to donate four hours per month, nurses, and support people who can donate time as well. See zhcenter.org to find out more!

Love True

Love True exists to fight sex trafficking in the United States through parallel efforts in prevention education and restoration. Our Prevention Education Program raises

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awareness of the realities of sex trafficking by educating youth, professionals, and community members about the issue and what they can do to stop it. Since our beginning in 2012, we have brought sex trafficking prevention education to over 6,200 people. We have also provided referrals, resources, and/or support to over a dozen survivors of sex trafficking. Go see love-true.org!

Community Participation

Our other partners include US Foods, Robert Wood Johnson Hospital, Family Success Center, Somerset Human Services Advisory Council, Continuum of Care, Building Community network, Jewish Community Center, Girl Scouts of America, Timothy Christian School, Raritan Valley Community College, America’s Grow-a-Row, and others.

2. International Mission:

India

Due to budgetary limitations, Pillar of Fire has decided to close their work with the Indian partner “Christian Service Unit” (CSU) as of June 2019. Donor funding for the Happy Home orphanage will continue per donor gifts through Pillar to Laxmaiah and Esther Garika and the work of Happy Home. Please keep these leaders and pastors in your prayers as persecution in this country continues to mount against the work of the Gospel. God continues to work amazingly, and CSU recently received a letter of commendation from their state for their work among the poor, even as religious persecution mounts!

Liberia

Our missionaries, Jen and Steve, recently adopted MayLynn as a new member of their family! It was not something that they were planning, but clearly of the Lord. They will be returning to the Po River clinic in February (Steve) and March (Jenn & MayLynn), and our ZCC trip team will arrive soon afterwards! They continue to serve faithfully in Po, Liberia where they run a critical clinic that serves the health needs of families in many villages in the surrounding area. Please pray with us for their transition back as a family to this ultra-rural location in West Africa!

SE Asia:

Our team to Asia has been rescheduled for October this year. Though we did not go in 2018, our local partners there continued to seek out ways to gain a presence in the communities we are focused on. They have landed on several exciting new initiatives that we have funded in 2018 and will have a chance to participate in when we arrive mid-October! Praise report—a church was recently opened in a village our partner church was reaching out to, and that in the midst of rising persecution! God shines through!

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Nicaragua

Nicaragua has been in the news a lot in 2018! As the public outcry that sought to oust Ortega and his wife from power erupted, it became very clear that this was not a year to send a team there. Please pray with us for peace in this nation, for wisdom for incredibly brave Christian leaders who speak in the midst of violence and injustice, and for the work of the Baghwells and Pastors Juan and Moises.

3. Highlights and Updates:

People and Places: • We now have ESL classes up and running on Tuesday and Thursday evenings—

it is a partnership with Raritan Valley Community College, and a wonderful plug in for those interested in helping the tutoring outreach through English conversation.

• By popular demand, we are going to restore CultureFest to an annual event, though we will do MissionFest every other year. Please pray for the core team, as CultureFest is a lot of work!

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DANIELLE SZIERER: CHILDREN’S MINISTRY

2 Timothy 3:14-15

But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.

It is always a joy to celebrate the exciting things that God is doing in our midst through Children’s Ministry programs and activities. ZCC Children’s Ministry exists to provide a loving & safe environment where all children will be drawn to Jesus as we strive to help Children to know His Word and Grow in His word and then Show Him to the world. We are dedicated to cultivating and encouraging spiritual life in children. It is our privilege to partner with parents to nurture a spiritual hunger for God, an awareness of His presence, and a love for His Word. We thank the Lord for our precious children and families that have committed their ways to the Lord. Our leadership team consists of:

Danielle Szierer – Children’s Minister

Julia Jasper – Preschool and Early Childhood Director

Michelle Hackworth – Children’s Ministry Assistant

Meghan Nugent – Nursery Coordinator

Chris Blaney – ACCESS Ministry Leader

SallyAnn Mead – Christmas & VBS Outreach Assistant Leader

Moriah Torres - Children’s Ministry Check in Room/Media Coordinator

Suzanne Nerger – BRIGHT Homeschool Group (Wednesdays)

Bill Briggs – Faith Center of the arts (Thursdays)

Over the past year there were a number of exciting highlights that have occurred within Children’s Ministry:

Every week we get to see the beauty in our children as we minister to them in our

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https://www.biblestudytools.com/passage/?q=2+timothy+3:14-15





regular Sunday ministry classes. In our Elementary, Kindergarten, Preschool, and Nursery classes we hear their pure hearts singing sweet songs to Jesus as we worship; we see their hearts & minds engaged in God’s Word as it is being taught; we rejoice with them as they integrate & apply God’s Word with their world; we smile as they show kindness towards their peers and grow in the wisdom & knowledge of Jesus. Sunday ministry times with our children are precious and God given opportunities to speak God’s truths into the hearts of our children & families.

Our ACCESS program for our Special Needs children continues to run strong with a dedicated team of volunteers who each week meet with our special needs children to teach them about the Lord and His great love for them at a level that meets them right where they are.

In late March we held “The Road to Easter” event for our elementary & preschool children & families where our children learned about the events leading up to Holy Week including the death and resurrection of Jesus. The children also participated in a large Easter Egg Hunt with over 3500 Easter Eggs. Close to three hundred children attended our event and by God’s grace, we saw several children respond and open their hearts to God’s salvation that night. We were blessed to see a handful of our children be baptized at our Easter weekend services. Each of these children participated in a personalized class to prepare them for this time of baptism.

Our discipleship night to our older elementary children is called Route 45. Its purpose is to bridge the gap between Kid’s Church and Youth Group. The focus of this ministry is to help answer real-life preteen questions and tackle the issues preteens care about most using God's Word as their guide! Every month we saw our 4th and 5th graders growing in God’s Word and responding to the needs of their world around them. Our team was always amazed throughout this past year to see and hear how children in this group were responding to the needs of their family, friends and world around them. In June we graduated about 22 preteens up to Junior High Student Ministries.

In June we hosted our yearly VBS which was called “Shipwrecked, Rescued by Jesus” where our children learned that Jesus Rescues them from life’s storms! Each day focused on one aspect of God’s Rescue Mission. Through song & dance, crafts, games, snacks, Bible lessons, prayers and so much more, our children discovered that Jesus cares about them personally and rescues in life’s toughest circumstances. On the Closing Night of VBS, we saw over 45 children receive Christ into their hearts for the first time. During our VBS week, we also participated in a Missions Project for Miriam’s Heart where our children & families learned about this ministry and brought in items that we presented to a member of Miriam’s heart to be used at the Symbibazo

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Center. We praise the Lord for this wonderful week with our preschool and elementary age children and the hundreds of teens and adults that gave of their time & talents to make this week an impactful one.

The CMC also continues to be home to BRIGHT Homeschool Co-op on Wednesdays and Faith Center Fine Arts on Thursdays. Both of these ministries are committed to seeing children grow spiritually, academically and in the fine arts. May God continue to bless these ministries.

Throughout the summer months our Children’s Ministry focused on learning the Top Ten Bible verses to coincide with what we were learning as a church at large. Several of our families participated as their children were able to recite the scriptures they were learning in our regular ZMC services. In Mid-November our children participated in Operation Christmas Child where 80 boxes were packed by our children and their families and collected at ZCC to be delivered to children across the World. In September our children’s ministry set out on a new journey. After many years of Children’s Christmas plays, we prepared our children for an outreach event in which our children would tell the story of Christ’s birth, going back to the prophecy of Isaiah. Seventy of our children & teenagers and their families faithfully met week after week to prepare for this large task. It was an outreach to our church, families, friends and surrounding area. The children & leaders worked diligently in the areas of drama, song and dance. The team of people including our parents that surrounded us in this vision was incredible and on December 1 and 2, our children’s ministry participated in a one of a kind & first ever children’s walk thru nativity (including live animals) called JOURNEY OF HOPE.

We are grateful for a tremendous year of ministry in 2018. God faithfully helped us to accomplish our goals and provided us with a team of dedicated individuals who shared in the vision of our ministry to help children know & grow in God’s Word.

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MARLENE MONCHO - PASTOR OF SPIRITUAL DEVELOPMENT AND FAMILY MINISTRY

As a new year was before us in 2018, winds continued to blow in the world, which highlighted many tragic events that shook us as a nation, as well as the personal sorrows we shared together as a community of believers. This literally brought us as a church to our knees corporately, as we looked to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, Jesus Christ, with the assurance that “…We are receiving a Kingdom that is unshakable, let us be thankful and please God by worshiping Him with holy fear and awe.” (Hebrews 12:28) Together, we did this in church, in homes and out in the community hungering for God’s Presence and His Word with a relentless pursuit and determined purpose to know Him more in the fellowship of His sufferings and in the power of His Resurrection!

1. JOURNEY OF PRAYER MINISTRY

With that said, in our ever changing world of perilous times, the burden and urgency for prayer is the number one goal and priority to seek the face of God and the mind of Christ corporately each week at our Journey of Prayer Services each Wednesday at 7P in the ZMC; we have done this for 13 years. Within our discipleship model, I continue to teach to build faith and train those who join to intercede, while team building to use their gifts within the ministry of prayer. This year Todd Fontana joined the Lead team along side of me, Deb Scialfa, Louisa Pavol and Jon Boczar. It is also a time of testimony of answered prayer remembering what God has done, as well as prayers of intercession and agreement in these perilous times for the Church, the USA, Israel and the World. There was a continued emphasis on repentance for the souls of men, and we cried out to our sovereign God to usher in a revival as not seen yet in this century 2018! This year we hosted our 9th Annual ZCC National Day of Prayer with the theme of UNITY, and with unity of the Holy Spirit, 100 plus people gathered to pray in Jesus’ Name, as women and men from the body lead exhortation and corporate small group prayer and our ZCC Worship Team lead us in praise and worship! We are preparing now and please JOIN US for our 10th Annual 2019 NDOP Event on May 2, - Theme: Love One Another!

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2. SPIRITUAL DEVELOPMENT-FELLOWSHIP/DISCIPLESHIP

The continued development of the various adult ministries within my area, one on one leadership care and training, as well as overall team building, mentoring/accountability is shepherded. In addition, as I continue with personal development and equipping, I have attended the Annual CCEF National Christian Counseling Education Foundation Conference for 12 plus years, and this year it was held in Virginia Beach called with a timely theme: LIVING SCRIPTURE, which I attended with Claudia Thompson, Pastoral Care. Topics included Scripture/Counseling Nonbelievers, Hearing Scripture speak to Sorrow, Living under the threat of violence, mental illness, etc. I look forward to the Fall-19 Annual CCEF Conference in Alabama –ANXIETY. In addition, in our Discipleship model, I gather my discipleship/fellowship leaders, in what is called Replenishing the Heart of the Servant Leader C.O.R.E. (Committed, Obedient, Rooted in God’s Word, and Evangelistic). 2017 Spring’s Theme I taught: The Effervescent Leader, we shared a meal, and we also gathered for synergistic interfacing and cross pollinating these areas of ministry and ended with prayer and anointing. In this being a transitioning year with various events, we took a break-- but are gearing up for the upcoming 2019.

3. PASTORAL CARE MINISTRY

Teaching, equipping and tending Sheep in our body is a great need and blessing to the calling God has given. There are many areas of shepherding within pastoral care that encompass biblical counseling, the family, marriages, grief/funerals, family support, visiting the sick and more. Those we shepherd are further encouraged to embrace our well rounded biblical model of discipleship through Women’s Growth Groups/Fellowship, Life Groups, Men’s Discipleship/Fellowship and our Isaiah 61 Ministries. Jen Olszyk, Biblical Counselor and myself (as well as other staff) continue to minister to individuals, and make hospital visitations in our Care Department, as well as connect with other counseling/rehab partners for referrals. Our ZCC Pastoral Care incorporates our ZCC Leaders gifted in specific areas of focus and they visit, make calls and follow up on our large body. LEARNING AND GROWING It is our blessing to minister to the whole disciple and as the body begins to mature as disciples, the goal is to press on to teach fellowship of ministering to one another, using their spiritual gifts and talents God has given, as well as encouraging, bearing each other’s burdens and confessing our faults to one another. This model brings about deeper roots of community prayer, care, and share of discipleship/and fellowship, while growing roots deep in the Word of God, growing in Christ walking in the Spirit.

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4. GET CONNECTED MINISTRY

Many newbies joined us from near and far to go deeper in God's Word, while coming to know one another connected in our large growing church and 56 people joined us during the 2018 Spring and Fall Sessions. The class teaching environment each Sunday morning enhances a deeper and richer opportunity to learn and grow together in God’s Word and hear from other ZCC Leaders, while availing a ZCC Membership/and Leadership protocol track as well. As Discipleship meets Fellowship, the dynamic is to enhance life application for a continued model to strengthen a community that worship together here at Zarephath Christian Church. The model of the class along with the ministry team approach avails them to see it hands on, and this goal brings about a greater opportunity to develop day-to-day relationships, using their gifts, and serving and ministering to one to another. The Get Connected Sessions also serve our Single Mom’s ministry by coming along side of them during the year supporting them to go back to school/and at Christmas to help provide for their children. Also, in a large church, the class also prepares the participants for a continued discipleship track that we offer at ZCC in our Men/Women & Young Adult Ministries. Membership: In addition, people are received into Membership from our Get Connected and 42 were received into Membership this year. Note: There is a 6-month provisional period of the Fall 18 class, which would be received in Spring of 2019. Have YOU attended Get Connected? To register now for our Spring 2019 go to www.zarephath.org

5. BAPTISM MINISTRY

The Adult Baptism Team coordinated by Claudia Thompson with our Baptism Ministry Team, partnered with Youth/Kids as Collin Fitzgerald, Youth Minister and myself taught various classes preparing a large group to be baptized at our 2018 Resurrection Sunday. Three tanks were set up incorporated in the worship service, and 57 adults and children were baptized in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Again, in July 2018 we prepared and held classes for another 16 candidates, and they were baptized by Pastor Rich and myself at our outside Annual Raise the Praise Fellowship, where we heard beautiful and powerful testimony - - a glorious outreach opportunity witnessed by family and friends that joined us!

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6. FELLOWSHIP MINISTRIES

This was a beautiful year of new connections. Our Fellowship Team reached out to connect with many visitors through welcome letters, email and follow-up calls during the course of the year. Tony Pampani, Lynda Marsman, Carl Scialfa, Sherri Bala, Dan Hornbaker, with an expanded Ministry Team of those who served together, hosted our WELCOME RECEPTIONS which brought together 147 New Visitors. 2018-Fall/Winter and 2018 Spring/Summer Welcome Receptions provide an intentional, intimate setting and continued goal is synergistic-connection, where those who are new to ZCC can meet the Pastors and Ministry Leaders, while connecting with others who are new for the first time. If you are new and if you have never attended before, our next Welcome Reception is held in March 2019 immediately following the 11:00 Service, and we are looking forward to meeting you personally!

7. STAY CONNECTED

OUR 2018 ANNUAL RAISE THE PRAISE FELLOWSHIP –ALL church fellowship encourages the Body of Christ to STAY CONNECTED. We are so grateful as 80 plus people, stepped up to use their gifts and serve -- greeting, setup, hospitality, cooking, parking, and children’s games – and over 500 were in attendance, as praise echoed throughout the community by our many praise bands of adults and youth. During the course of the year, our ZCC ministries are working in their individual areas, but these events bring big picture synergy to serve one another together as we LIVE, LOVE AND SERVE in Jesus Name!

8. HEARTS OF JOY WOMEN’S MINISTRIES

Our Team Leader of our Hearts of Joy Women’s Ministry, Kathy Miller, was joined by Julie Pitcher, Lillian Diaz, Janet Mulcahy and myself. We thank Lillian Diaz for her faithful service, and now welcome Deanna Reyes and Louise Palermo to the Leadership Team, and we developed a Ministry Team who has joined the Leadership Team this current year! This team prepares our monthly HOJ Outreach Fellowships and all of our Ministry Events as our ZCC women invite friends and neighbors for the first time, while they are able to gather for fellowship, worship, discipleship outreach simultaneously! In addition, Donna Burzynski, our Staff Administrative Assistant, continues to track our Pastoral Care and also ministers in our HOJ/Hearts of Grace Ministry, that includes Meal Trains/and sending Cards of Encouragement which

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extends graces to serve one another. DISCIPLESHIP/GROWTH GROUPS: Our Hearts of Joy Women’s Discipleship - Continued by a faithful team of dedicated Women’s Leaders with an array of Women’s Bible Studies throughout both our Fall and Spring Seasons, going deeper into God’s Word, learning to do life together while growing together as iron sharpens iron meeting the needs of women in body, soul and mind while caring for one another. These studies were held on select mornings/evenings that met the needs of our ladies and encompassed a vast scope of areas that women walk through. Go to www.zarephath.org /Connect to PLUG IN to our 2019 Spring Groups! 10 Growth Groups/Bible Studies, gathered through the week going deeper and ministering to one another.

Women reaching Women! At our Annual Hearts of Joy 2018 Fall Women’s Garden Brunch, Our Missionary to Africa, Jen Butwill shared the Word and Testimony as 140 Women gathered outside in our beautiful Zarephath Grove. The 2018 Christmas Banquet was held at the Bridgewater Manor. Rev. Trish Roselle, of King of Kings Church shared the Word of God as 147 Women celebrated the birth of Jesus Christ. And finally our Spring 2018 Standing Strong Retreat /Conference, with speaker Lena AbuJamra, was held at the White Sands in Point Pleasant NJ where 88 went deeper in God’s Word and Refreshed together!

9. ISAIAH 61 HEALING AND RENEWAL MINISTRIES

It is our heart and goal to minister to renew and restore the whole disciple thorough our healing and renewal ministries to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness. Hope and Help for the Single Mom gathers each Sunday to bring hope and care to our single mothers and their children led by Joan Stahl and Nicole Thomas. Victory in Christ Men, Women and Friend of a Wounded Heart gather weekly to strengthen and encourage one another to heal, grow, and be accountable as they love and support one another. Over 117 participants come through in the 2018 discipleship year where they found the truth in our Victory in Christ Ministries. This season, Jeff Graham joined the VIC Leadership Team with Carl Scialfa and Frank Menci, to continue to minister to heart matters/strongholds and addictions in our Men’s Area, and Jan Dunlap ministers to our women as all addictive struggles are relative and they are able to find victory at the cross and accountability with one another. In addition, Deb Scialfa and Alicia Herald, lead and minister within Friend of a Wounded Heart to those friends and family struggling with codependency, so healthy relationships continue as everyone gets

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Victory in Christ. Surrendering the Secret led by Lescena Minn and Donna Hermansen minister to those who have struggled with the effects of Post Abortion. Additionally, each year we partner with First Choice Pregnancy Center as we celebrate Sanctity of Human Life Sunday each January in our services as other churches nationwide. While GriefShare, led by Eloise Russo and DivorceCare, led by Patti Parker brought approximately 40 of those in need of comfort and healing in church/and the community; it also included a segment event/Surviving the Holidays for those struggling during the holiday season. We would like to thank Patti Parker for her faithful service and leadership to our DivorceCare Ministry, and now Welcome Jan Dulap to join the leadership team with Glen Orban.

In closing, since we have a Kingdom that cannot be shaken, the love of God compels us TOGETHER to go forward with the Great Commission to “Go Make Disciples”. May we press on in Jesus Name! “For the LORD your God is living among you, He is a mighty Savior. He will take delight in you with gladness. With His love, He will calm ALL your fears. He will rejoice over you with Singing! Zephaniah 3:17

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JAMIE DAMM - ZCC FLEMINGTON PASTOR

Watching and being a part of what God is doing at ZCC Flemington is a great privilege! This past year we clarified our mission and passion for making disciples of Jesus. Our hope for every person who attends ZCC in Flemington is for them to Trust God, by having a relationship with Jesus; Find Purpose, in that relationship with Jesus; and Make Impact on others by sharing the love of Jesus with others.

A high point from this year was our focus on reaching out to the community right here in Flemington. Over the summer, our focus was reaching out to the low income apartments in Flemington, and then we ended the year brightening Christmas by singing and visiting with the elderly folks at the Hunterdon Care Center. The bottom line is that we have the privilege of pointing people to a life changing relationship with Jesus. Here are some highlights from 2018:

-Monthly student ministry Bible Study launched for deeper impact

-New life group launched at Pastor Jamie’s home with 5 families engaged

-Our first summer outreach to low income neighborhood in Flemington

-Our first Christmas outreach in Flemington with 75 of our congregants serving

-Mission team sent to serve with YFC Urban Missions in Homestead, Florida

-Third annual family retreat with 65 people in attendance

The best part of shepherding this congregation is walking closely with families like the Mashas Family who began attending and walking closely with Jesus in the past two years. Greg and Diana now testify how walking with Jesus has transformed their lives. Walking with Jesus and their involvement in His church at ZCC Flemington has changed their outlook on work, family and daily life decisions. I am grateful that we are learning to serve and follow our Savior as an extended family during this special season of life together.

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al shjarback - pastor of operationszarephath christian church 2018 ministry reports al shjarback -...

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