And when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” And some of the bystanders hearing it said, “Behold, he is calling Elijah.” And someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink, saying, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down.” And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!”
Pastor Ben is a 2005 graduate from Grand Valley State University with a Bachelor of Science in Communications. He received his Masters of Divinity from Calvin Theological Seminary in 2012, and has served as a delegate to Synod in 2016.
As Pastor, Ben has a passion for preaching and teaching and has been at Riverside since April of 2013. On the personal side, Ben is an avid outdoorsmen, a loyal Detroit sports fan, and is married to his wife Ellie.
Pastor Ben seeks to preach and teach in an educational and engaging way that brings the deep truth of the Bible into our lives today for every generation.