Blog
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 3:28Today 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.
“What is one place in your daily life where you could live with courage, following Jesus instead of the crowd?”
