MEET THE CANDIDATES!
Dear Church,
On November 8th, we cast our ballots for three men who have been found eligible to be elected as ruling elders at New City Church. Please be sure to read the previous post about the election process HERE, if you have not yet done so.
In that post, we urged you to pray about the candidates in view of 1 Timothy 3:1-7 and Titus 1:5-9. To help you get a clearer picture of Filipe, Jeremy, and Leon, we conducted an interview with all three.
Enjoy learning about your elder candidates!
Filipe Fernandes
1. Who are you married to and for how long? Who are your children and how old are they?
I've been married to Katie for twenty-two years now and we have three children together. Lucas, our eldest in college, 19 years old. Claire just at the end of high school, 17 years old. And Sam also in high school at 15 years old.
2. What is your occupation? What are you currently working on at work?
I'm a software developer by trade. I currently work for a payments/SNAP Benefits company at Forage (headquartered in San Francisco). I work exclusively from home and right now I'm working on all things EMV, as SNAP/EBT cards can now be used with chip-insert and tap operations at supported POS terminals.
3. How long have you been going to New City Church?
I want to say at least 12 or 13 years.
4. Tell us about your spiritual background. What church(es) and/or traditions did you grow up in, if any? Tell us briefly about one or two key turning points in your spiritual journey.
I was born and raised Catholic. But I was pretty much a non-believer mid-way through high-school. However, during early post-secondary years, I couldn't escape the basic truth that we're all created beings. I tried to re-connect with my Catholic roots but found the experience wanting.
Through a couple of false starts at different schools, I found myself at Sheridan College where a classmate invited me out to a Korean Presbyterian Church (Westside Church) and attended service through their English ministry. Within months of taking part in a small group, the Gospel was made plain to me, I accepted and was saved!
Though there were a lot of mis-steps afterwards in the ensuing years (for one, in the infancy of my faith, I was made elder by my second year at Westside), the Lord was faithful despite my circumstances and mis-steps. Leaving Westside because of a failed Hamilton ministry campus, I found my way to New City, and I've been quietly learning and growing in the Lord ever since.
5. How do you nurture your faith? What practices have been helpful in your devotional life?
When I pray it's at the end of the day, when the house is quiet and it's dark (sometimes in the living room or in my office).
No cleverness to my Bible reading, but prefer to read the Bible in order concurrently with the Old & New Testament (a few chapters at a time). But lately, I've set that aside to spend time only in the Psalms.
Over the years, I've also been collecting song sheets from events like Prayer and Praise and Good Friday services. I use them to bring more praise into my prayers. Though singing is harder with everyone asleep; a lot of that praise ends up as a whisper.
6. What do you enjoy doing when you're not working?
When I'm not writing software for work, I'm usually tinkering with software and hardware at home. I love a good algorithm I can play with in small projects and tools. I'm also (ever so slowly) working my way into small electronics: resistors, diodes, etc.
I do a lot of reading on investigative journalism in how tech shapes policies and the geo-political landscape between nation-states. Though you would think this to be very dry, I read it with the same nail biting curiosity my daughters have with their drama filled novels.
Outside of software and hardware, I enjoy cartoons. So much so, my wife is at times convinced she married a child. It could be some modern day limited series like Pluto, or an 80's throwback like GI-Joe. I'm pretty sure most of my English before grade one was learned watching cartoons in a tight-knit Portuguese community within the north-end of Hamilton.
Jeremy Kruizinga
1. Who are you married to and for how long? Who are your children and how old are they?
I am blessed to be married to Michaella Kruizinga. We got married during COVID and celebrated our sixth anniversary this year. Since then we have been blessed to welcome Eliza (3 years old) and Freddy (almost one) into our family.
2. What is your occupation? What are you currently working on at work?
I work as a Research Officer at Redeemer University, where I manage the full lifecycle of research grants, and support the work of the Albert M. Wolters Centre for Christian Scholarship. Right now, I am supporting new and recurring grant applications, reviewing policies, and planning for upcoming Wolters Centre events in 2027.
3. How long have you been going to New City Church?
I have been attending New City Church for the past 7 years. Michaella joined shortly after and we became members a little over 6 years ago.
4. Tell us about your spiritual background. What church(es) and/or traditions did you grow up in, if any? Tell us briefly about one or two key turning points in your spiritual journey.
I was blessed to grow up in a loving Christian family, and we attended a Reformed church right here in Hamilton. During middle school, I got involved in a youth group at a local Baptist church in my neighborhood. This youth group was the place where God provided me with Christian mentors and friends, taught me that faith was active trust, and led me to himself.
In University, I became involved in a campus ministry called Power to Change (P2C). P2C was the place where I learned how to share my faith, the importance of Christian community, and met my now wife.
After University, I moved back to Hamilton and was looking for a Reformed church to call home. God led me to New City (and the PCA), a church and denomination that I felt struck the right balance between being confessional and evangelistic. I also was excited to be attending a church in the heart of the city I grew up in.
5. How do you nurture your faith? What practices have been helpful in your devotional life?
I connect with God in nature, in musical worship, and in his Word. I often have Christian hymns playing at home, in the car, and while working to help remind me that all of life is lived Coram Deo. My devotional life has benefited most from reading devotional books like the Valley of Vision or Be Thou My Vision: A Liturgy for Daily Worship, and reading slowly and prayerfully through the Psalms.
6. What do you enjoy doing when you're not working?
As a young Dad and new homeowner, most of my time outside of work is spent taking care of my family and learning the joys of homeownership. I also enjoy running, curling, walking to parks, spending time with friends over good coffee or craft beer, and hosting people.
Leon Burger
1. Who are you married to and for how long? Who are your children and how old are they?
I'm married to Gillian, we got married in 2009. Our two girls are Stephanie (12) and Amelia (10).
2. What is your occupation? What are you currently working on at work?
I'm a Hydrogeologist by training, I currently work in environmental risk management and due diligence for property transactions and large scale project finance development.
3. How long have you been going to New City Church?
We have been attending New City since the spring of 2013
4. Tell us about your spiritual background. What church(es) and/or traditions did you grow up in, if any? Tell us briefly about one or two key turning points in your spiritual journey.
I grew up in South Africa and attended a Dutch Reformed church (N.G. Kerk) with my family. I surrendered my heart to Jesus as a teenager during a youth camp, and again after that many times, thinking that my ongoing struggle with sin could somehow undo my salvation. However, I have come to know that through ongoing repentance and turning away from sin God continues to renew my heart. I'm often reminded of God's faithfulness, even in times when I strayed far from my walk with Christ in my time at university and early in my career, God did not let me go. When I met Gill, and shared my faith with her, together attending Christianity Explored at an evangelical Anglican Church, walking alongside her as she gave her life to Christ has been a deep encouragement. When we moved to Canada in 2010 we attended a Fellowship of Evangelical Baptist church in Kitchener before we moved to Hamilton and New City in 2013.
5. How do you nurture your faith? What practices have been helpful in your devotional life?
I have learned that just as we grow in life, so our faith also grows and needs constant nourishment, I have been encouraged through this time of preparation and training this past year by spending much time on my work commute to Toronto in the audio Bible. Very practically, I find it helpful to follow along reading as I listen, to avoid distraction. I recently completed reading through the Psalms and also find it encouraging and helpful to guide my prayers.
6. What do you enjoy doing when you're not working?
I currently have a couple of projects I'm working on in the house to refresh the bathrooms, while sometimes very frustrating, it is so rewarding when it's done. I enjoy mountain biking with my girls and camping and hiking with the family in the summer months.
