Meet the Staff

When we start talking about staff, it’s a strange deal (insert your own jokes here).  At Banner, like all healthy churches, it’s really the church family as a whole that makes things happen; those men, women, and children who give countless hours of their time to see that our ministries meet the needs of our community and congregation.  So, browsing our staff page is like looking at the tip of an iceberg to see what you’ve got.  Our ministry leaders are the heartbeat of what we do as a congregation and our staff serves to encourage and resource them.  If you’ve got questions about how or why things happen we can help.

Pastor Mike Caley
At a Glance:  Mike came from Huntington, Indiana and sensed God calling him to Christian Ministry at the end of his junior year in High School in 1973. He attended Huntington College where he graduated in 1978 with a BS in Bible and Religion then finished a Master of Christian Ministry degree at Huntington’s grad school in 1980. Mike pastored 2 churches in Indiana from 1977-1986, started a church in Lancaster, PA and has now been Senior Pastor at Banner since 1996.

At Banner: Mike is the lead teaching pastor, heads the Elder Board in governing the church and leads the staff and the general oversight of congregational ministry. His passion is shepherding God’s people to walk in faithfulness and understanding of the Word of God. He loves talking with those who are curious about God and who He is, encouraging them to seek a personal relationship with Christ.

At Play: Mike enjoys sitting at any one of 4 favorite coffee shops with his laptop, connecting with people or studying a favorite passage of scripture with online resources. He also likes doing home and yard projects with his wife, Lynne and is a hapless, but faithful follower of the Chicago Cubs.

At Home: Mike and Lynne were married on January 1, 1977 and he never forgets their anniversary! He and Lynne met at Huntington College and now their 4 oldest children have all chosen to get degrees there as well. (Honestly- no arm twisting) Erinn teaches history in Boston, MA; Jon, better known as Amos in the band Attaboy, and his wife Sarah live in Huntington; Emily and husband, Kyle live and work at Grace College in Winona Lake, IN; Sarah is finishing her elementary education degree; Daughters Hayley and Holli are students in Byron Center schools at home.

Pastor Josh Good
At a Glance:  Josh grew up in Indiana where he felt called to full-time ministry way back in the 7th grade.  He started working with students in 1994 and attended Huntington College where he received a BS in Youth Ministry in 1999.  He’s worked with churches in Indiana, Michigan and Florida with as few as 5 students and as many as 400.  He’s still working on his graduate studies at Huntington (and probably will be for quite some time) in the area of Pastoral Leadership.  Josh started at Banner in 2003.

At Banner: Josh heads up our youth ministry for middle school and high school students.  He loves the relational and creative side of making sense of God’s desires in the lives of young people.  Possibly the biggest perk in student ministry is that he can do all the things our senior pastor would never get away with and somehow it makes sense to a group of 9th grade guys.  Josh also oversees our adult discipling ministries, which includes small groups, discipleship classes, and our Sunday morning life training classes.

At Play: Josh loves being outside.  Whether it’s on the boat in the summer, hunting in the fall, or hitting the trails in the winter, the fresh air just seems right.  He’s also recently started doing some bodywork on cars with a friend.  Sounds like a good fit for a student pastor!

At Home: Josh has an amazing wife, Sara, who is the real brains (and looks) of the operation.  They’ve been married since December of 1999 and have three children; Brayden (6), Lainey (5), and Grant(2). 

Kristen Holcomb
At a Glance:  Kristen grew up in Gaylord before her family moved to Byron Center when she was in 5th grade.  Kristen attended Unity Christian Schools where she played basketball through Middle School and participated in Competitive Cheer throughout High School.  She is currently studying Radiologic Technologies at Baker College in Muskegon.  Kristen and her family have been attending Banner for 10 years.

At Banner:  The bulletin is Kristen’s primary focus here at Banner.  She makes sure we all know what’s going on, and that our weekly publication looks great.  She’s in the office on Thursdays and makes sure everything gets out in time for the weekend!  Kristen also is a part of our “18 to Life” group and occasionally sings on the worship team.

At Play:  It’s all about competition with Kristen.  She is fierce with a Wii remote and the word on the street is that she and her boyfriend, Joe, can’t be beat at Cranium.  She can also be seen keeping stats at the Unity wrestling meets. 

At Home:  Kristen lives at home with her parents, Mike and Kim, and her brother Michael.  Their family is deeply involved at Banner in both Bible Studies and on the Elder Board.

Linda LaLone
At a Glance:  Linda grew up in Grand Rapids.  She attended Western Michigan University where she received a BS degree, and started attending Banner in 2006.

At Banner:  Linda is an office assistant here at Banner. She enjoys speaking with the people who call or stop by the office and doing all the little things that helps the office to operate.  On Sundays, she and her husband, Mark, teach the 5th/6th  grade Sunday school class.  She loves getting to know the kids and teaching them about Christ.

At Play:  Linda’s enjoyment always centers around family and the outdoors.  She loves camping and the beautiful Michigan scenery.  You could find her outside in the summer reading a good book, or, watching a great old musical or other classic movie.  Secondhand stores are also among her favorite things.

At Home:  Linda has a great husband, Mark, and has been married since 1984.  They have 3 children, Kyle, Shaun, and Anna.  Linda has home schooled for many years now and has enjoyed it very much.

Bob Fox
At a Glance:  Bob was born in Traverse City, and graduated from Elk Rapids High School in 1954.  He moved to Grand Rapids in 1955 where he began working for Consumers Energy. Bob worked at Consumers for an amazing 44.5 years!  He also worked at Forest Hills Schools as a custodian before serving here at Banner.

At Banner:  Bob keeps the place looking great!  He is works as our custodian making sure the building is ready for our various ministries including Upward, our numerous small groups and Bible studies, the homeschool Co-op, and a number of outside groups each week.  He does a fantastic job keeping up with more than 1000 people who regularly roll through in a week.

At Play:  For fun, Bob loves playing golf and bowling with his wife Judy.  He also makes sure to set aside time for the grandkids basketball and soccer games.  He and Judy like to travel and usually end up heading south.  One place he’d like to see on one of their next trips is Washington DC.

At Home:  Bob and Judy have celebrated 35 years of marriage.  The keep plenty busy with10 kids and closing in on 20 grandkids and 4 great grandkids.

Structure

Banner operates under an elder board structure in which a group of 4 men (including our senior pastor) designs the boundaries within which we as a church function.  This group provides vision and sets the big picture goals for the church.  Our ministry teams will do whatever it takes as long as it is scripturally sound and morally responsible to see that our goals are met.  We believe that those who are ultimately held responsible for a specific ministry should also be given the authority to carry out those tasks.  It’s for that reason we work from the ground up when it comes to making daily operating decisions.  The flow chart below should help see how things operate.