April 17, 2022
WEST EDITION
Westside News Established 1953
Serving Suburban News West and Hamlin-Clarkson Herald edition areas
Serving the communities of Hamlin, Clarkson, Kendall, Bergen, Clarendon, Holley-Murray, Brockport-Sweden
April 17, 2022
Issue No. 16
westsidenewsny.com
The Glory Barge: A place for storytelling on the Erie Canal by Michelle A. Dick When the Erie Canal was first built, entertainment was a frequent pastime on the canal. Often families would meet each year at the same location to share stories and adventures. Years later, the Erie Canal became a place where the faithful gathered to celebrate God. Between 1825 and 1837, the Erie Canal became a breeding ground for revivalism, evangelism, perfectionism, utopianism, as well as many other social reforms. Charles Finney was a leader in the Second Great Awakening and an American Presbyterian minister. He ministered along the Erie Canal from September 1830 to March 1831. Together with several other evangelical leaders, his religious views led him to promote social reforms, such as the abolition of slavery and equal education for women and African Americans. People used the Erie Canal to travel to hear Finney speak and tell stories — as far away as 100 miles. Fast forward to May 3, 2009: Pastor Jurjen Hoomans poured water from the Sea of Galilee into the Erie Canal in front of a group of interested people who gathered in Spencerport. The Sea of Galilee was where Jesus walked on water and spoke in parables to teach others how to live. The pouring of the Sea of Galilee’s water into the Erie Canal symbolized bringing Jesus’ teachings and influence to Spencerport and the canal through His use of parables and storytelling of ordinary events. Recently, there has been a group of people who have a means to bring back Christian storytelling to the Erie Canal Heritage Corridor through another spiritual awakening on the Glory Barge.
Glory Barge board members (l-r) Joel Hoomans, Steve VonBerg, and John Hoben. Provided photos.
It’s Time to Share Stories Again on the Erie Canal’s Glory Barge The Glory Barge crew — founding board members Professor Joel Hoomans, Steve Von Berg, John Hoben, and a core team — have been meeting over the past few years to discuss plans of building the Erie Canal Heritage Corridor Glory Barge. Jurgen Hoomans, Joel’s father, is the visionary who dreamt of the Glory Barge, but he passed before he could see it come to fruition. Although Jurjen passed before his vision to spread God’s Word through storytelling on the canal came to light, the dream still lives on through Jurjen’s family and friends who are part of the non-profit organization Erie Canal Light Transformations, Inc. (ECLTI). Joel is honoring his father’s vision by spearheading the barge project and making it a reality.
Jurgen’s Visions Take a Leap of Faith According to Joel, over the years, Jurgen had many “visions.” The first vision provoked him to escape from an alcoholic father to attend college at West Virginia Wesleyan to pursue a Heavenly Father. His second vision was to develop a large youth program while serving as a minister in the United Methodist church in Connecticut. Years later, another vision led Jurgen to purchase two islands in Northern New York (one, nine acres and the other, 16 acres in size). Joel said, “He built a cottage on one of those islands, bringing electric underwater, adding a bunkhouse, etc.” Jurgen also “had a dream to convert one of the barns on the property where he grew up to a house, and another to a non-denominational church called The Well. He accomplished both of those things,” according to Joel. Jurjen’s final vision was to create the Glory Barge as a place where storytelling would thrive again on the Erie Canal, spreading news of Jesus’ Word, His death on the cross, and the glory of His resurrection.
Jurgen, Joel, and Judy Hoomans. Provided photo.
Jurgen’s wife of 57 years, Judy, said that “Jurgen never felt like this vision was his own — but it came in a dream quite remarkedly showing him that the Erie Canal was … to use for bringing understanding of the ‘Kingdom of God’ into daily life. Through storytelling, song, and drama, people would have a picture and hopefully life-altering experiences.” Jurgen and Judy would have celebrated 60 years together this past summer. Joel recalls the day he heard about his dad’s Glory Barge vision. He said, “My parents moved from North Chili to a townhouse they purchased on the Erie Canal in Spencerport in the fall of 2007.” This was about the time his dad began talking about his vision to move God along the Erie Canal corridor. But when Joel initially spoke to his father about the topic, he did not discuss it in very much detail. Joel said, “It was my dad’s encounter with John Hoben that changed that; John was able to help my father articulate the vision in more detail.” John Hoben recalls the encounter, “I went for a morning canal-side walk in June 2017 and saw a young octogenarian sitting in front of the Spencerport Depot and Canal Museum.” The octogenarian was Jurgen. Hoben greeted him, and within the first 15 minutes, Jurjen shared the vision he had nearly 12 years prior (circa 2005). Jurgen’s vision was to see the Erie Canal become “God’s Birth Canal” for the next major Christian revival, both nationally and internationally. Spencerport was identified in the vision as the first “birthing station” for this revival, serving as the epicenter throughout the Erie Canal Heritage Corridor. After the encounter, John Hoben, being the soldier of Bible ministry that he is, understood there was a reason for this encounter. It was no coincidence. Hoben said, “Having been born and raised in Spencerport, this vision the Lord had put on Jurjen’s heart, then bringing us together on that fateful morning became part of my daily bread and walk. I want to see the Glory Barge become the vessel to fulfill Jurgen’s vision.”
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