Hans Hoeksema
I am Hans Hoeksema and I am honored to be the Director of Advancement. I am so thankful for the life God has blessed me with to bring me to Ankeny Christian Academy. My wife, Keisha, and I live with our three children, Micah, Ezra and Kjrsten in Bondurant and attend First Family Church of Bondurant. My life verse is Philippians 4:6 “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, bring your requests to God.”
I was born in Burnsville, MN in September of 1991, the son of two pastors’ children. I was the second of two children and my older sister had a huge impact in my life. In a family with two pastors’ children as the leaders, God was at the center of everyday life from the time I understood language. Some of my earliest memories are of going to church, my dad reading the Christmas story on Christmas Eve, doing devotions and family prayer. I understood from a very young age who Christ was and what he had done or me, but I didn’t truly accept the give of salvation until I was 10 or 11 at a camp retreat to Hidden Acres. I remember the tears that poured out as I admitted I was a sinner and needed a Savior.
Then in 2004, my world was shaken when my sister was killed in a car accident when I was 13. She was 14. I struggled to understand God’s plan. Why did he take my sister? She was a follower of Christ, a believer! I found that I was angry with God. It wasn’t until I in college at University of Northern Iowa to become a History teacher and was connected to the Navigator College Ministry that I started to really heal and understand. I looked back and saw how God had created a youth ministry in my hometown of Baxter, one that continues after more than 18 years, through the passing of my sister. I was too impatient, too anxious to see what God was doing through my sister’s sacrifice.
After college, I got married and my wife and I lived and started a family in Bondurant and God led me through various roles in learning how to advance the missions of non-profit organizations. Over the last six years I worked in Des Moines and central Iowa as a Campaign Coordinator for an independent consulting firm, a grant writer for a human service agency and Philanthropy director for an older adult community. And I believe God was giving me the skills and training I would need to help support the incredible ministry of Ankeny Christian Academy. I am so thankful to be here and I pray that God continues to bless this school, the students and the families.