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So I guess I have to write something here before I can submit other information. It’s not that I am trying to remain anonymous, it’s simply that if you wanted to know more about me you could Google my name.
Well, to begin, I was born in 1953 as the third and final child of John and Elizabeth Kooyman in Grand Rapids, Michigan. My parents were Dutch immigrants who came to the U.S. shortly after World War II. My older brother and sister were also born in the Netherlands. Therefore, I was the first person in the Kooyman and VanMeur (my mother’s maiden name) families born in the United States.
I grew up attending a Reformed (RCA) church—which to the best of my memory was more Baptist and Fundamentalist in most of its teachings—and attending both public and Christian schools—graduating from Grand Rapids (East) Christian High School in 1972.
After high school, I attended Reformed Bible College (now Kuyper College) in Grand Rapids and graduated with a Bachelor’s in Religous Education (the now mostly defunct B.R.E.). After graduating from RBC, my wife Debbie and I moved to Denver for a couple of years working with adolescent boys who had been removed from their homes by the court. During that time I attended Denver Seminary—known then as Conservative Baptist Theological Seminary—studying theology and education.
Following our two years in Denver, we moved back to the Grand Rapids area where I served local RCA congregation as their Minister of Youth and Education for a little less than two years. I then began attending and continuing my seminary education at Calvin Theolical Seminary on a part-time basis for the next four or five years. During my time at Calvin Seminary, I also became the Executive Director of a ministry (Degage Ministries) with the homeless community in downtown G.R.
I eventually realized that I was not called to full-time ministry as a pastor of a congregation and terminated my seminary education as a result. I realized that my gifts were in more in the areas of organizational administration and leadership. As a result I began graduate studies in management at Aquinas College in Grand Rapids and eventually ended up completing a masters in educaltional leadership at Western Michigan University.
I made the switch from general business management studies to educational leadership and administration shortly after becoming a college administrator for a small private, and no longer existent, college with a mission of providing underserved populations with the support and access (public transportation, day care, generous financial aid packages, etcl) they would need in order to successfully complete their college education.
After leaving the college due to it’s financial problems and imminent closing, I began a new phase in my professional career as the CEO of a Christian urban youth ministry with a mission with an emphasis on racial reconciliation. In its early days in the late 60’s it only operated a summer camp program. As the years went on, the need for continued ministry with many of the young people who attended camp in the summer began steadily developing. Today, in addition to continuing the camp programs, we also have a strong and growing program in Grand Rapids where most of the young people reside. However, even though we are so much more than a summer camp, our organization’s name still goes by Camp Tall Turf. To learn more about this important ministry, you can visit our website at http://tallturf.org.
To be continued …
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jack.kooyman
User biography
- Submitted by jack.kooyman on 4 October, 2008 - 22:00.
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- Member for
- 5 years 1 week
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