NR #1995-097: Alliance of Reformed Churches' Oldest Serving Pastor Celebrates 50th Anniversary of Ordination Fourteen years ago, few if any thought that Rev. Henry Vander Kam would ever have a golden anniversary of the date of his ordination. Vander Kam, then pastor of Doon (IA) CRC, was lying in a hospital bed with a massive heart attack and not expected to make it through the night. Vander Kam not only survived but has come out of retirement to serve an independent congregation in the Alliance of Reformed Churches. Held at the Free Christian Reformed Church of Kalamazoo, the August 30 golden anniversary event drew almost 120 people to the independent church now pastored by the oldest serving minister in the Alliance of Reformed Churches. While many of those present belonged to the 190-member congregation, others came from Grand Rapids, Chicago, and Indiana. NR #1995-097: For Immediate Release Alliance of Reformed Churches' Oldest Serving Pastor Celebrates 50th Anniversary of Ordination by Darrell Todd Maurina, Press Officer United Reformed News Service KALAMAZOO, Mich. (September 4, 1995) URNS - Fourteen years ago, few if any thought that Rev. Henry Vander Kam would ever have a golden anniversary of the date of his ordination. Vander Kam, then pastor of Doon (IA) CRC, was lying in a hospital bed with a massive heart attack and not expected to make it through the night. "I said to my wife, we're going to lose a friend," said Rev. John Piersma, one of several speakers at a testimonial dinner for the fiftieth anniversary of Vander Kam's ordination. Held at the Free Christian Reformed Church of Kalamazoo, the August 30 event drew almost 120 people to the independent church now pastored by the oldest serving minister in the Alliance of Reformed Churches. While many of those present belonged to the 190-member congregation, others came from Grand Rapids, Chicago, and Indiana. Five speakers gave testimonials to Vander Kam at the anniversary celebration: Dr. P.Y. De Jong, a former president of the Christian Reformed synod and former professor at Calvin Seminary and Mid-America Reformed Seminary who also is now in the Alliance, Rev. Rein Leestma, retired pastor of Lynwood CRC (Independent) in the Chicago suburbs, retired Christian Reformed minister Rev. John Piersma, Sid Cnossen, an elder at Dutton Independent Reformed Church in suburban Grand Rapids who was present as a child at Vander Kam's ordination service in the tiny northern Michigan hamlet of Prosper, and Dr. Jim Vander Kam, son of the elder Vander Kam and a specialist on the Dead Sea Scrolls teaching at the University of Notre Dame. Vander Kam, now 77, said he was as surprised as anyone that he was still serving in the pastorate fourteen years after a massive heart attack and a dozen years after most men retire. "I've been retired twice, but I didn't know it would go on like this," said Vander Kam. "In the first place I didn't know if I was going to live, and then I didn't know if I would be able to do it. Fourteen years ago they told me I wouldn't make it through the night. Then they told me the same thing the next night, and then when I was still there the third day they told me that he will never do anything." Despite his doctor's prognosis, Vander Kam has done a great deal since his heart attack. Within a year, he was back in the pulpit of his church, became one of the founders of Mid-America Reformed Seminary, and taught there from 1982 to 1985. Since 1992, he has served as "interim pastor" of the Free CRC of Kalamazoo - the "interim" title being given despite the fact that the church is not actively seeking a successor. Despite - or perhaps because of - his strongly conservative position, Vander Kam rose to prominence during his earlier days in the Christian Reformed ministry and is one of the most prominent CRC ministers to secede from the denomination. In 1976 Vander Kam served as president of synod and served five other times as an officer of synod. Besides many years of service as a synodical delegate and member of various denominational boards and committees, from 1960 to 1965, Vander Kam served as president of the denominational home missions board and from 1970 to 1973 he served as president of the board of Calvin College and Seminary. Even when officially "retired," Vander Kam remained active in a writing ministry, authoring fifteen booklets of Bible studies and over sixty published articles for a variety of periodicals. Vander Kam said he was delighted by his church's decision to hold an anniversary celebration. "I was really pleased and grateful, there was a very large attendance and the cards are still coming in from all over," said Vander Kam. Cross-References to Related Articles: #1993-007: No Deposition for Former Synod President Vander Kam; Synodical Deputies Regret Failure to Take Strong Action #1995-031: Vander Kam Cites Health in Resignation from Alliance Church Order Study Committee Contact List: Rev. Henry Vander Kam, Interim Pastor, Free Christian Reformed Church 7691 Black Mar Circle, Kalamazoo, MI 49002 * H: (616) 324-3816 ------------------------------------------------ file: /pub/resources/text/reformed: nr95-097.txt .