Elder Gerrit DenHartog, aka “Sarge,” was serious about corralling delegates back to work after their coffee breaks.
The designated “sergeant-at-arms” sported a sash and whistle.
“People are very good-natured even when I do blow a whistle, which has been very loud at times,” said DenHartog. “I also quote Ecclesiastes 3:1—‘there is a time for everything’—in as loud a voice as possible.”
DenHartog recently moved to West Michigan and joined a Christian Reformed church after living in places without CRCs for 40 years. “I really felt that the Lord was leading me back,” he said.
Synod 2013 is meeting at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Mich. from June 7-14. For continuous Banner coverage of Synod 2013, please follow The Banner on Facebook or @crcbanner on Twitter. You can find more tweeting by following hashtag #crcsynod. News stories will be posted at www.thebanner.org several times daily. For CRC Communications releases, webcast, and live blogging, please visit www.crcna.org/synod. Unless noted otherwise, all photographs are by Karen Huttenga.
About the Author
Roxanne VanFarowe is a freelance writer who claims both Canadian and American citizenship and grew up in the Christian Reformed Church. She is a member of Blacknall Presbyterian Church in Durham, North Carolina.
