ReFrame Director to Retire

Rev. Kurt Selles plans to retire in July after 14 years as director of ReFrame Ministries, the media ministry of the Christian Reformed Church.

Under Selles’ leadership, ReFrame has gone through many changes. It relocated from Palos Heights, Ill., its longtime home, to Grand Rapids, Mich. It changed its name to ReFrame Ministries from Back To God Ministries International. And it changed its ministry approach by employing local ministry leaders for its overseas ministry projects, partnering with Presbyterian and Reformed denominations outside of the CRC.

In North America, Selles noted substantial growth in its English-language ministries. English ministry content reaches more than 500,000 people via email, and the volunteer prayer ministry team has about 8,000 people. ReFrame’s popular Today devotional turned 75 this year.

Started in 1939 with a radio broadcast aired on WJJD in Chicago, the ministry was first called “The Back To God Hour,” the same name as its broadcast. The organization grew to include print publications and television broadcasts, expanding its work in many different languages including Spanish, Portuguese, Hindi, Russian, and Arabic. In recent years, it has moved toward more internet-based ministry and currently works in nine major world languages and supports projects in Korean, Urdu, and Ukrainian.

Selles said that while the media ministry reaches a wide audience, financial support comes primarily from within the CRC. “Turmoil in the CRC has been a significant challenge, especially in the past five years,” he said. “As funding for denominationally shared ministry has become more challenging, we’ve had to cut back on ministry.” He said that last year three English-language programs were closed and the Russian ministry was suspended. Despite those setbacks, Selles said he believes ReFrame will see growth in the years to come.

Working with ReFrame staff and international partners has brought great joy to Selles’ work at ReFrame. “We meet once a week for devotions and prayer, and I can’t count how often I’ve left those times giving thanks for our staff and ReFrame’s mission,” he said. “Today readers write, thanking us for a particular devotional that has spoken directly to their heart and situation on a particular day. We know that’s the Holy Spirit’s work, and we are humbly grateful to share God’s word in ways that meaningfully touch lives.”

Selles believes the biggest challenge ReFrame is increasing its visibility within the CRC and also growing donor support outside the denomination.

Missions outreach has been Selles’ focus his entire career. Ordained into the Christian Reformed Church in 1987, Selles began his career as a missionary in Taiwan, moving to Beijing in 1993, where he also directed the Calvin College Semester in China program. When he returned to the U.S. he took a position as a missions professor at Beeson Divinity School in Birmingham, Ala., while also pastoring Leeds (Ala.) Presbyterian Church.

In retirement, he’s looking forward to being in the classroom again. “Calvin University has invited me to teach two classes next year, one on missions and one on Buddhism,” he said. He also plans to continue working on a stalled book project on the CRC missionary Lee S. Huizenga.

But first, he said, he’s planning to finish hiking the Appalachian Trail. “I’ve hiked 900 miles of it, but I still have 1,300 miles to go. That’s my biggest challenge for the next year.”

Selles’ and his wife Vicki are members of Shawnee Park CRC in Grand Rapids, Mich.

The search for a new director of ReFrame Ministries is near completion with the Council of Delegates of the Christian Reformed Church planning to present an appointment for ratification in its supplemental report to Synod 2026, available late May.