STAFF TEAM

Jon Sherrill

Lead Pastor

When did God become more than a word to you?

I didn’t grow up as a Christian, and in college I started to explore spiritual things. My senior year at Miami of Ohio is when God became more than a word to me, and I began to think “Wow, maybe God is real.” In the spring of that year I was riding my bike home from a campus Bible study on a Wednesday night, and I stopped right in the middle of the academic quad. I looked up and saw all of the stars, and it hit me. It was like I was seeing the stars for the very first time. I was really taken by the fact that I’d been looking at these all my life and had never given a second thought to how all this got here. So, I went home to my apartment and for the first time in my life I knelt down to pray. My prayer was very simple: “Wow, God, I think you’re real, and now I feel like I need a lot of help.” I relate to how C.S. Lewis came to faith. He said he was converted to theism first and became a Christian after that. Through reading the Bible and exploring other faiths, I came to believe more specifically that we live in a world where a resurrection has happened, that Jesus was actually raised from the dead, and that is really the lynchpin of the Christian faith.

What do you do as the Senior Pastor?

Big picture, I lead the church, our staff, and the ordained members of our Consistory. I am also the primary preacher. For me, to “lead” the church includes a visionary perspective like discerning where we need to go, discerning where we need to invest, or discerning the kinds of conversations we need to have. Then, I help chart the leadership process and the steps we need to take to move our community from here to there.

What is something people may not know about you?

I have logged over 3,000 hours as a professional waterski boat driver in a 19-foot Mastercraft.

What are some of your favorite things?

Water sports, downhill skiing, reading, and hanging out with my wife Krystal and our two boys.

Email Jon at jsherrill@fifthrc.org

Brian Telzerow

Pastor of Congregational Life

When did God become more than a word to you?

When I was young, my parents were pretty good about bringing us to church every Sunday, but that is all we did in terms of God’s presence in our lives. I also remember reading the book of John in a Gideon Bible someone gave my family. The seeds were planted, but the reality came when Mike Rinker, who was with Young Life, started showing up regularly at our high school. Mike turned out to be a guy I could really talk to. He took a handful of my friends and me to a Young Life camp in Colorado where I heard the Gospel for the first time. The idea that God created me and wanted to be in a relationship with me was new to me. However, I felt like I needed to get my life in order before I could really surrender it to God. Miraculously, the next night the speaker said, “If you’re waiting to get your life together, it’s not going to happen. God just asks us to give what we know of ourselves to what we know of him and let him do the rest.” That was a slam dunk for me. God became real to me on July 15, 1978, while I was on a mountain in Colorado when I first confessed his love for me and my desire to follow him.

What do you do as Pastor of Congregational Life?

I’m a connector and ¬¬developer. My role is to help people connect to Christ and to one another. That has really been my life’s mission because I believe God has called us to be in relationship with him, first and foremost; that’s the vertical relationship. The horizontal relationship is with each other in loving, caring relationships which prompt us to serve one another and help meet people’s needs. As the developer, my responsibility is to help people grow in their relationships with Christ and other people, which is really the embodiment of Fifth’s mission statement, “Growing disciples who make disciples.” My specific tasks include supporting the church’s existing ministries, as well as creating new educational programs, community groups, and opportunities to serve beyond our church family.

What is something people might not know about you?

I have been skydiving three times. I love life’s thrills, any kind of adventurous things.

What are some of your favorite things?

Spending time with my wife Becky, my two adult kids and our grandson, playing golf, building projects, and working in the yard.

Email Brian at btelzerow@fifthrc.org

Janna Lange

Worship Arts Director

When did God become more than a word to you?

Sometimes I wish I had a more poignant story, but I just have this consistent story. I was raised in the church. As a young child and a child of adoption, my testimony starts with the concept of God as a father in heaven. I vividly remember my mom had a conversation with me when I was about four-years-old to explain how God was my father in heaven. From that point forward I held on to that reality with a child-like faith. God, my father, became part of my identity, particularly because I was adopted. In fact, I remember the first time I played piano in church. I was six-years-old and had never taken a lesson. I watched the children’s choir director playing the piano part to the song They’ll Know We are Christians by Our Love. I went home and on the old, upright piano that my parents had recently bought, I figured it out. I then told my mother that I was going to accompany the choir on Sunday. My mother promptly freaked out and called the choir director. Fortunately, the choir director had faith and let me perform. Later, as a pre-teen, I made a more adult decision to accept Christ as my Savior, and my identity in Christ has continued to evolve.

What do you do as the Worship Arts Director?

I am responsible for all aspects of the church’s worship experiences on Sundays and special occasions. Working with the pastor, I help plan the order of worship. I recruit, oversee and disciple worship leaders, from children to adults and ensembles. I also plan and execute the décor throughout the church. I coordinate the volunteers who provide the church’s hospitality ministries, including Sunday morning fellowship time, Wednesday night meals and special events. Finally, I am in charge of large event planning, and I am the director of our Vacation Bible School.

What is something people may not know about you?

I was a public school music teacher, and I am a Mary Kay consultant.

What are some of your favorite things?

Spending time with my family, teaching children, traveling with my husband David, and reading and singing with my grandson Landon.

Email Janna at jlange@fifthrc.org

Paul Kortenhoven

Senior Adult Ministries Coordinator

When did God become more than a word to you?

I grew up in the Christian Reformed Church in Chicago. I didn’t doubt my faith, but I didn’t reflect on it deeply either. In 1953 I was in sixth grade. I rode my bike to school and came home about 4PM. One day when I came in the back door, my mother was sitting at the kitchen table with a homeless World War II vet who had come upon hard times. He was eating the supper she had made for him. My mom was simply welcoming a stranger. I joined them and when the man left, I asked her why she did this. She said, “He needed a good meal and this is what Jesus would have done.” That day is still fresh in my memory, and the love of God that she modelled has been at the core of my faith in Jesus all my life.

What do you do as the Senior Adult Ministries Coordinator?

I build relationships with the senior adults at Fifth. Each week I call on multiple senior members to listen to their stories and pray with them. I also plan monthly events specifically for our senior members.

What is something people may not know about you?

I was an all-city baseball player when I was in high school. Later in life, I was chosen to be a negotiator for the humanitarian aspects of the first international peace talks in Lome, Togo during the civil war between the Sierra Leonean government and the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), the rebel group who destroyed so much of the country and killed over 200,000 people.

What are some of your favorite things?

Being outdoors, hunting, fishing, building relationships with people, and spending time with my wife Mary, my kids, grandkids and great-grandkids.

Email Paul at pkortenhoven@fifthrc.org

Lindsey Lugo

Children’s Ministries Director

When did God become more than a word to you?

I made profession of faith when I was in high school, but understanding what it meant to have a personal faith relationship with God became real my junior year at Hope College. I was the chaplain of my sorority, so it was my responsibility to lead Bible studies and provide the prayers and devotionals at our meetings. During my junior year, I started to feel a bit lost, almost like I was drowning. I could see the surface of the water, but I couldn’t get myself there. I realized I couldn’t save myself. Fortunately, God was relentless in pursuing me; His spirit never left me. His love for me was the one thing I was sure of when everything else in my life felt empty and unsatisfying. Music was one of the ways that He spoke to me and reminded me of who I was. I call music my prayer language because it gives me the words I don’t know I have that really speak to me. So, I began listening to Christian radio, and going to chapel where I could connect through music. That’s where I really first met God. I was also simultaneously taking a Christian feminism course where we were exploring who God is as a mother. So, I got a sense of this nurturing, loving and caring God, not this distant father figure. Once I could see God through the lens of a nurturing mother, I thought, “I can know you. I can come to you.”

What do you do as the Children’s Ministries Director?

I am responsible for fostering and growing the faith-formation of children, birth through fifth grade, and partnering with parents and families to help kids learn to love and live like Jesus. I am in charge of the nursery, preschool and elementary programs both on Sunday mornings and Wednesday evenings during the school year.

What is something people may not know about you?

I love the beach. Once I walked a beach at least once a month for a year.

What are some of your favorite things?

Any kind of dessert, baking, and being with my husband Tomas and three kids.

Email Lindsey at llugo@fifthrc.org

Greg Wilkins

Facilities Manager

When did God become more than a word to you?

In 1992, as the prodigal son, I was done with life. I got on my knees and surrendered to God! Up until then it’s like I was like a caterpillar, and I was going to find a way to fly. But try as I might, I couldn’t get off the ground. Exhausted, I made a cocoon and gave up on my dreams. I thought I would spend the rest of my life in that confined, but safe place until I died. That’s when I met God. He said, “I have always wanted you to fly.” I said, “I don’t deserve to fly. I took all the gifts you gave me and tried to fly without you.” He said, “I forgive you! Now let’s get out of this cocoon, and let’s fly together.” Once I was willing to listen, God showed me how to use the gifts he’s given me so that I am able to do things in service to him that, in the past, I could never imagine myself doing. Now, that’s flying!

What do you do as the Facilities Manager?

I am the facilities manager for both Fifth Church and the Woodland Drive-In Church. My job is to maintain, clean, set up and decorate the physical spaces at both locations. I also support our church staff and welcome everyone into a clean, safe place that reflects the grace and love of Christ.

What is something people may not know about you?

As a senior in high school, I was one of 11 students chosen to exhibit in a juried art show downtown. In 1996 I started an art business called Creator’s Gift and now use these gifts to glorify God.

What are some of your favorite things?

Spending time with my wife Marianne, fishing with my son Scott and grandson Carter, riding motorcycles, and anything with brown sugar and cinnamon.

Email Greg at gwilkins@fifthrc.org

Char Bulthuis

Office Manager

When did God become more than a word to you?

I don’t remember a time when God was not a part of my life, but I do remember the moment I knew I couldn’t do without him. My mom had just been diagnosed with inoperable brain cancer, and as we lay on the hospital bed together, I couldn’t imagine living life without having mom in it. It was such a sadness, and God felt very, very far away. I did have a loving husband and precious children, but I thought, “Who can I depend on who won’t ever leave me?” At that moment I knew it was God. In fact, it was God living within me, the Holy Spirit dwelling in me. This knowledge gave me the peace that passes all understanding as I experienced one of the most difficult times in my life.

What do you do as the Office Manager?

I manage the business of the church working as part of a team with the staff, our volunteer committees, our treasurer and the church’s accounting firm. I also welcome, assist and encourage folks who call or come into the church. Finally, I track and organize our membership using Breeze, our church management software.

What is something people may not know about you?

I grew up in Celeryville, Ohio, where my family were produce farmers.

What are some of your favorite things?

Riding scooters in the city, hiking in Utah, coffee ice cream with hot fudge on it, and spending time on Good Harbor Bay with my husband Dirk and the rest of my family.

Email Char at cbulthuis@fifthrc.org

Sam Eldersveld

Student Ministries Pastor

When did God become more than a word to you?

My journey began around middle school when I started to spend time with my peers in youth group and got to know mentors who had a personal relationship with the Lord. A consistent youth group where we had our own space for teaching and games was foundational for me. Seeing the same faces in a different context than a Sunday morning worship service gave me an opportunity to have important conversations. The retreats and mission trips also exposed me to other believers outside my church family. Youth group showed me how much fun God is and how much fun a relationship with the Lord can be. But, I didn’t develop a personal relationship with the Lord until freshman year of college. I joined a men’s Bible study, began to read Scripture and talk about what it means to live a faithful Christian life, and it became clear to me that God didn’t have my whole life. I was 18-years-old when I said, “Alright, Lord, you can have all of me.”

What do you do as the Student Ministries Pastor?

My job is to help Fifth Church’s middle school and high school students build a relationship with the Lord and to teach them how they can follow Christ on their own. I work to create an atmosphere in youth group where Christ is present in the teaching, in the relationships with mentors, in service to the community, and in the introduction to the broader church. I organize experiences like retreats and mission trips to get students outside of church to really think about what it looks like to serve the Lord. I also pair members of this church with students, whether it’s through an official mentorship or just intergenerational relationships. Finally, I arrange opportunities for college-age people to gather for Bible study, as well as social events.

What is something people might not know about you?

I have a degree in mechanical engineering. I even had a couple of interviews for engineering jobs after college. Instead, I felt the Lord was guiding me toward ministry.

What are some of your favorite things?

Spending time with my wife Gretchen, and my children Charlotte and Peter, going for walks, hitting the beach, running, and spending time with friends.

Email Sam at seldersveld@fifthrc.org

Jill Kuiper

Administrative Assistant

When did God become more than a word to you?
I grew up in a Christian home, so I don’t ever recall a time in my life without God. When I was at Camp Geneva during my middle school years, my relationship with God became more personal and went beyond what my parents had taught me about him. I asked him into my heart, and I knew I was nothing without him. I made my public profession of faith when I was 15. Today, like everything in life, my faith ebbs and flows. I am a very independent person, and sometimes I think I can do life on my own. When I do, it doesn’t take me long to realize how much I really need God. Even during those times I “wander,” I now know he is always with me and uses those times to teach me to step out in faith and trust him for everything. I don’t like to be tested, but I know it is good for growth. I’ve learned that wherever I go, he will go with me.

What do you do as the Administrative Assistant?
I support the Office Manager. My primary responsibilities are producing the eNews twice a month and preparing the worship guides for Fifth Church and Woodland Drive-In Church each week. Essentially, I am the “Jill-of-All-Trades.” I fill in wherever the Office Manager needs me. I answer the phone, greet visitors, update our member database, prepare mailings, complete background checks on potential volunteers, and more. If it needs doing, I do it.

What is something people might not know about you?
I have been to all 50 states. My sister and I wanted our kids to experience life in places beyond their home states of Arizona and Michigan, so every other year we would plan a family vacation in some new spot. When we were in South Dakota five years ago, I knew North Dakota was the last state I needed to visit to complete my goal. We all piled into the car, headed north for several hours, crossed the state line, and stopped to get photos next to the North Dakota sign. That was it!

What are some of your favorite things?
Reading, walking, baking, making cards, camping (dry weather only), and traveling. I also love baseball and Michigan State football.

Email Jill at jkuiper@fifthrc.org

Mark Vogel

Email Mark at mvogel@fifthrc.org

Nathan Longfield

Pastor, Woodland Drive-In Church

When did God become more than a word to you?

I cannot think of a time when God was merely a word to me. I was baptized and raised in the church by a family and community that taught me, in word and action, who God is, and who I was called to be as God’s beloved child. Throughout my life I have seen how God has been faithful to the promises made to me in the waters of baptism. That said, as I have grown in life and faith through the work of the Spirit forming me into Christ-likeness, and the witness of the communities that have come alongside me to form me in faith, I have certainly grown in the knowledge and love of God, and in recognizing God’s call on my life.

What do you do as Pastor of the Woodland Drive-In Church?

As Woodland’s pastor, I am responsible for general overall leadership, worship leadership, preaching, organizational visioning and planning, caring for and growing the WDI family as disciples, and working with the staff at Fifth Church. At the core, my responsibility is to love and care for the people who may drive into worship and to walk with them in the good, the bad, and the mundane of life.

What is something people might not know about you?

I have a decent size Lego collection and I love to continue to grow that collection. In fact, instead of buying my wife flowers for special events, I buy her Lego bouquets that we can build together around Valentine’s Day or her birthday as part of a special date.

What are some of your favorite things?

I love spending time with my wife Tori, son Solomon and dog Auggie. I enjoy playing high level strategy games, playing Ultimate Frisbee and tennis, spending time outside and working with my hands on various projects. I also obsessively follow the Cubs and MLB.

Email Nathan at nlongfield@fifthrc.org