Mark VanValin
I have been serving America (simply living here) 51 years and am coming up on finishing my 5th year at SAFMC. I have served as a pastor since 1983 and enjoy preaching, teaching, and seeing God work through people to extend his Kingdom. On the side I enjoy history, sports, fishing, and the less stressful varieties of home improvement (when I have the time to measure twice and cut once!). I also enjoy music and have written or arranged a number of worship songs, including 2 quirky musicals, one for Easter and one for Christmas.
Family
I am a blessed husband of Linda (28 years!) and father of three wonderful children, Kristin (teacher at Paragon School in Jackson), John-David (student at SAU), and Andrew (High School) one great son-in law, Ben, (also teaching at Paragon School) and one aging labrador retriever.
Passions
Passion is a strong word. I don’t know that I have a right to claim that kind of devotion, but I have a deepening desire to obey and please my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Secret Ambition
To die with no regrets.
If I could recommend one book to someone
There are many, but if you want a powerful tri-fecta on history and leadership, read David McCullough’s “John Adams”, Doris Kearns- Goodwin’s “Team of Rivals: Abraham Lincoln” and Harold Myra’s “The Leadership Secrets of Billy Graham”, a front row seat to three of the most amazing lives of the American era.
Favorite Movie
Many favorites, but here are two – “It’s a Wonderful Life” and “The Mighty” (The Once and Future King)
What's currently playing on my iPod
I don’t have an iPod, but on my computer or other places I love Johnny Cash and Emmy Lou Harris on “Going Up Home”, “Angel Band” by Ralph Stanley and the Clinch Mountain Boys (no one will ever be able to duplicate that sound!), “Out of the Woods” by Nickel Creek, “Your Bird Can Sing” by the Beatles, Joe Cocker and Leon Russell’s live rendition of Bob Dylan’s “Girl From the North Country”, Sting’s “They Dance Alone” (I’m actually inspired by one lyric that I would actually change to “One day we’ll dance on our graves, one day we’ll sing our freedom. One day we’ll laugh in our joy. And we’ll dance.), and any choral music from anywhere and any period.
