Rev. Louis Tamminga put his arm around Rev. William Koopmans and recalled a precious moment more than 50 years ago—when he baptized the baby who would become president of Synod 2013.
In 1959 Tamminga was pastor of a church in Smithers, British Columbia, he told delegates in a light moment at synod. He saw future greatness in the water-doused infant.
“He was on the small side as a baby,” Tamminga said of the short-statured Koopmans, to the laughter of delegates. “But he was a beautiful child. He made me think of Moses.
“I told his father and mother, ‘You may be sure that he will go places.’ And today he’s here.”
Koopmans thought about that for a moment, then said, “Now I know why you used so much water. You thought I was like Moses.”
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.
