Arnold “Arn” Quakkelaar
Arnold “Arn” J. Quakkelaar attended Calvin University and earned a BS in engineering physics and mathematics. He began his career in 1955 with Johnson Controls and finished with Rockwell International as the International Vice President of The Global Technical Support Division. His team established ninety-one technical centers located in twenty-eight countries. Arn was married in 1959 and raised five sons with his wife, Norma. Arn has served as a deacon, elder, and chairman of the Council of Elders in his home church. When Arn felt a call into full-time ministry, he spent a year on the streets of Milwaukee, meeting and talking with hundreds of people. He experienced firsthand the dreadful conditions in the city. Arn visited with community leaders, organizations, pastors, deacons, gang leaders, and Christians, building relationships in preparation for the work God had for him to do. In 1997 Arn started BASICS (Brother And Sisters In Christ Serving), a nonprofit organization ministering to the underserved in the inner city of Milwaukee. BASICS has worked with over 400 churches and ministries. In 2005 Arn also founded GENESIS, a prison reentry ministry serving hundreds of “returning citizens” to assist them in recovery. Arn is currently serving as emeritus with BASICS and GENESIS.
Doing God's Work:
With Brothers and Sisters in Christ Serving in Milwaukee
We often pray for God’s will to be done, but what is our role and responsibility in doing it? Arn Quakkelaar has experience in searching God’s will as a professional engineer and corporate executive in the global marketplace. Doing God’s Will may help you find how to fulfill God’s purposes, discern his plan, and do his work his way. This book focuses on the city of Milwaukee and its culture, faith history, poverty, crime, neighbors, and the disenfranchised. These real-life stories and testimonies will be applicable to any place in the world.
Available for purchase on Amazon.
“Arn Quakkelaar’s missional commitment and curiosity about Milwaukee unfolds into a life-giving and city-changing experience. God uses Arn to unite urban and suburban, to lift the lives of the impoverished and oppressed, to bridge racial divides, and to rebuild broken lives, families, and neighborhoods. In this book readers will find a new kind of church, a citywide church being revealed that fits our time and reflects the vision of God’s heavenly Jerusalem. Take the journey with him in Doing God’s Work.”
Glenn Barth
President, GoodCities
“Would that more individuals who have the gifts and experience of Arn in the world of leading successful companies would demonstrate the power of the Word of God in other cities. May this be the book that not only makes Milwaukee famous in the cause of the Gospel, but is used by God to show a seismic movement of his grace and power in these momentous days.”
Walter C. Kaiser, Jr.
President Emeritus, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary
