Douglas Congregational United Church of Christ has offered interim pastors Rev. Jody Betten and Rev. Daniel Plasman joint fulltime pastor duties.
Betten has served DUCC since April 2024, taking the congregation through exercises of historic research, present circumstances and future planning future.
While she served, parishioners came also to know her partner Plasman, who has spent his days since last spring on campus and in town, becoming acquainted with the Saugatuck-Douglas District Library and its patrons, and exploring the area with his camera.
Betten refused the interim job more than once. Interim pastors rarely become settled ones. But when the idea came up to share the job with her partner — well, they had done that before and know how to work as a team.
They confessed they already love DUCC, the local library and watering holes, the Mt. Baldy climb and the beaches.
Both pastors were schooled in West Michigan, hold undergraduate degrees from Calvin College (now University) followed by Western Seminary study. Plasman finished up at a seminary in New Brunswick.
Both have served in big urban and tiny rural churches, and have planted churches and carried churches through big changes.
The couple have put their careers and livelihoods on the line, charged with heresy for standing up for pastors who perform same-sex marriages, and protecting victims of what they deem unfair systems.
Betten and Plasman are excited to join the justice-seeking, environment-protecting community at DUCC. Their tenure began Jan. 1.
