Three experienced officers and one new clerk will serve Synod 2026 of the Christian Reformed Church in North America as the assembly comes together in June in Grand Rapids, Mich.
Delegates to Synod 2026 convened by Zoom video conferencing May 27 to elect the officers, test out the meeting tech, and pray together ahead of the assembly’s in-person meeting June 12-18 on the campus of Calvin University. Pastors Chad Steenwyk, president; Derek Buikema, vice president; Jose Rayas, first clerk; and Dave TenClay, second clerk, were selected by the body in the meeting that ran just over two hours. Synod is the annual general assembly of the CRC. It’s been using a virtual convening, which is livestreamed, to elect officers since 2022.
Tim Blackmon, pastor of Second CRC in Grand Haven, Mich., host church of Synod 2026, presided over the elections and, with denominational prayer shepherd Jon Hoekema, led beginning devotions. “Our challenges as a denomination include … some of the dynamics that are similar” to what the apostle Paul was facing when he wrote his letter to the Philippians, a church that “was riddled with internal conflict,” Blackmon said. “Paul faced multiple, complex overwhelmings” and yet his exhortation to the church was “rejoice” (Phil. 4:4), which Blackmon called a “deliberate, counter-intuitive act of resistance”—against defeat, intimidation, fear, and resentment. With Paul, he encouraged delegates to “rejoice in the Lord. Take joy in the fact that you are a child of God, that you are a beloved brother and sister of all those who are gathered. Take joy in the finished work of Jesus. Enjoy your forgiveness. Enjoy the anointing that you have from the Holy Spirit. And dare I say it tonight, ‘enjoy synod.’”
Second CRC was founded in 1882, and its second minister, Rev. Gabriel Dooitze DeJong, was an early student of the now 150-year-old Calvin Theological Seminary—an anniversary synod will mark this year. The delegates’ time of worship and reflection included a recording of the hymn “All That Hath Life and Breath” from a March 2026 anniversary service at Calvin University.
Delegates selected the 2026 officers from a list of possible candidates of 16 pastors and one elder, all men, who self-identified as being willing to serve and were then nominated—12 in each officer category (president/vice president and first and second clerk). Some candidates were willing to serve in, and received nominations for, both categories.*
Synod 2022 was the most recent synod to be served by a woman officer, deacon Luanne Sankey, who was second clerk that year, alongside first clerk Aaron Vriesman, vice president Derek Buikema, and president Jose Rayas.
Each of the 49 classes, or regional assemblies, of the CRC selects the delegates they will send to synod from current officebearers (pastors, elders, deacons) in the member congregations. Since 1995 the CRC has recognized two opposite understandings of women in ecclesiastical office as biblically valid; and since 2008 “all duly elected and ordained officebearers may be delegated to synod." In recent years the number of women delegates has been declining. There are 17 women delegates to Synod 2026.
Steenwyk pastors Central Avenue CRC in Holland, Mich., and was vice president of Synod 2023. Buikema is pastor of Orland Park (Ill.) CRC and served as synod vice president in 2022 and president in 2024. He was named to The Gospel Coalition Council earlier this year. Rayas ministers at Valley Ridge Community CRC in Socorro, Texas. He has attended synod 16 times and previously served as president, vice president, first clerk, and reporter. TenClay is the newcomer to the slate of officers. He pastors Bauer CRC in Hudsonville, Mich., and while he hasn’t previously served as an officer, he’s been to synod twice as a delegate, in 2015 and 2023.
At the close of the May 27 convening, CRC general secretary Zachary King encouraged delegates to prepare well for the June meeting, which will cover a more than 400-page agenda along with a considerable amount of supplemental material, still being added to the synodical services website.
There are three task force reports; the 10-year strategic plan for church planting and renewal; reports from synod’s standing committees, ministries, and institutions; 37 overtures (formal requests) from classes, church councils or individuals—plus another one in the supplemental agenda; and two appeals from an elder in Classis Columbia and the classis response to the appeals. The synodical delegates have to deliberate and decide on all of this in five and a half days, aided by advisers and the four officers they elected to help guide the assembly.
More Banner coverage: One Year Later, Strategic Plan for Church Planting Ready for Synod, May 12, 2026; Synod 2026: What to Expect, April 13, 2026
COMING SOON: Lora Copley, interim editor-in-chief recently approved to be presented to synod for the long-term editor role, is heading up The Banner Synod Recap with guest commenters throughout Synod 2026. She and last year’s president pro-tem Nate Van Denend have the first recap on the May 27 virtual convening.
*The procedure for nominating potential officers was established by Synod 1996. When this story was first published it included the detail of delegates indicating their willingness to serve, but not the nomination step.
Synod 2026, the annual general assembly of the Christian Reformed Church in North America, is meeting June 12-18 on the campus of Calvin University in Grand Rapids, Mich. Find daily coverage from The Banner at TheBanner.org/synod. Visit crcna.org/synod for the agenda, advisory reports, recordings of plenary sessions, and to subscribe to the daily Synod News email