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From Teacher to Mother
Nancy DeBoer was born in Grand Rapids, but she has lived in nine other places, including various cities throughout the state, following her father’s AT&T career.

After earning her Bachelor’s Degree in Secondary Education from Calvin College, Nancy taught English in Wisconsin, then South Holland, and later at Holland Christian High School. She loved the role of mentoring high school students. 

After her time spent in education, she and her husband decided to start a family, and so she stepped away from the classroom. It was not easy for her to shift focus onto something other than her established career. “At the time, I thought staying home might kill my professional aspirations,” she admitted. “But I knew in my heart I only had these kids once, and I was their only mom.”

Looking back, she sees it more as nothing was wasted—everything was preparation.

“One of the phrases I had to repeat to myself a lot was, ‘God has provided everything I need for my current happiness. Sometimes you have to say it over and over.”‍

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You Can’t Build a Gas Station There
At this point in her life, Nancy had no previous involvement with anything related to politics.

But, when her husband, Jim DeBoer, heard that a gas station might be built down the street from their home, Nancy agreed to attend the zoning meetings as her husband could not attend. After attending several meetings, Nancy read the room. She was seen as unqualified. “I started to feel a little discouraged because I was just this woman from here, you know, who cares?” she recalled. “And in fact, I drove home after one of the meetings and said to God, ‘I have no credibility for these people. So I’m just gonna quit.’”

No more than five minutes after she arrived home from that meeting, Nancy noticed the answering machine blinking. She clicked the button to hear a message from a man at the meeting. It was a landscape architect—someone with the credibility she'd prayed about—calling within minutes, asking to help stop the gas station.

“That’s when I knew I couldn’t quit,” she said. 

And despite the fact she felt "inadequate," Nancy realized, “I’m just a regular person—but I can talk about this.” 

The proposal to construct the gas station was blocked. 

Moments That Asked for More
After being a part of other open city design forums, Nancy found herself becoming more invested in the city. “So that kind of led me into caring about the city a lot, and excited me about being involved,” she explained. 

But it was more than being involved at meetings. It grew into greater convictions. “I started to feel a spiritual responsibility in praying for the mayor, even though I had no idea who he was,” she recalled. “When we looked into who he was, it turned out he lived just down the street. So we just showed up at his house, you know, and said, ‘Hello, we’d like to pray for you guys.’” 

One day, the mayor asked if she would consider running for city council. And she thought, It’s one thing to involved in city issues, and another thing to put yourself forward. On the outside, though, she said, “Oh, thank you for thinking of me. I’ll talk to Jim.”

“I came home and said, 'Oh my word, what is this?' And Jim said, 'Well, you should think about it. Think about what’s involved.'

"I didn’t really know what was involved. I thought, I’m sure I can help out if they need it."

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After making the decision to take up the council position, Nancy was in for more than she bargained for. “I had no idea I’d be interviewed by the entire city council, seated at this big table, being asked what I would do for the city,” she remembered. “I also didn’t realize anyone else was applying. I thought I was just filling in. Then I found out a friend of mine was applying. And then, at the last minute, a male attorney applied. And I thought, I hate competition. I can’t stand doing anything against someone. I’ve just never been a competitive person. So I kept thinking, Why am I doing this?"

Jim encouraged her to “just keep going.”

“They asked me all the questions first while the other two just sat there listening. Then they asked them the exact same questions. It didn’t feel very fair. I felt completely inadequate,” she said. “Then they voted—during a council meeting—on television. Another thing I didn’t know. And the camera was on me the entire time, which I also didn’t know."

In the end, the council position was given to another candidate. “I went out into the lobby afterward and fought back tears. And then I thought, You were terrified to do this anyway. Now you don’t have to. It’s over.”

With this, Nancy sought refuge in her faith, “So I told God, That’s it. I’m done with politics. I’m not doing this anymore. I don’t want to go through this again.”

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Nearly three months later, Nancy was in a coffee shop when Linda, a city council member, came up to her and said, “I just wanted to let you know, I’m going to be working on my master’s degree. And if I decide not to run again because I’ll be really busy, I wanted to tell you so you could run.” It was an at-large seat, so you didn’t have to live in a specific part of the city.

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“On the inside, I was thinking, God, I said I wasn’t going to do this. It feels like you’re pulling me right back into what I said I wouldn’t do. But on the outside, I said, 'Oh yeah, that would be great, Linda. Just let me know.'

"I came home and told my husband, and he said, 'Oh, that’s really interesting.' Then I didn’t hear anything. And finally he said, 'You know, we’d better get going at gathering signatures. We can’t wait until the last minute.'

“So we got a good way into collecting signatures, and then we found out she was running after all. And I said, ‘Well, I am not going to run against anybody. That’s terrible. I hate that. I don’t want to run against anyone.' But my husband said, ‘No, let’s just follow it through,’ probably because he had watched me wrestle with this the whole time.

“So I did. I didn’t ask for any money—I didn’t think I should. One friend gave me a few hundred dollars, which became our entire campaign budget. Another friend helped us with the campaign. When my opponent and I were on the radio together, I didn’t say anything negative about her. People thought we were friends. At the time, I didn't know her that well."

Nancy won.‍

‍The Five-Second Phone Call
After her third term on council, the mayor announced he was leaving to take another job. 

“The pro tempore told me he was going to run, and I thought, Well, God bless you. Then I started getting calls asking why I didn’t run for mayor. And I was like, Oh my—what do I do with that?"

At one point, she received a call that said, "All right, Nancy. You should run for mayor." Click.

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“I called him back later, and he said, ‘I hadn’t been thinking about the mayor’s race at all. I was out running on Saturday, and God stopped me and told me to call you.’”

And she thought, “That’s the two-by-four I asked for.”

In the face of the sentiment of those around her, Nancy understood that “God doesn’t tell you whether you’re going to win—only whether you’re supposed to do it.”

Nancy won. 

From the Lakeshore to Lansing
After some statewide redistricting, a new district, which encompassed the greater Holland area, had formed. Nancy was encouraged to run for the representative of the district. She prayed—again—for unmistakable clarity, just as the many times before. 

It came, as it often does in her life, directly. By asking God for direction. 

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She ran. She won. She is now seeking her third term.

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The Nancy DeBoer You Don’t See in Headlines
We asked Nancy what the news can’t capture about her warm, humble personality, and she pauses. 

“I hope people feel good about themselves after working with me,” she finally said. “That we had an authentic relationship. That we accomplished more together.”

Being in Lansing was an entirely different experience for her. No matter what or whom she faced, she did it with kindness and respect. “You just treat people with kindness and respect, no matter who they are,” she said. “Then I don’t have to worry about who they are politically.”

Nancy’s faith is not performative. It is practiced. For her, “it’s not what you do that people remember—it’s how you made them feel.”

And when Nancy removed affiliations and identifications to people, she found that “you can accomplish more together than you ever could alone.”

“It’s not about what people think of me,” she said. “It’s about what God thinks.”

Nancy loves humor. She loves people. She aims to find the “golden nugget” in others. 

And perhaps most tellingly, she never frames her life as a series of wins or losses—only obedience.

“If God calls you to something,” she said, “you can’t halfway do it. You have to do your best and trust Him.”

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In an era of spectacle, Nancy DeBoer remains something rarer: a leader formed by listening, sustained by faith, and guided by the quiet, humble conviction that kindness still matters.

And perhaps that’s exactly why her story feels so necessary now.