Communications Director

Ben Patzlaff is originally from Platte, South Dakota. He graduated from Northwestern College in Orange City, where he majored in Christian education/youth ministry. He has several years of experience in youth ministry as both a volunteer and as a paid staff person. During college, Ben spent his summers working with A Christian Ministry in the National Parks in Virginia and counseling students at a Christian summer camp. After graduating, Ben spent some time abroad in Romania working with students at an outdoor education camp as a mentor. He then returned to Orange City and served as the Director of Youth Ministries at American Reformed Church.

Ben is in seminary, taking classes remotely at Western Theological Seminary in Holland, Michigan. He is a member of the Reformed Church in America, a denomination in full communion with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).

Funding for the stipend for Ben Patzlaff comes from the Central Foundation’s Skidmore Fund, which was established in 1999 by Wayne Skidmore, in memory of his wife Maxine, to support the education of those who are pursuing careers as ministers or other church-related vocations.