This year, Tom and Micky Jelsema, of Jelsema Concrete, celebrate two major milestones: their fortieth wedding anniversary and forty years of being in business for themselves.

In high school, Tom Jelsema laid concrete with a neighbor, not realizing how God was already opening doors for his future. After a time of service in the military, he returned home and began a concrete apprenticeship. He and a fellow apprentice soon found a steady stream of work and formed a partnership doing flatwork concrete such as replacing driveways, porches and garage floors.

Edwin Carpenter (WMCN) recently spoke with Dean Vander Mey of Set Free Ministries regarding an upcoming fund-raiser for SFM.

1.     What is your background Dean?

“I am the executive Director of Set Free Ministries and have been since 2002. I was a business owner for 23 years before that, owning Action Packaging.  I have a wife Share, 7 daughters, 4 son-in-laws & 6 grandchildren.”

2.     What can you tell us about the upcoming event with Luke Cyrus?

Brothers Mark and Dave Vander Ploeg, of B&L Bolt, searched over a decade for a business to purchase. Both men had the drive and enthusiasm to build a business and create an environment to nurture employees and help them grow. After looking at nearly sixty companies and having multiple doors close, the brothers set aside the dream of business ownership.

Mark Vander Ploeg took a job with a Fortune 100 company in Pennsylvania. Dave Vander Ploeg continued his work as a civil engineer in West Michigan. The brothers followed these paths, until God began to reignite their dream.

     Singer-composer Keith Getty has several suggestions to improve church congregational singing.
     One of them is, “Choose great songs,” said Getty, 39, from his home in Nashville, Tenn.
     “Great songs sing well - just like in a restaurant, it’s better to have a small menu of great meals than a large menu of mediocre ones.”

New York Times bestselling author Don Piper will be speaking and signing copies of his memoir 90 Minutes in Heaven at Baker Book House on Monday, April 21. Of the myriad of been-to-heaven memoirs published in recent years, Piper’s 90 Minutes in Heaven is among the most well-loved. Millions of people across the world have read the incredible true story of Piper’s experience with death and life—and in reading it found their own lives changed.

The National Day of Prayer is an annual observance held on the first Thursday of May. On this day, people of all faiths are encouraged to set time aside to pray for our nation. This year, the National Day of Prayer falls on Thursday, May 1.

The theme for the 2014 National Day of Prayer is “One Voice, United in Prayer” The verse that was chosen is Romans 15:6, “So that with one mind and one voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

     Diet Eman, who as a young adult was part of the Dutch Resistance against the Nazis in World War II, had an idea what kind of character should portray her on stage.
     “A spitfire who would fight against injustice,” suggested the Grand Rapids woman, now in her 90s, of the dramatic story.
   And so it will be, as actress Kelsey Merrill has the role of a young Diet in the upcoming production “The Resistance,” opening April 17 at Blythefield Hills Baptist Church in Rockford.

Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809) has been called the father of the symphony and the string quartet. A friend of Mozart and a teacher of Beethoven, Haydn composed in an amazing variety of musical genres—symphonies, string quartets, concerti, operas, keyboard works, and chamber music for churches. His music is as popular today as it was during his lifetime. Calvin Stapert, professor emeritus of music at Calvin College, combines his skills as a biographer and a musicologist to explore Haydn’s life and music in his new book Playing before the Lord: the Life and Work of Joseph Haydn.

  Victoria Geurink is wrapping up her year as a student in the inaugural class of the Bridge Street Mission School.
     “What drew me here was the community at the Bridge Street House of Prayer (BSHOP) and living and doing life on the west side with west-siders,” she said.

The just-released Noah movie sails through some murky waters, just as the ark does. Parts of the newly released film are Biblical. For example, Noah is directed by God to build an ark and to bring two of every animal into it because God is going to destroy the Earth. Noah has a vision of the world submerged in water. But as Noah puts it, it is a “beginning” and not an ending because God intends to start over with Noah and his family but first the remaining people of Earth must perish in the impending flood. Noah and his family are to reproduce and so are the animals. Yet the movie also goes off in some unusual directions, including certain events with the Nephilim (the offspring of the sons of God (angels) cohabitating with women, the daughters of men, according to what certain scholars teach from the Bible). The giant rock-like creatures that dwelt in the land of Canaan help Noah build the ark! And at least one of them gets a second chance with God and rises up to heaven. The creatures are called “Watchers” in the film.