Kirk Miller was raised in Louisville, Ohio where he grew up working alongside his father in the family plumbing business. He attended Beech Mennonite Church and was baptized at age 13. As a camper at Camp Luz, he accepted Jesus as his Lord and Savior. Because of the impact camp had on his walk with Jesus, he went on to serve on the staff at Camp Luz for a couple of summers including one week as a camp counselor at Camp Mennoscah in Kansas.
At age 20, he felt called to missions and went into a short term missions program called YES (Youth Evangelism Service) through Eastern Mennonite Missions where he attended 3 months of discipleship training in the inner city of Baltimore Maryland and then 8 months of outreach in Southern Germany working with youth and a Mennonite church plant. Two years later, he would lead a YES Team back to Germany in Karlsruhe/Durlach for 7 months.
Kirk attended Hesston College mostly studying aviation and after graduating from Hesston (a 2 year college), worked the summer for the Hesston College maintenance department.
Following graduation from Eastern Mennonite University, he served on the staff at Camp Luz doing Voluntary Service primarily in the role of Maintenance for almost 2 years.
Over the years, Kirk has worked construction with experience in many different areas including plumbing and water well pump service, roofing both residential and commercial flat roofing (as a spray mechanic), concrete, HVAC, stick framing, trim carpentry, and timber framing. He also worked part time as a farm hand on a dairy farm in Kidron, Ohio.
Most recently he has been working for Pentair (Myers & Hydromatic municipal waste water pumps) on the warranty side. Prior to that, he was the Warranty Administrator and Service Technician at Ventrac Compact Tractors for 11 years.
He has served on short term mission trips alongside JAARS (Jungle Aviation And Radio Service) and Wickliffe Bible Translators in the Philippines and Peru to help further Bible translation work.
Kirk enjoyed playing sports growing up and into adulthood including playing baseball and volleyball at the collegiate level. He was active in Ultimate Frisbee for many years. He also coached girls volleyball for a few years at the middle school and high school level for Kidron Central Christian and JO club volleyball in Kidron. In 2008 he Thru Hiked the Appalachian Trail. Now, he will most likely be found playing board games, disc golfing, backpacking, or preparing for his first Boundary Waters canoe trip in the fall.
He and his family (wife and 3 kids) attend Park Street Brethren Church where he and his wife recently became members.
Ken Van Duyne has been serving Camp Bethany in various capacities since 1988 – first on the board and later as the General Manager for the property. The loving care and service that Ken and his family have poured out over the years have left a lasting impact on this slice of heaven and their ministry will continue to impact young people for years to come. As Ken steps away from his role for health reasons, we thank him for his service and pray for his rest, recovery, and many hours of fun with the family!