• Senior Pastor ~ Rev. Ken Nydam
• Associate Pastor of Youth ~ Rev. Bill Hodgeman
• Pastor of Visitation ~ Rev. Howard DeVries
• Office Administrator ~ Judy Godeke

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Senior Pastor ~ Rev. Ken Nydam with his wife Judyth

To tell you a little of who I am, besides being married to Judy with whom we have three daughters, here are few ministry “rules to live by” that I hope will reveal to you my heart and mind about being a pastor.

1. “The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.”  - Too often the church majors on the minors and church leaders draw a line in the sand over non-essential issues or theology.  As Christians we have a mission first of all to convert a secular world that leaves God out of life. The main thing is that God wants to reconcile the world to himself through his son Jesus Christ. Denominational distinctive, although important, are second to the main thing.

2. “The best way to stay spiritually healthy is to get close to your own pain or some one else’s pain.”  - Pain lets us know that something is wrong. We become aware that there is a big gap between where we are and where we would like to be. We go on a search for God to close that gap. That search brings spiritual growth.

3. “Either you are a missionary or you need one.”  If you are a Christian, you are, whether you know it or not, enlisted in God’s army to take back his world from spiritual powers who are opposed to God. Either you are doing something to help or you need help to become a helper in the mission of God.

4. “People like to go to church where people like to go to church.” – The Christian life is a shared life and when people find  a community of love and grace where they can laugh at themselves as well as cry with each other, where children, senior citizens, the disabled and the disadvantaged are valued, they like to go there. Who wouldn’t? It’s contagious!

I hope that you will find a lot of the above in me and in Pleasant Street Church.

Pastor Ken Nydam

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Associate Pastor of Youth ~ Rev. Bill Hodgeman with his wife Beth

I grew up the middle child of a nuclear engineer and a Kindergarten teacher on the New Hampshire seacoast. While on retreat in junior high, the Holy Spirit enabled my young mind and heart to wrap themselves around the gospel of Christ. It was halfway through High School (when I was dreaming of being a sports broadcaster) when God redirected my plans and gave me the irresistible call to pastoral ministry.

After three years at Azusa Pacific University (in Los Angeles County, CA) I emerged from the smog with degrees in Communication Studies, Biblical Studies and Ultimate Frisbee. In the three years since I’ve married the woman of my dreams, earned a Masters of Divinity from Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary and witnessed the birth of my son.

I look forward to becoming a part of this community and church family. As my ministry unfolds here, I hope to serve out of the following four convictions:

1. Prayer is the only necessary thing. Western culture is obsessed with doing. Our inclination is to fix, manage and psychologize our way through problems. But our busy-ness and desire to control life threatens to remove God from the equation. Techniques and genius can accomplish the possible, the natural, the predictable—but only God can accomplish the impossible, the supernatural and the unpredictable.  This should bring us, this should bring me, regularly to my knees.
    
2. Youth Ministry is Everyone's Job. The most important ministry a church can offer today's young people is the presence of caring adults who have an authentic relationship with Jesus.  No matter how hip and dynamic a church's youth program might be, the program will never impact kids lives with the love of Christ quite like real people will.  In many ways, my job as a youth pastor is to help the congregation to embrace and nurture both our own kids, and the kids of this community who do not yet know Christ.
    
3. Spiritual Growth can’t be taught.  Spiritual growth happens when Christ’s truth and love begin to seep into new places in our lives—our thoughts, words, actions, relationships and commitments. Spiritual growth is the result of connections made between prayer and parenting, service and friendship, sacrifice and bank accounts, the cross and the workplace. Spiritual growth doesn’t happen when the Christian meets the classroom, but when the rubber meets the road.

<PSCRC's Youth Ministry Vision>

<Pastor Bill’s Bookshelf>

<Pastor Bill’s Favorite Sins>

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Pastor of Visitation ~ Rev. Howard DeVries with his wife Marlene

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Office Administrator ~ Judy Godeke

Welcome to Pleasant Street Church—as you enter our offices just off the lobby of the main church entrance, I will greet you warmly and mentally pray you will be blessed. I will usually be trying to do at least three things at once—there are weekly bulletins, mail, phone and email messages, minutes and agendas to type and disburse, photos and biographies of new members, church records, letters, and many other small tasks that occupy my time.  Then there are larger tasks, such as the yearly directory; office budgets, contracts, and supplies; the annual master plan; job descriptions for all volunteers, etc., that get accomplished in between.

My journey here began with receiving Jesus as my Savior at age four and with a vision of myself doing church administration at age 19. I was born in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, lived in the Philippines as a child with my missionary family, went to Beaver and then Dordt Colleges, and came to Whitinsville to teach third grade at Whitinsville Christian School from 1970 to 1973. I married Don in 1971 and three years later, our three daughters began to arrive: Christian Joy, Carry Hope, and Grace May. From 1986 to 2002, I was the secretary at Fairlawn Church. In 1989, I also became the secretary at Pleasant Street Church, a position that has grown from about ten hours a week to be full-time office administration with a wonderful staff of three other full-time servants.

We are here for you—to pray with you, send out your prayer requests on our email and phone prayer chains, and help the details of your worship, small group, and friendship experiences to flow in the goodness of our wonderful God and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Judy Godeke