New Faces in Chaplaincy: March 2022

Chaplaincy and Care Ministry welcomes Nathaniel Schmidt as an endorsed chaplain for the Christian Reformed Church. Learn more about his work and ministry below!

My name is Nathaniel Schmidt. I am a recently ordained minister in the Christian Reformed Church. This past year, I completed a CPE Residency at Pine Rest Christian Mental Health Services. 

Starting last September, I began serving as a hospice chaplain for the North Ottawa Community Health System (NOCHS) in Grand Haven, Mich. I’m excited to announce that, starting this March, my colleague and I will be launching a chaplain program within the NOCHS hospital – a medical facility that has never had professional chaplain care in its over 100 year history.

I am a published poet and I taught rhetoric and poetry at the collegiate level prior to attending seminary. I value deeply how people make sense and meaning of their human experiences – especially those of pain and suffering. I’m also discovering a newfound passion for grief-care.

My librarian wife Lydia and I live in Muskegon, Mich., with our newborn daughter Zoe, so life is a perpetual story-time.