GET TO KNOW JEREMY AND JOSIAH!
New City’s newest hires, Jeremy Kruizinga and Josiah Ling, are not only skilled at their jobs—they’re interesting folks to boot! Get to know a bit more about them here, and then quiz them on what you read the next time you pass them in the hall at church!
JEREMY KRUIZINGA, ADMINISTRATOR
I understand you make spreadsheets for fun. Have you always been super-organized?
That is correct! Anything from grocery price and item trackers, to book collections, to an inventory of all my clothes, to tracking my work hours for almost every job I have worked have been kept in spreadsheets. Spreadsheets are a great tool for staying organized! Once I tried to make one for everything I owned, but I realized that was a bit ambitious.
I think I can trace it back to my mom and the many times she told me to clean my room. My parents are also both fairly tidy, and I think that plays into my disposition towards keeping things organized, whether at home or work. For example, when I get home from vacation, the first thing I do is unpack everything. I once lived with a roommate who was polar opposite to me, and functioned with a bedroom floor that was covered in stuff. I don’t know how he survived. I would go crazy thinking about all that stuff.
What kind of stuff keeps you busy in your new job? What about outside of it?
As the New City administrator, I deal primarily with our day-to-day communications (including answering the office email and phone), leading our staff meeting, looking after the building maintenance and coordinating with contractors as needed (the HVAC system is a beast on its own), managing our tenants (Southern Ontario Collegiate), and trying to have a presence on social media.
These days, I enjoy road biking, having potluck picnics with friends, reading theology books or listening to theology podcasts, and harvesting my vegetable garden.
Have you learned anything surprising about New City Church (its inner workings, the building, etc.) since taking on this role?
The hobbit room was a cool discovery I made when I started the job!
What’s your favourite part of the job?
I’ve enjoyed leading the staff meetings each week. Given my organizational bent, I like taking minutes and keeping a running list of action items. It seems like our list only gets longer each week, though!
What’s something that people might be surprised to learn about you?
I have a phobia of public speaking! I keep telling myself the more I do it, the less nervous I will be, but it is something I continue to wrestle with. I hope that after giving announcements and the call to worship a few more times, I will become more confident.
JOSIAH LING, COORDINATOR OF DISCIPLESHIP AND FAMILY MINISTRIES
You used to work with Athletes in Action. What’s your sport? Do you still play?
I played and continue to play club rugby! Mainly as a fullback or wing. However, I got connected to AiA through the volleyball coaching internship I did with the U of A women’s volleyball team. I still love coaching, and look forward to continuing that at Redeemer University this fall.
In one sentence, describe your vision for your new role at our church.
My hope is that I would come alongside families and help them disciple their children in a gospel-centred way, so that these children grow in the maturity of their faith and love for God and eventually become disciple makers themselves.
What do you enjoy most about your new job?
Connecting with a variety of people and seeing them get excited about knowing Jesus. I especially love walking alongside people in an intentional and meaningful way as they grow in their understanding of the gospel and who God is.
What are you reading lately?
I’ve just begun my Master of Theology (ThM) at Covenant Seminary, so the textbooks for that course take up most of my time. One of the more interesting ones was a short book called Discerning the Mystery by Andrew Louth. A “fun” read that I recently finished was Infidel: My Life by Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a Dutch-Somali activist and politician. It was an insightful book on her experiences growing up Muslim in Somalia and how that then shaped and subsequently contrasted to her experiences as an immigrant in the Netherlands.
What’s something that people might be surprised to learn about you?
Oh, that’s a tough one. In high school, I used to breakdance. “Used to” being and remaining in the past tense because I wasn’t very good.