“Impact”

We all make an impact. My friend and co-founder of Kuyper Preparatory School, Don Hamer, made an impact on my life. In 1991, he was a Sunday School teacher in our young marrieds class. He later went on to become the pastor of our church. During the times he taught and preached, he had an impact on everyone who attended. His loud booming voice, and larger-than-life presence, demanded attention and created an impact.

That’s not where he impacted me the most. He impacted me while we sat and talked. This took place over the years. We spent time sitting in his living room, garage, on a bench overlooking the city or downtown near the water. We talked. The love for his wife, the passion he had for learning from the word of God and the great enthusiasm he showed for the many projects he was working on had an impact on me. He was not the get up for work, do your job, go home and watch TV type of guy. He bled for everything he did. He gave more than anyone I had ever met. I learned. Driving in the car was some of the best. We shared a great fellowship while traveling to meetings or events. He shared ideas and we’d go to different properties and he’d dream. “Bro, can you see a huge school campus here, and a football field over there?” He had the ability to see what could be. He had a vision. He saw Kuyper before the doors ever opened. He knew the need and worked along with Brian Hendry to make this a reality. His vision, passion, and love of family and people impacted me.

His impact on me does not end with me. The way I treat my wife and how I raised up my family has been influenced by Don Hamer. He had an impact on how I look at business, how I love people, how I work and how I lean on God’s word for direction. Now it’s passed along to my kids and to my peers. Sometimes I’ll see the accomplishments of my kids and realize that my friend Don Hamer had an impact on making that happen. Like the ripples a stone makes when thrown into a still lake, our impact carries on and out. His impact carries on in this school as well.

Many of our students and faculty never met Don, but he has had an influence on them through the way the school functions, the traditions we have and the structure we have adopted.