From left to right: Mark Penninga, Bruce DeBoer, Lucas Holtvlüwer, Jon Dykstra, Aubrey Vandergaag, Sharon de Boer, and Marty VanDriel
About Us
Reformed Perspective began in January of 1982 as a 32-page monthly “Magazine for the Christian Family.” The purpose of the magazine, as stated in that first issue, was:
“to assist the Christian reader in evaluating the issues of life from a Biblical point of view, ever mindful of what the Lord God has revealed to us in His Word and as the church of the Reformation have summarized that in the three forms of Unity: the Belgic Confession, the Heidelberg Catechism, and the Canons of Dort.”
Forty years and more than 400 issues later, the magazine remains, as does the mission statement, though more succinctly stated. Our mission is:
“To promote a Biblically Reformed perspective in all spheres of life by equipping and encouraging Christians to think, speak, and act in a manner consistent with their confession.”
More colloquially, we want to explore all that God is doing, not only Sunday, but the other six days of the week. It’s a fun job, and we’re grateful that God has allowed us to do this for four decades now.
Even as the mission remains the same, there have been some changes. Now, in addition to a now bi-monthly 68-page print publication that goes out primarily to a Canadian audience, we’re able to reach the four corners of the Earth via our website and social media platforms like Facebook, MeWe, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram. The RP Roundup email newsletter reaches thousands each Saturday, sharing the 5-6 articles we’ve posted online that week. The RP App makes not only these articles, but our Real Talk podcast readily available on everyone’s smartphones. This is all done under the banner of the Reformed Perspective Foundation.
And it is all done for free. For 35 years Reformed Perspective was a magazine only available to subscribers. While subscriptions allowed us to pay for the production of the magazine, it also meant we were reaching only a small percentage of the people we could otherwise impact. So at the end of 2016, the decision was made to publish everything for free on our website and via social media, including online editions of the magazine and the print publication too. The result is we are now reaching many times more than we ever have before.
We operate under a Board made up of members from across North America that includes Bruce DeBoer, Lucas Holtvlüwer, Aubrey Vandergaag, Sharon de Boer, Jim Witteveen, Mark Penninga, and Marty VanDriel.
Reformed Perspective is a registered Canadian charity, and you can make donations, and become a monthly supporter by clicking here. If you have questions, you can contact us here.
Reformed Perspective Team
Editorial Team
Jon Dykstra, Editor: Jon is the father of three, husband of one, and uncle to numbers that go far beyond the additive capacity of his fingers and toes. In the 25+ years he’s been writing for Reformed Perspective, it’s been Jon’s delight to investigate God’s thoughts on anything and everything, including the worldview of dogs, dystopian fiction, pronouns, the biblical case for global warming skepticism, spanking, 200 movies King David might watch, and the theology of dirty jokes. When he became editor in 1999, submissions sometimes came in hand-written or through the fax machine, and the magazine’s unofficial assistant editor was his dear ol’ dad (and his brother James was the webmaster). The magazine has grown some since then, and Jon’s delight now is to work with a whole RP team to continue investigating what God has done and is doing in the wide wide world out there.
Marty Vandriel, Assistant Editor: Marty and his wife Faith have four children, and three grand children. Marty’s writing roots go way back to the newspaper The Windmill Herald! He also contributes to WORLD Magazine, and is the CEO at a manufacturing company.
Mark Penninga, Executive Director: Mark and his family of eight have made their home in BC’s Bulkley Valley. Since 2022, he has been responsible for the leadership of the Reformed Perspective Foundation and also enjoys assisting with the production of RP magazine. Mark previously served as the founder and Executive Director of ARPA Canada from 2007-2022. He loves to explore God’s creation with his family, with a special fondness for being on, or beside, a lake with a fishing pole in his hand.
Support Team
Jan Broersma, Copy Editor: Jan has worked as a writer and editor for several organizations, including School Specialty and Historica Canada. She loves good writing and making good writing better. Jan lives on the beautiful West Coast of BC with her husband and their three children.
Caitlin Hamoen, Digital Editor: Caitlin is responsible for bringing RP’s content to a broader digital audience, through our e-newsletter, website, and and social media. Caitlin lives in Edmonton, Alberta where she works at a print shop.
Joanne DeRuiter, Administrator and Controller: Joanne grew up in Neerlandia, Alberta and in 2017 she moved with her husband and children to Smithers, BC. She worked for ARPA for four years and then took over the administration tasks for Reformed Perspective.
Annelies Veurink, Graphic Designer: Annelies and her husband live in sunny Southern Alberta and are members of the Coaldale Canadian Reformed Church. They have been blessed with 3 children and enjoy life in the country on a chicken farm. Annelies graduated with a certificate in Graphic Communications in 2013 and has been designing the Reformed Perspective magazine since 2015. Her favourite part of being on the RP team is the process of taking an article submitted as a plain document and using her creativity to make it look fresh and interesting on the pages of the magazine. When she’s not behind the computer, Annelies enjoys spending time with her family, gardening, baking & thrift shopping.
Mark Coolen, Webmaster: Mark loves learning and knows how computers think which, combined with his ability to pull a rabbit out of a computer, helps him to make the RP website into an efficient, well-oiled machine.
Real Talk Podcast Team
Lucas Holtvluwer, Co-Host: One of the younger faces at RP, Lucas co-hosts the Real Talk podcast alongside of Tyler Vanderwoude and also sits on the RP board of directors. He and his wife Elle, along with their daughter Anneliese, live near Brantford, ON and are members at Living Water Reformed Church. Lucas’s day job is managing the operations of Tykel Commercial Door Supply (which he co-owns with Tyler). On the side, he loves to research new podcast topics, strum the guitar, and play hockey.
Tyler Vanderwoude, Co-Host: Tyler has been co-hosting Real Talk with Lucas since it began in 2020, and has been partnering with him even longer in the business world. Tyler & his wife Keleigh have been blessed with 3 amazing kids and recently made a big move from Hamilton, Ontario to Calgary, Alberta and are now a part of the Canadian Reformed Church of Calgary. Tyler spends his free time outdoors, hunting, fishing, golfing & playing hockey.
Mariah Tamminga, Podcast Manager: Mariah is responsible for the show’s scheduling, editing and marketing. She has worked in organizational ministry for the last three years. Originally from Hamilton, ON, Mariah now resides in Sanford, FL, where she is a full-time student at Reformation Bible College. She is pursuing her BA in Theology.
