Committee Reports Executive Committee 1. Officer Reports a. Treasurer’s Report (Marylynn) Year-end Summary was presented. b. Budgeted Funds were taken from the Bethel Fund to satisfy the budget. $13,000 was budgeted. $8500 was actually applied to the 2015 budget. c. Coordinator/Stated Clerk (Larry)  Approval of Stated Session Minutes for September 22, and Special Sessions November 8, January 3. January 17 and January 24 will be available at the Classis session. Recommendation to Classis: Approve the minutes as presented and recommend Classis approval.  Plan for Transition of officers. Action> The service of installation will occur at the Jan 26 session. Thank you to Leigh VanKempen for her service to the Classis.  Consistorial Report Form (CRF) to all churches including new church starts. Action> These will be in the possession of our churches by January 8. New church starts will receive materials on January 15.  Possible Classis Resolution Statement on immigration may be presented. Action> We will receive this matter as new business at the Classis meeting.  Classis website. Action> May not be ready by Jan 26, but it is in progress.  Pillar Church will request to change their reported membership count for 2014. i. Action> Their Overture will be received as new business. ii. Action> Clerk directed to include financial information impact statement in the agenda. d. President’s Report. (John)  Good celebration Sunday, Jan 3 at Alas de Aguila.  Thanks to Angel for his work on the service and work behind the scenes.  Agreed that President’s report happen in March. 2. Committee Reports. Each committee reported on their work. See each committee’s report. a. Commissioned Pastor Support & Supervision: The committee approved Commissionings services scheduled for January 17 and 24 (Sunday). Action> Classis leaders will be scheduled for these services. Attendance will not be required at these Sunday services because of their location. b. Student Support & Supervision: New candidates accepted/being accepted. Classis exam process and exam content being revised. c. Church Support & Supervision: Churches: d. Minister Support & Supervision: Classis pictorial directory coming on line. Caring pastorally for several ministers. e. Church Multiplication Team: The Alas churches each have their own governing boards that are actively assisting the pastor and congregations. f. Overtures & Judicial Business: Proposed Amendments to Constitution will be presented. g. Stewardship & Finance. No report h. Personnel Committee: Performance Objectives for 2016 for Coordinators Larry and Angel were presented for information. 3. Classis Stated Sessions for 2016 a. Stated Session March – Approved date is March 29. Location: Beechwood b. May Stated Session is at Calvary Reformed Church on May 24.

c. September Stated Session is at Rose Park Church on September 27. Church Multiplication Team 1. Prayer for the plants and planters happens at each meeting. 2. Classis-Approved Governance Teams are set up for each Alas Congregation a. Alas Allendale i. Blessed to see wide support base from RCA and CRC (Rusk, Beechwood, Local farmers). ii. Encouraged with the financial report. iii. Roughly $95,000 left on the mortgage of the building iv. Enrique recently finished Commissioned Pastor and will be commissioned. v. Alas- Allendale hosted a ‘vision night’ on December 10 at 6:00 PM vi. The Classical Governance team consists of: Jerry DeGroot (Rusk CRC), Mike Ellis (Beechwood), Vern Sterk (CMT – Holland RCA), Scott Geurink (CMT – Zeeland CRC), Eddy Aleman (RCA), Laura Cramer (Finances / Beechwood), Doug McClintic (RCA), Toby Gruppen (CMT – Holland RCA), and Alas – Allendale leader Enrique Cuevas b. Alas Wyoming i. What will happen with the congregation with the departure of the founding pastor? The team is working through options and next steps. Pastor Israel completed his work on December 31. c. Alas Conexion i. This congregation is excited about its future. However, it is facing a building debt that challenges the congregation. 3. CM2 is a new working group between the Holland and Zeeland classes of the CRC and RCA. Toby is the leader of this group. a. Development of an area Hispanic Council. Through the work of the CM2, a decision was made to draw together the RCA and CRC leaders in our region to develop a Hispanic Council to improve the health and structures for future church planting. b. Fennville. A report has been generated to discern the opportunity for Latino outreach in the Fennville area. 4. Embody Christ Fellowship. CMT is seeking to meet with Embody leaders to offer assistance to discern the future of this ministry. 5. Residency opportunity. The RCA denominational office has developed a residency program to see if there is a good fit for the planter or to study a location to see if it is ripe for planting. This program may be a future opportunity for us. 6. Luminex Training. A training event was held in December. The next training event will be held on February 10. 7. In December, CMT held a Christmas party for new church start pastors.

Church Support & Supervision Committee. 1.

Report from Churches with Pastoral Vacancies a. Christ Memorial Church (Ken Eriks, supervisor). The search team has narrowed its list of candidates for the senior pastor position. The governing team has extended the contract of Joel Giles to March 30, 2016. CSS approved a request to waive benefits for a part-time pastor.

b.

c.

Beechwood Church (Blaine Newhouse, supervisor). The consistory has gone through a full review of its mission and staff positions. The search team is now ready to begin its work of searching for the next lead pastor. The consistory has worked with the Alas congregations to enable each congregation to be selfstanding in ministry. This month, Blaine was removed as supervisor and replaced by Wayne Brouwer, since Blaine is interested in candidating for the position. Fellowship Church (Brian Keepers, supervisor). Pastor Megan Hodgin departed from the staff this fall to join the RCA denominational staff. Janelle Lopez-Koolhaas joined the staff as an interim associate pastor. Pastor Marijke Strong is departing from the staff in January to become the synod minister for the synod of Canada. Seminarian Lisa Braunius is serving as an interim staff member to assist the congregation.

2.

Consistory leaders training sponsored by the Holland/ Zeeland Classis. The event will happen at the City on the Hill, Zeeland. Date > Thursday, February 11. Time: 6:30pm-9pm. Workshops scheduled at this time: 1) BOBS staff personnel to address retirement and benefit questions that churches may have. 2) Dr. Tom Mullens seminar “Helping the Helper,” training for leaders in pastoral care efforts.

3.

Churches with new staff members. a. Intersection Ministries— Roberto Venegas, a.k.a Tito joined the staff. He will serve as a non-ordained worship and outreach minister at this time. We will work with him to qualify for ordination in the RCA. Rev. Jeff Meyer is recognized as the lead pastor of this federated church. Jeff has been recognized as a member of our classis during his service as lead pastor.

b. Calvary Christian Reformed Church. Rev. JD Punch was commissioned as lead pastor for this congregation. We will receive JD into our classis by transfer from the City Classis. JD previously served as pastor of Denver City Church.

c. Pillar Church. Jenna Brandsen has been ordained as an associate pastor. She will become a member of our classis while the CRC is the denomination that holds her ordination. 4.

Alas de Aquila – organizational service: Sunday, January 3, 2016. Hugo Vasquez and Rachel Patmos of Alas de Aguila met with the committee on October 15. CSS approved their request for formal organization with joy, humility and hope. Their By-Laws and Articles of Incorporation were approved. At the Jan 3 service, the charter members were recognized; The consistory was installed, and Pastors Hugo Vasquez and Rachel Patmos were commissioned as pastors.

5.

Maplewood – Approved a Request from Maplewood pastor and consistory to waive the 2016 minimum salary guideline for this year.

6.

Classis Supervisor Responsibility Policy—CSS-updated policy is included with this report.

7.

Consistorial Report Forms and Constitutional Inquiry forms were sent to churches in early January. CSS will review the completed forms in March. The consistory and elder minutes will also be reviewed in March.

8.

CSS held a Christmas party at Chair Jeanette Beagley-Koolhaas' home.

Commissioned Pastor Support & Supervision Committee. 1. Announces the Commissioning of Hugo Vasquez and Commissioning of Rachel Patmos at Iglesia de Alas Aguila, Holland on January 3, 2016 at 11:00 a.m. a. Hugo is commissioned as lead pastor. Formerly Hugo was commissioned as a new church start pastor. b. Rachel was sustained in her examination in November. She has been commissioned as associate pastor at Iglesia Alas de Aguila-Holland. 2. Rodrigo Cano and Enrique Cuevas were examined together on November 10. Vern Sterk and Jim

Heneveld were the chief examiners. The exams of both candidates were sustained. The candidates will be commissioned in January. The event will happen as part of each congregation’s worship service. CPSS announces the commissioning of Rodrigo Cano on January 17 and Enrique Cuevas on January 24. 3. CPSS acknowledges that Israel Alvarado has completed his commission to serve as a new church stat pastor at Alas de Aguila congregation in Wyoming. We thank him for his service. We commend him to the ordination process in our classis. Vern Sterk also completes his commitment to serve as Israel’s mentor. We thank him for his service as mentor and as a member of the CPSS committee during this time. 4. Candidate changes. CPSS has acted to receive Dan Brown as a candidate for the commissioned pastor route. CPSS has met with another potential candidate who is not ready to be admitted to the process yet. CPSS has dismissed Mr. Willie Watt from the commissioned pastor process, since he has joined a different church through which he sought ordination/commissioning. 5. CPSS recognizes that Eric Peterson will leave Beechwood Church this month to become the full-time pastor at the Church at Benjamin’s Hope, beginning February 1. The stated clerk will oversee the closure of the pastoral relationship at Beechwood. CMT has approved the contract with BH. CPSS has approved that a commissioning service will be held at a Benjamin’s Hope worship service on Sunday, March 13. 6. Commissioned pastor exam process. CPSS will work on its exam process through the creation of improved case studies. Since the SSS committee is working on their exam process, we hope to profit from their work rather than duplicate efforts. 7. Discussions are happening with our seminaries to seek to understand how the commissioned pastor process and the seminary process can better work together, as well as better understand the limitations of what can be done together.

Minister Support & Supervision Committee. 1. Prayer. We pray for the ministers of our classis at the start of each of our meeting.

2. Minister/Pastor Networks. A new minister network was formed on October 1 and is regualry meeting together. We are aware of at least four minister networks that are happening within our classis, and another new network that will begin in this new year. We are always willing to assist with the formation of a network. 3. Pictorial Directory Project. Thank you to all of you for your cooperation and participation in the creation of a new pictorial directory. This has been a big project. The purpose of the directory is to connect us together as members of one body. Thank you to deVries Photography for setting up the online directory. 4. Minister status changes. a. Jenna Nienhuis: Minister under contract to Specialized Minister (Pastoral Counselor). b. Randy Smit. Specialized minister to “assistant minister under contract.” c. Steven Rodriguez left his position at Pillar Church to become the pastor at the Herkimer Reformed Church. We approved his transfer to the Rochester Classis. d. Megan Hodgin. Installed minister from Fellowship Church to specialized minister as she become a member of the RCA Mission Services staff. e. Janelle Lopez-Koolhaas was been designated as a minister-under-contract with Fellowship Church.

f.

Marijke Strong. Her classis membership is being transferred to the Ontario Classis by the end of this month. We thank her for her service to Fellowship Church, the Classis and the greater RCA community. g. Dennis DeWitt submitted a request to be declared “Retired” in our classis. MSS recommends this action to the Classis. 5. New ministers into the Classis a. Jenna Brandsen. Temporary member status in our classis was approved. Jenna is an associate pastor at Pillar Church b. Jeff Meyer. Temporary member status in our classis was approved. Jeff is lead pastor at Intersection Ministries. c. JD Punch. Received by transfer from the City Classis. JD is currently lead pastor at Calvary CR Church in Holland. JD was previously pastor of City Church in Denver (RCA). d. Chuck VanEngen. Received by transfer from the California Classis. Chuck is retired professor from Fuller Seminary and retired Chiapas missionary. JD and Chuck will read and sign the Declaration for Ministers at the classis session. 6.

Requests for ordination. Dan Bierma. We confirmed his role with the Heartland Hospice and approved his request for ordination. The service was held on November 8. Dan remains a member of Holland Classis.

Student Support & Supervision Committee. 1. The Practice of Ministry exam was conducted by the committee. We met individually with the following candidates. We discussed their experience in their ministry engagements and the affect the experience had on their call to ministry. We discussed their plans/intentions beyond seminary. All exams were approved. a. Bryant Brozik. He intends to seek a pastorate after graduation. He requested a dispensation from the six-months of the 24 months requirement. SSS approved this request. b. Beth Jarvis. She has family commitments that will keep her in the Holland area for the immediate future. c. Noah McLaren. He is looking for a position that involves music leadership. d. Phil Quinn. He will continue at Trinity Church. He requested a dispensation for some of the 24month requirement. Since he has been connected with Trinity Church we recognize he as been part of the RCA for more than 24-months. SSS approved this request. e. Paige Douglas. She intends to seek a chaplaincy positon after graduation. She would especially appreciate working in a children’s hospital. f. Ross Dieleman. He is intending to continue his ministry at Christ Memorial when he concludes his seminary studies. g. Audrey Edewaarde. Her husband is in medical school with residency placement coming. Her future will be more determined by that appointment. h. Jonathan Vanderbeck. He is enrolled at University of MI now to complete his MSW degree. Then he will seek a pastorate nation-wide. i. Grace Miguel Cipriano. She intends to complete her degree work and seek a ministry position. j. We grieved that Emily Rosendahl’s father passed away in October. 2. The Examination Review Committee. The exam structure is being looked at as well as exam content. We recognize duplication and the request from examiners for more guidance as to what an exam is to cover and not address. The intention is for the new structure to be enacted by May.

3. We received the following candidates under the care of the Classis: a. Israel Alvarado. He is recommended by his congregation and Beechwood Church. He is a student at Calvin Seminary. The MFCA will oversee the administration of the Certificate of Fitness for Ministry. Graduation in 2018 is anticipated. b. Enrique Cuevas. He is recommended by his congregation and Beechwood Church. He is a student at Calvin Seminary. The MFCA will oversee the administration of the Certificate of Fitness for Ministry. Graduation in 2018 is anticipated. c. Rodrigo Cano. He is recommended by his congregation and Beechwood Church. He is a student at Calvin Seminary. The MFCA will oversee the administration of the Certificate of Fitness for Ministry. Graduation in 2018 is anticipated. d. Stacey Deunsing. She is being recommended by Fellowship Church. Stacy is a student at Western Seminary. She is anticipating graduation in 2017. e. Andrew Peecher. He is being recommended by Pillar Church. Andrew is a student at Princeton Seminary. The MFCA will oversee the administration of the Certificate of Fitness for Ministry. Graduation in 2018 is anticipated. 4. SSS has applied/is applying for dispensation from the 24-month requirement for Bryant Brozik and Phil Quinn. We are expecting to apply for dispensations for a couple more senior candidates in addition to these persons.

Overtures & Judicial Business Committee. The committee reviewed the Proposed Changes to the RCA Constitution. There are two proposed changes to the Book of Church Order that are mostly editorial in nature. The OJB committee advises the Classis to

vote in favor of the proposals. The text follows the Committee Reports. Nominations Committee

End of Committee Reports