In Honor of Jerry Munk

Written by Paul C Dinolfo

Jerry Munk (Nov 16, 1953 – Apr 5, 2025), beloved husband, father, grandfather, brother, and uncle, passed away at age 71. He was married to his wife Jan for 48 years. It was my privilege to work with Jerry for over 40 years. 

Jerry will always be remembered as a true servant. He was disappointed when we dropped the “Service Course” from our common formation. He was always ready to do whatever needed to be done, whether it was administrating a conference, taking notes at a meeting, or overseeing our finances. Jerry was a hard worker, he liked to stay busy, faithful to all his tasks and assignments. 

Over time Jerry was asked to take on various leadership roles (e.g., coordinator, missionary coordinator, regional missionary coordinator, head of the NAR Community Building Team, regional executive, senior coordinator), but he always remained a servant first in how he approached leadership.

Jerry was Greek Orthodox. He was zealous for our ecumenical call, always looking for ways to protect, nurture and advance our ecumenical vision and mission. 

Jerry was a very clear, pastoral, and practical teacher. He sought to anchor his teaching in Scripture, church teaching, and our commitments. He wanted his teaching to be practical and attainable. Jerry especially enjoyed teaching on marriage and parenting, helping to develop our married couples course, marriage retreats, and parenting mini courses. 

Jerry loved community building, because he was convinced community was integral to a full Christian life. As head of the NAR community building team, Jerry worked to standardize our approach to community building, and to develop training and resources for those serving in this area.

Jerry was a good brother and friend. He was known for his warm hugs and greetings, making people feel they were important to him – and they were! He loved serving people, and people enjoyed working with him.

In 2020 Jerry had a severe case of covid that triggered an auto-immune disease, myasthenia gravis. This disease affected his speech and swallowing; it also left him with general weakness and fatigue. The last five years Jerry’s health went up and down, as his symptoms would improve and then worsen. He also became more susceptible to other sicknesses and ailments (e.g., colds, pulled muscles).

As Jerry’s pastoral leader I regularly discussed his service with him. Jerry was ready to set everything down, but his preference was to continue serving in any way that was helpful to our local community and to the Sword of the Spirit. We made adjustments and accommodations in his responsibilities and Jerry continued to make valuable contributions. I think his most valuable contribution was to give us an example of what it can look like “to finish well.”  

Jerry continued to wholeheartedly love and serve his family, his community, his church, and the mission the Lord gave him to the very end. It is my hope and prayer that I will finish well as Jerry did.