New Life Church has been blessed with a preaching team made up of several members of the congregation. The preaching team works closely with the worship ministry and prepares messages that bring the Word of God to the congregation which encourages, teaches and challenges.

Meet the team:

Peter Schuurman

For four years now Peter Schuurman has lived close enough to New Life he can almost throw a stone and hit the church.  Not that he would ever do such a thing.  His 20 month old son Joseph would inevitably end up imitating such action, and people could get hurt. 

Peter was a chaplain at Brock University for eight years but now works from his home coordinating the campus ministries of the Christian Reformed Church.  He writes a regular column for the small newspaper Christian Courier and has published a few devotion books including Disciples: Daily Readings (Faith Alive, 2007) and Pumped: Maps and Meditations for the Road (2005), and its re-published version Shifting Gears (2008).  Pumped was part of the “Sea to Sea for the CRC” bicycle tour across Canada in 2005, for which Peter was a co-chaplain.

Peter and his wife Joy are expecting a little girl to crawl into their family in September, 2008.

Glen Soderholm

Glen Soderholm is a singer/songwriter, worship leader, teacher, and the director of Moveable Feast Resources – a ministry that encourages the people of God to participate in vibrant worship. He lives in Rockwood with his wife Sharon and two daughters – Danielle (19) and Julia (17).

Jack Tacoma

Jack Tacoma is a long time member of New Life and has served as an elder, a worship leader and musician.  He works as a Ministry Specialist with CRC Home Missions and is a partner in a local engineering firm.  Jack has been granted a “license to exhort” (preach) by Classis Huron.  Jack is married to Tet and together they have three children and three grandchildren.

Gary VanArragon

Gary and Gretchen VanArragon have been members of New Life since 1993. Gary currently serves as chair of the Pastoral Elders and has served as a Visionary Elder. He recently retired as the principal of Woodland Christian High School. Gary is currently serving as the Advancement Director at Woodland Christian High School and Secondary Curriculum Consultant at the Ontario Alliance of Christian Schools.

Jamie VanderBerg - Associate Pastor

Jamie VanderBerg is an ordained ministry associate at New Life, serving as a campus minister at the University of Guelph.  A graduate of the Institute for Christian Studies, Jamie enjoys navigating the strange waters of campus life--waters that include competing currents, different worldviews and a variety of perspectives.  Together with students, staff and faculty, he's constantly looking for ways to live out his faith, practice community and participate in God's story of redemption.  At home and at church, you'll see him celebrating life with his wife, Elaine, and their four children, Justin, Drew, Katya and Karsten.

Mark Wallace

Mark, Cheryl and Rachel have been attending New Life since October 2005 after they returned from a year overseas. Previously Mark has served as an Elder in the Presbyterian Church in Canada and spent ten years on staff with Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship working with high school and university students. As part of New Life Mark has been involved playing percussion for worship, teaching Kid’s Focus and leading some Discipleship Hour discussions. He is a “big picture” thinker and enjoys the dialogue that goes into creating a vision within community.  Mark is very much committed to a Reformed (and re-forming) worldview and enjoys working alongside the Creator and the community of New Life.