Christian Educators' Journal

Meet the board

by Kirstin Vander Giessen-Reitsma

Given the exceptionally complimentary article Bill Boerman-Cornell wrote for this issue about us, we wanted to introduce you to the other amazing people who are vital to this ministry, our board members. We should mention that the two of us are on the board as well and Kirstin is the treasurer.

Bill Boerman-Cornell, Secretary
South Holland, Illinois
We actually look forward to getting minutes from Bill after every board meeting. Not only are we blessed to have an excellent writer filling this position, but he also has a distinct gift for prescribing just the right amounts of wisdom and humor when we are taking ourselves too seriously. He turns what could be a dry document into a witty story, which usually ends in the description of some cryptic messages written when he was getting sleepy toward the end of our late-night meetings. We admire Bill's commitment to getting up at 5 a.m. every morning to write before he heads off to teach teen-agers to be discerning, book-loving "nerds." His posting times on *cino are sometimes downright shocking, but he is certainly more lucid then than he is at midnight. He lives in a big, friendly house with his wife Amy and their daughter Cricket along with Amy's sister and her family, another cause for our admiration of Bill.

Chicago, Illinois
Being a philosophy graduate student, Grant has a wonderful ability to perceive our vision as a whole and to make sure the words we use harmonize with that vision. His love of words and ideas has helped us organize and communicate as an organization. We also take comfort in his consistent presence on the discussion board. His time commitment, in spite of his academic and musical work, amazes us. According to his wife Kristin, he can spend four hours on *cino in one sitting actively reading posts and thoughtfully articulating his ideas. We can also count on Grant to regularly contribute detailed, thought-provoking articles on very challenging topics. Grant has been one of our like-minded travelers since the very beginning of this journey and we appreciate his companionship, generosity, passion and intelligence.

Sioux Center, Iowa
Jason is not only our connection to Dordt College as he is an admissions counselor there, but he is also what we like to call our "YES!" man. Jason undoubtedly possesses the gift of encouragement. When we send out a document for board review, we know to expect a book of comments and corrections from some of our members. Jason, however, usually provides a much-needed, "Excellent! Yes! Go with it!" This is not to say that he is not critical. He brings a passion for theatre and pop culture to *cino and can always be counted on to write a thoughtful and articulate review for the magazine. While Jason cannot attend many of our board meetings, since he lives in Iowa with his wife Amanda, we do enjoy taping his photo business card to a speakerphone so he can listen and participate. However, his excellent acting skills may bring him nearer to us soon as he just participated in auditions for grad school and has already been accepted at Roosevelt University. Yes! Way to go, Jason!

Lansing, Illinois
Without Jerry, we wouldn't have known where to start with cino. He has pointed us in the right direction countless times. He has challenged us to think bigger and better. He has taken on a position with our organization in spite of many other pressing commitments, which include running a media company and being Director of Evangelism at Crossroads Community Church. We have been the beneficiaries of his incredible wisdom, developed over years of experience with several non-profit ministries. Over the course of many coffee meetings as well as dinners with his wife Cori and daughters Amy and Carmen (who are two of his six children), we have been encouraged, inspired, and counseled to become passionate leaders. We appreciate Jerry's willingness to tell us the truth, to give sacrificially to cino and to feed us when necessary.

We hope you get the opportunity to know them more, whether that's through ^camping is not optional or just by keeping track of the decisions we make. Their complimentary gifts, collective wisdom and uncompromising passion for the living Christ are essential to the important work of *culture is not optional. We are so blessed to have such a committed, talented group of leaders for this organization.