One Story

Brothers (and sister) in Christ

Three shocks of exuberant blond hair. Six vivid blue eyes. More teeth than you can imagine, and smiles wider than the ocean they crossed to get here. And underneath, hearts that beat fervently for the Lord.

They are the Meulenbergs - Michal, 24, and her 23-year-old brothers Efraim and Ruben. They serve together at the Gardens Campus, Michal in student ministries/evangelism and the (very) twin brothers as interim middle-school pastor (Efraim) and interim Surge 56 pastor (Ruben).

They've come a long way from their Netherlands home, by way of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California. Saddleback is the home church of Rick Warren, author of The Purpose-Driven Life; Michal interned there and her brothers worked on summer projects.

Born, literally, into the ministry

They've ministered together their whole lives. Their parents, Abraham and Marieke, planted De Stek Community Church in Katwijk, Netherlands, when the children were babies. They took family mission trips, smuggling Bibles into Macedonia during summer vacations. Eventually Michal led De Stek's youth ministry, Efraim was junior-high pastor and Ruben served as children's pastor.

They delight in one another, finishing each other's sentences and laughing easily and often. But it's clear that their hearts belong to God and to the young people they serve.

"What we're most passionate about is coming alongside the parents," Ruben says. "When you look at all the verses in the Bible with the word 'child' in them, there's not one verse that talks about children's ministers. They're all about parents."

Walking alongside parents

Not long ago, Efraim says, he mentored a family whose child was having trouble telling the truth. In a case like this, he guides the boy's parents to the Bible's teaching on honesty and helps them know the right questions to ask to bring their son back on track.

Ruben gets choked up when he tells of helping kids understand the idea of surrendering their lives to the Lord. "We don't know how to raise kids," he says, "but we do know how to challenge them to grow spiritually." They're going for the "domino effect," teaching young people to teach their parents and friends about Christ, so that the parents and friends can teach others. And so on, and so on.

In her work among mission teams, Michal identifies another need. "There are a lot of hurting people who are in desperate need of Christ but are open to it," she says. "We just need to go to them and reach them. It's really a privilege to be able to work in a field that's so ready to harvest."

Artistic pursuits, extreme pursuits

In the most loving way, Michal (pronounced Mih-KALL) notes the differences between herself and her "goofball" brothers. She loves art, photography, music, museums, dance. Efraim and Ruben are into extreme inline skating, basketball and designing computer games.

The three share an apartment in Palm Beach Gardens, and it's hard to imagine siblings that find more joy in each other's company.

The Meulenbergs have come a long way to be here at Christ Fellowship, and they feel God's hand guiding them as they equip kids to walk the Christian walk. "If you look at the story of the sower in the Bible, there are four types of seeds," Ruben says. "At this church, there's the good soil (Matthew 13:3-8). We've never seen kids that are so ready to be challenged."

Please click here for more information about Student Ministries at the Gardens Campus.