Staff

I’m Dave Dykstra, former pastor at Maranatha Fellowship CRC in Farmington. After my retirement at the end of 2021 my wife Brenda and I have decided to remain in Farmington, where continues to serve as an Occupational

Therapist in the Rehabilitation Hospital. Our youngest daughter Lydia is living with us and is employed at Zia Marketing, where she is the Assistant Marketer.

This is actually my third time living in and around Dinétah. In 1964- 1965 I lived in Toadlena, where my dad John Dykstra served as the missionary-pastor with Sidney Nez and Bible women Lucy Harvey and Emma Jean Yazzie.

Then in 1978 after graduating Calvin College (now University) and doing a year of post-graduate study I moved to Shiprock and served as an English and government teacher for ten years at Shiprock High School. During that time I attended Bethel CRC, serving as a steering committee and later council member. And then in 2016 I accepted the call to pastor Maranatha Fellowship CRC.

In 1992 I met Brenda while serving as an intern at Roseland Christian Ministries in south Chicago. In May of that year I graduated Calvin Seminary, and in September we were married. I accepted the call to Lincoln Center CRC in rural Iowa. And in December we moved from an apartment on a busy street in the big city to a quiet parsonage 9 miles from the nearest town of 900 people.

We lived in Iowa from 1994- 2001. The church I served was a traditional church of mainly people of German descent, and over half had married into but had not grown up in the CRC. While there, our daughter Hannah was born in 1994 and our daughter Johnna in 1996. We adopted our daughter Lydia from China in 2000 when she as 2 year and 8 months old.

We moved to Beaver Dam, Wisconsin in June 2001 and I served Faith Community CRC for next 15 years, until we came to Farmington. This was another congregation where most members did not grow up in the Christian

Reformed Church and many were not of Dutch descent. We had a number of people who did not even grow up in Christian homes.

Our church here in Farmington also has many interesting people from many different backgrounds. It has been a real blessing to back with Navajo brothers and sisters, and once again singing old gospel songs in the Navajo language. We thank the Lord for bringing us here! By the way, I love chiles (not chilies), especially the green ones.  And the ones here are the best!

I loved teaching high school. I loved being a pastor even more. And I look forward to using those experiences to help me teach New Testament and Old Testament for our LDN program. I hope to be able to help my students

grow in their knowledge of God’s Word and how to study it. And I pray that God will use them mightily as they also grow in their faith and serve as leaders in Christ’s church.

Dave's contact info is (920) 210-3004 or dbdykstra @juno.com.