In 1 Peter 5:2, Scripture calls elders to "shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight . . . willingly, as God would have you." Missio Dei Church is a presbyterian church. The term "presbyterian" originates in the language of the Greek New Testament and describes a church led by elders. Elders are elected from the congregation to shepherd the church. We have two types of elders: the pastor (Teaching Elder) who is a full-time minister and who does most of the preaching and teaching at the church, and the Ruling Elders who assist him in providing executive leadership and pastoral care for the flock. Together they form the Session.

 

Nathan Phillips - Ruling Elder*

Nathan Phillips Family

Contact: Email, Facebook, Twitter

Family: My wife Sarah and I got married on January 12, 2002. We have two amazing girls and one son that have been a blessing to us. Abigail was born on February 1, 2005 just a few days after my birthday and is the best birthday present I have ever gotten. Mia was born March 11, 2007, she is full of life, energy, and has been a source of great joy in my life. Breck was born March 20, 2010, and it has been fun watching my little boy grow up into a little man. 

Personal History: I was raised in Frankfort, IL on a street where everyone knew everyone. Some of my best childhood memories are playing games with the neighborhood kids until well after dark on warm summer nights. I graduated from Lincoln-Way High School in 1997 and went to college at Western Michigan University. It was not until I was at college that I realized that I had a choice to make, I could continue to run from God and think that I could do life on my own or I could live into what He was already doing in my life. You see I grew up in a Christian home, went to church and Sunday school but after I was confirmed I did not often give God a second thought.

When I was in college I met some people who invited me to an Intervarsity gathering, I went. It was there that I realized that if I was going to make God real in my life, if I was going to live into His plan for me I had to make a decision. My sophomore year of college, through the help of some key people in my life, my now wife included, I really gave over my life to Jesus and decided that it is not about me but about giving glory to our Lord and Savior. Since then God has provided some amazing experiences in my life from working summers at camps, to being on staff full time at Camp Manitoqua & Retreat Center to becoming a husband and father to now being an elder at Missio Dei Church. I could not have done any of this on my own, but only by the grace of God!

Favorites: Family nights, mountain biking with my buddies, snowboarding with my wife and our friends, mountainboarding and playing in our front yard every season of the year with my girls, spending summer days at my dad’s lake house behind the boat on a surfboard or wakeboard, seeing my children and their cousins play together and learn together, worship with other people who know what it is to love a God and savior who gave for us first!

Caleb Hamstra - Ruling Elder*

 

* Denotes Elders Currently on Session