Student Profiles

Introducing Dathan Pleiter

Hello everyone! My name is Dathan Pleiter, and this is my lovely wife and friend, Katrina (nee Wanders). Maybe I should begin with my name, which is kind of the elephant in the room. I come from a family of seven, four boys and one girl. My brothers all have strong biblical names, named after noble and faithful godly Old Testament believers, one, a faithful minor prophet, another, a godly king, and the youngest, the first high priest of Israel. So as a young boy I began to wonder, what godly believer was I named after? Turns out, I shouldn’t have asked that question. “Dathan” wasn’t a godly character at all but an infamous rebel, who was swallowed up by the earth. Round the same time, the Bible song writer, Jamie Soles, released a new song, “Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.” One line particularly struck me as young child, “Never name your children this, if you want people to admire ‘em.” So, there I was with an existential crisis at all of age 6, wondering if my parents knew their Bibles. For the record: the Bible never gives such a prohibition, but I do wonder what my name would have been if I were a girl… who knows.

My growing up years began in British Columbia. From there our family moved to Western Australia, where I lived until I moved to Ontario to pursue theological and pastoral training at CRTS. When I was young boy, I wanted to become a pastor. However, as I entered my early teenage years my aspirations changed. Fighter pilot was where it was at; there was something about breaking the sound barrier at Mach 2 that appealed to my more juvenile sensibilities. But a career as pilot was not meant to be. (The height and math requirements may have had something to do with that). During this time, God placed it on my heart to pursue the ministry, which was confirmed by the encouragement of my parents and other mentors. Upon the completion of my undergraduate in Philosophy and Ancient History, and part-time studies with Rev. Dr. Anderson, I moved to Ontario in the summer of 2018 to begin seminary training.

 During this time, I met Katrina. Well, actually, we met at convocation (other than church, you can’t get a more sanctified place to meet a girl). In June of last year, we were married and have experienced the joys of walking alongside each other in life. It is amazing to see where God has led our lives over these past four years. Through the various internships of the pastoral training program (Rev. D. Poppe, Rev. R. Bredenhof, CampFire, Rev. E. Onderwater, Rev. J. VanWoudenberg) and conversations with fellow peers, as well as the mentoring of friends and other brothers and sisters in the faith, God has impressed upon our hearts his love for us in Jesus Christ. It has been such a privilege to proclaim the Gospel of our Lord over this past year. If God grants the opportunity, it is my desire to serve as an under-shepherd of our Chief Shepherd, Lord, and King, Jesus Christ. After completing my studies, Katrina and I have planned to go to Australia for an internship there while at the same time giving my wife an opportunity to meet my family. (We hoped to do that sooner, but travel restrictions prevented that.) As things stand now, after the internship we hope to return to Canada and go to classis to become eligible for call. Although we look ahead with mixed emotions, we trust that God will equip us to walk in the footsteps of our Saviour, wherever they may lead.