meet the team > ministry leaders
David and Margaret White have been Thousand Hills members since July 2007. Originally from Scotland, they moved to The Netherlands in 1987 and in 1999, spent a 2-year period in North Carolina, USA. David formerly worked as Clinical Quality Assurance Auditor in the pharmaceutical industry now retired and started his own Quality Assurance consultancy company. He is experienced in church development in the USA and The Netherlands. Margaret is the leader of the Pastoral Care minstry in Thousand Hill while David serves on the Pastoral Lead Team as Care & Support pastor.
Martijn Haaijer and his wife Joke, have been involved in Thousand Hills from the very beginning and have served in a variety of ministries and as elders. As well as regularly playing bass guitar, Martijn serves as the Worship and AV coordinator. Martijn and Joke live in Soest and are the parents of two daughters.
Koen Prinzen was born in Amersfoort and raised in Soest. He is a graduate from Azusa Theological Seminary and has been involved in worship and preaching for several years. He serves as Life Group coordinator at Thousand Hills and is also one of the worship leaders for the Sunday morning celebrations. Koen is married to Anja who grew up in Beaufort West, South Africa. Follow Koen on Facebook.
Dirk Schouten van der Velden was born in Utrecht but moved to Hilversum in 1996 when he married his wife Marielle.Together they run a small company here in Hilversum. Dirk and Marielle joined Thousand Hills in 2008. As coordinator of Celebration Support, Dirk is responsible for the welcoming team, coffee team, offering collection, communion team and all things necessary to the smooth running of our morning celebration.
Benne and Abby Draijer have been the leaders of the Mosaic youth ministry since January 2011. Benne is a Dutchy and joined Thousand Hills in November 2009. Abby is American and joined Thousand Hills after their marriage in June 2010.
Benne and Abby met in Youth With A Mission in Canada in 2009 where Abby was working as staff and Benne completed a Discipleship Training School. Both have served as youth leaders in their former churches and are passionate about working with teenagers.
Esther Wiggins moved from Wales to Hilversum in 2006 with her husband and three daughters. As a family they have recently returned to Holland after spending two years as part of a church planting team in Paris. Esther has been involved in many areas of church life and currently serves as the Thousand Hills Kids Co-ordinator. She has been involved with Children’s Ministry for 20 years and is excited to be part of the team at Thousand Hills Kids.
Marieke Slagter was born and raised in the Netherlands. She is currently working as an editor for a Dutch Christian publishing house. Marieke is leading the Translation Ministry, which is a new ministry that takes care of all the translation needs for the Dutch language service. Marieke and her husband Chris joined Thousand Hills in 2008. In 2011 they became the proud parents of their son Jonathan.
