The Kent County Faith Based and Neighborhood Partnerships team recently attended a special meeting of the Kent County Board of Commissioners work session, urging them to require students in pre-K through 6th grade students to wear masks while indoors at school.

"We are gathering to support our (Kent) County health officer, Dr. Adam London, and the Kent County Health Department's order requiring pre-K through 6th grade students to wear masks while indoors at school," said Khary Bridgewater, coordinator for the Kent County Faith Based and Neighborhood Partnerships Team. "As leaders in the faith community, we continue to work alongside our health care providers on the frontline of this deadly pandemic by serving the sick, comforting the suffering and burying the dead. We applaud the extraordinary work of the Kent County Health Department in serving all members of our community, including our children."

Faith Hospice is currently raising funds to construct a community-based Grief Support Center at its Trillium Woods inpatient facility in Wyoming. The new Grief Support Center will be better able to serve staff, patients, and the general community. As well, the new space will allow Faith to expand bereavement services, give staff a home base to find support, and enhance training and education for better care. Learn more here: https://faithhospicecare.org/grief-support-center/.

Demand for senior living services drove Holland Home to undergo a $5.5 million expansion project at its Breton Woods campus on 44th Street near Breton Avenue in Kentwood. Completed recently, the new facility will provide an innovative 19,000-square foot, 15-bed assisted living unit and a 5,400-square foot activity center with a gym and exercise area. The privately funded single-story assisted living unit will be a much-needed addition to the two existing assisted living buildings on the Breton Campus. Each of the existing structures, built in 2015 and 2017 respectively, contain 15-bed units. Meanwhile, as more seniors incorporate iPads, apps and online shopping into their daily routine, they are increasing their risk of online scamming. To help residents understand all the traps and help with password and technology security, Holland Home is offering free educational classes to better equip residents on how to identify and avoid online scams.

D.A. Blodgett-St. John's broke ground in mid-August on a $10 million multipurpose facility near the organization's Knapp campus in Northeast Grand Rapids. When finished in late 2022, the new building will serve as the campus cornerstone, as it integrates all children and family services under one roof, an intentional move to improve outcomes for the 7,000 children and families it serves annually. Locating all services onto one campus will save the organization $2 million over the next two decades

Rev. Scott Stark: “The microchurch initiative allows us to have another pathway of leadership ministry.” Green shoots of evangelism and new leadership prospects will soon sprout for Grand Valley State University (GVSU) students.

The Christian Reformed Church in America campus ministry intends to first train GVSU students, with the goal of eventually getting underway microchurches, says Rev. Scott Stark, director of campus ministry at GVSU.

"Microchurches, as we define them, take complex things and make them as simple as possible but they're not simplistic," says Stark. "I'm talking about small communities of people — 5 to 30 people — that are centered around the person of Jesus Christ. They're started by believers but are often designed missionarly in order to welcome de-churched or unchurched people either with shared interests, characteristics, location, and vocation."

Glenn Bulthuis, shown here performing with the Hark Up HornsSinger-songwriter Glenn Bulthuis has done plenty of benefit shows in his 44-year concert career. But his upcoming Oct. 22 performance with his band the Tonedeafs and Chris Hansen's Brass has special meaning for the veteran musician.

"These two organizations (Manna Media and Turning Point Missions) are close to home," said Bulthuis during a recent interview.

Both of the non-profit ministries are headed by members of his Oakhill Presbyterian Church on Grand Rapids' northeast side.

The Monroe Church worshiping at its new homeIt wasn't a long walk. But it was one to remember.

On a mild late-summer Sunday, the congregation of Monroe Community Church (MCC) of Grand Rapids, MI began worship at one location, took a walk and then finished worship down the street.

It was goodbye to its old home and hello to a new one.... just a few blocks down Monroe Ave. NW.

Pastor Jim Boer led his congregation in saying good-bye.

Newsboys (from left), Jody Davis, Duncan Phillips, Jeff Frankenstein, Michael TaitJeff Frankenstein of the Christian pop-rock band Newsboys is primed to go from pandemic isolation to the concert trail.

"We probably tour more than a lot of bands and we're used to being in a different city every day," said the keyboardist during an interview from Nashville, TN.

"From there to going nowhere for 16 months....I had always wondered what that would be like," he said.

Spending time at home with family was a good thing. In fact, Jeff and his wife Jennifer had a "pandemic" baby during the interlude – their fourth child. "I didn't have to worry about missing the delivery day," he smiled.

This is the column in which West Michigan Christian News writer Terry DeBoer surveys the landscape for the area's faith-inspired arts/entertainment/enrichment events in the coming month. Here are a several possibilities for October....

Artist Jan Maureen and her Art Prize entry “The Fear Breaker”Jan Maureen Nosakowski refers to herself as an artist who happens to be a Christian, rather than a "Christian artist."

"I guess there are some people in the world who are turned off by the phrase 'Christian artist,'" she said from her southeast Michigan home. "But really, I couldn't do any of my art without Him (God).

Her inspiration is exemplified in her Art Prize exhibit "Safari Series" – four related pieces on display at the lobby of the 234 Market Apartments venue in downtown Grand Rapids (Art Prize runs through Oct. 3 – more info at www.artprize.org).

Jan Maureen (the name she often uses professionally) is a mixed media collage artist and uses various mediums in her two-dimensional work.

Tim VanBruggen of Master Arts Theatre (center) shows onlookers the lobby of their prospective new home.Master Arts Theatre (MAT) executive director Tim Van Bruggen paused while giving a tour of what could be his organization's new home.

"The square footage of this lobby is bigger than our current auditorium," he told onlookers.

"That's a terrible statistic, but it's also funny," he smiled.

The faith-based theatre company has an inside track for a move to the relatively spacious Central Christian Church in the 2500 block of Leonard St. NE near the I-96 expressway.

Four "test-run" August performances in the prospective space were successful with full houses and also drawing a wave of financial donations.

But a sale is not a done deal. A purchase deadline from the soon-to-be-closing church looms and there are zoning matters which Master Arts currently has under consideration.