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MS Spiritual Emphasis Week
Spring 2026

Our middle school students took turns summarizing what they learned this week! Thank you to Pastor Eric VanderWall for encouraging and challenging our students! Take a peek at what they thought….

Day #1 Recap: Unashamed 

Written By 8th graders: Grant Axelson, Evalynn Post, and Zoey Van Dyke

This week we are blessed to have Pastor Eric VanderWall share with us. Mr. Vanderwall started off by reminding us what our theme is this year which is Unashamed. He challenged us with the question, “Have you ever been ashamed or embarrassed of the Gospel?” Many of us can answer yes to that question because sharing the Gospel isn’t always easy to do. Mr. VanderWall shared that Paul had a desire to share the Gospel and he asked us if we have that same desire.  He also shared how our world communicates a gospel message at times that doesn’t last.  Mr. VanderWall talked about how the devil has changed spiritual messages that God has made and twisted them to making them all about the world and yourself. For example, things like social media, money, and sports can become so important to us that it becomes the most powerful message in our lives, but these things do not last.

After that, we talked about how if we don’t fully understand the Gospel message and what it means, we can’t live unashamed for Christ.  Because this is so important to understand, Mr. VanderWall walked us through the clear Gospel message.

• Creation: He told us that the Gospel starts with creation and God made us.  Because we are God’s creation, God wants a relationship with each of us.  God also calls his creation good.

• Fall: Because we are all sinners, we sin and try to live our own way instead of God’s way.

• Redemption: God sent His one and only son, Jesus, to save us from our sins so that we can live with him for eternity.

• Restoration:Jesus fulfills God’s promise, and when we accept the Holy Spirit, God is shaping our lives into His image.

Mr. VanderWall shared how God wants us to accept the gift of life because he loves us so much (John 3:16) and God does not want heaven without us. Even though some parts of life are harder than others, God is always with us through everything and He will never leave our side.

Our message was a reminder that when you are unashamed of the gospel, we are called to live with courage, compassion, and commitment. To end the chapel, Mr. VanderWall challenged us to discuss this question in our classrooms, with our parents and with our friends.

“If someone asked you, ‘What is the gospel?’…how would you respond?”

Day # 2 Recap: What Does an Unashamed Life Look Like?

Written By: Ilah DeVries, Malia McGraw, David Wildey, Spencer Scheffler
Bible Verses: Romans 12:2, Daniel 6:1-2, Daniel 6:7, Exodus 20:7, Daniel 6:10, Matthew 7:13-14, Exodus 20:7, Romans 1:16   Romans 15:7, Galatians 3:28

Today we were grateful to have Pastor Eric VanderWall come and speak to our middle school for our second day of Spiritual Emphasis week. He spoke about having courage when it comes to following Christ. We played the 60 second game where you had to sit down when YOU thought it had been a minute. This game reflected exactly what we talked about today. In the game, you needed to not follow what other people thought and follow what you believed to be true. This game is very similar to our faith. Being a Christian and following God should change how we live. We want to be influenced by God and not by others.

Mr. VanderWall reminded us that people should be able to see a difference in our life. Many people will follow the world instead of God’s way, especially when the world can be a temptation. Following God takes a kind of faith and courage that some people don’t have. When people follow the world and make it look appealing, and they try to tell us how to live, it can be challenging to go against that norm. Mr. VanderWall told the story of Daniel and how only God mattered to him. Just like Daniel, we need to have courage. In that story, the crowd didn’t always follow Jesus. We talked about how dying for God is greater than living for someone or something else. We need to be aware that some people are writing ways for the world to live that doesn’t go with God’s plan.

We were also reminded that Daniel was a loyal servant in the king’s court. He was leading the King’s people through the challenges that they faced. But many people disliked Daniel’s leadership and made a plan to sabotage him. The people even made a law that everyone had to bow down to the king. But Daniel went to his bedroom with all the windows open and prayed out loud to God. People found out and the people who disliked Daniel threw him into the lion’s den to die. We were reminded and challenged that it is better to die for God than living for the world.

Mr. VanderWall ended chapel by challenging us with this question.

Day #3 Recap: “What is one place in your daily life where you could live with courage, following Jesus instead of the crowd?”

Written By 8th graders: Nick Maravalo, Rhys Scholten, and Simeon Klaver
Bible Verses: Romans 12:2, Exodus 34:5-7, Mark 6:30-34, Genesis 45

Today was our third day with Mr. Vanderwall. We focused on living our lives out with compassion towards others. He shared that the word Compassion in English means ‘The awareness of someone else’s suffering and a strong desire to take it away.’ If you take away the n in compassion, it translates to ‘compassio’. This is a Latin word which means ‘to suffer together’. God doesn’t intend for us to suffer alone.  Instead, God is with us in our suffering. When we have compassion on others we can invite God in and make Him present in any situation.

Mr. Vanderwall explained three different types of compassion: God’s compassion, human compassion, and our compassion. God shows us he is compassionate in Genesis when he speaks to Moses and describes himself. God wants to show compassion to us so we can grow in a relationship with him. Jesus showed compassion when he had a plan, but he took a different path to teach those who needed him and wanted his teaching. An example of human compassion was Joseph, who was treated horribly by his family. Joseph became a leader, and when a famine came, and his family needed help the most, Joseph had compassion on them, and he helped them instead of reminding them of how poorly he had been treated by them. And then our compassion, which is when we see someone who needs compassion, and we choose to help instead of watching them.

In your everyday life, look out for people who need compassion and love in your everyday life. What might that look like? How might your daily actions change? Having compassion can be difficult for some people, which is why we want to challenge you today to go out and find someone who needs compassion in their life and show it to them. Think about a time when you saw someone who needed compassion in their life, and you avoided them, because you didn’t want to show them compassion. Take this lesson today, and show everyone compassion, sharing love just as Jesus did.

Day #4: Living with Commitment

Written By 8th Graders: Stephanie Pullen, Kylor Ryskamp, Chloe Wyma, KJ Schenk, and Oscar Meulenberg

This was the last chapel for Spiritual Emphasis Week, and like Mr. VanderWall said, we ended with a bang! This past week we have been going through different “characteristics” of what we should be like after we become saved. The first one was living with courage, and yesterday was living with compassion. To finish off the big three, we went over living with commitment for the LORD.

He gave the example that a car doesn’t work without an alternator. He also told us a verse about how we cannot produce fruit if we are not on the vine. ​​John 15:4 says “Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.”

Jesus calls us to abide in him because we can’t bear fruit without him. We can connect/abide with Jesus by reading the Bible, and even going to a solitary place to listen and pray to God.

Mr. VanderWall reminded us that we shouldn’t be connected to Jesus just some of the time but we need to be connected to Jesus all of the time. It is easy to be connected with Jesus when you are at Church or in Bible class where you learn about him and his word. Setting time aside daily, even if it is just a few minutes, is a great opportunity to grow closer to him. It also helps create good habits. Jesus set aside time to spend with his father and so should we. If we live unashamed, we should live a committed life for Jesus.

Application: 

Today Pastor Vanderwall challenged us to find time during the day and spend just a couple minutes with God. He said it doesn’t have to be a long period but just find a time where you can be alone, just one on one with God, your creator. He also said that you should be committed to God and your time with him. Pastor VanderWall said that even 3 minutes with God matters.  We can read a couple verses and pray. It can be that simple. We don’t need super extravagant goals to be with God. Instead, we need to be committed to our time praying and reading His word.

Here are the four questions he posed for us each day that you can talk about as a family this week.

• Question for Day 1: “If someone asked you, ‘What is the gospel?’…how would you respond?
• Question for Day 2: “What is one place in your daily life where you could live with courage, following Jesus instead of the crowd?”
• Question for Day 3: When was the last time you noticed someone hurting and didn’t respond? What might you do differently next time to show compassion?
• Question for Day 4: What is one simple time and place where you could connect with God today?