Dan Landstra has been named the 2025 recipient of Dordt University’s Distinguished Alumni Award.
Dan Landstra has been named the 2025 recipient of Dordt University’s Distinguished Alumni Award.
Each year, this award recognizes alumni who have distinguished themselves in an extraordinary fashion, giving evidence of living out of a Reformational worldview and demonstrating exemplary service to the community and the world.
“There are thousands of Dordt graduates doing Kingdom work all over the world,” says Landstra. “It is humbling to be recognized as one of those graduates seeking to do God’s will and engage in the process of redemption and restoration in His world.”
Landstra currently serves as the Director for Spiritual Life at Unity Christian High School in Hudsonville, Michigan—a role he has held since 2018. “This position has opened doors and provided new opportunities to expand our mission and vision at Unity,” says Landstra. “It has been a tremendous blessing to work with students in the classroom, Unity staff, and families in the Unity community in this capacity.”
Helping students grow in their faith continues to be one of the most rewarding—and challenging—aspects of Landstra’s role as director for spiritual life. “One of the growing challenges in working with students is guiding them to grow as Christ-followers while they attempt to navigate a culture that, in so many ways, pulls them away from living out their faith,” he explains. Through teaching worldview and faith-focused classes, working with students to plan times of worship and Bible study for the student body, and meeting with each member of the senior class individually over the course of the school year, Landstra aims to equip students with knowledge and skills that infuse faith into all areas of life.
Landstra says Dordt’s mission to equip students, alumni, faculty, and the broader community for kingdom work in all areas of life fuels his work today. Since 2019, Landstra has been involved in the implementation of the Infusion Project at Unity. According to Landstra, this initiative “aims to provide educators with knowledge and skills to infuse faith into their content areas and to guide students to discern how to be salt and light in the culture they are called to redeem.”
"...framing those conversations from a Biblical perspective and teaching others to see all things through a lens of faith has oriented my perspective and is what truly motivates me in all that I do.”
“One aspect of the Infusion Project is bringing Unity's vision of claiming all things for Christ to other communities,” continues Landstra. “I have been blessed to speak to a wide variety of church groups, school communities, and leadership organizations throughout the Midwest over the past twenty years. It has been a wonderful blessing to meet new people and lead important conversations on culturally relevant topics that impact young people and adults. But to frame those conversations from a Biblical perspective and teach others to see all things through a lens of faith has oriented my perspective and is what truly motivates me in all that I do.”
Landstra will be recognized during the Defender Nation Dinner at Defender Days, which will be held on Friday, October 17.
About Dordt University
As an institution of higher education committed to the Reformed Christian perspective, Dordt University equips students, faculty, alumni, and the broader community to work toward Christ-centered renewal in all aspects of contemporary life. Located in Sioux Center, Iowa, Dordt is a comprehensive university named to the best college lists by U.S. News and World Report, the Wall Street Journal, Times Higher Education, Forbes.com, Washington Monthly, and Princeton Review.
Scott Van Voorst (‘08) has been named the Dordt University 2025 Horizon Award recipient, recognizing his desire to use his knowledge, gifts, and talents to participate in God's redemptive work in the world.
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